Evolution News and Research

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Research advances understanding of Darwinian evolution

As described in an article published this week in an advance, online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the work demonstrates some of the classic principles of evolution.

29 Apr 2009

Brain processes written words as unique 'objects,' GUMC neuroscientists say

Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center have found that an area known to be important for reading in the left visual cortex contains neurons that are specialized to process written words as whole word units.

29 Apr 2009

Early brain activity sheds new light on the neural basis of reading

Most people are expert readers, but it is something of an enigma that our brain can achieve expertise in such a recent cultural invention, which lies at the interface between vision and language.

27 Apr 2009

Better understanding of the brain basis of reading

Most people are expert readers, but it is something of an enigma that our brain can achieve expertise in such a recent cultural invention, which lies at the interface between vision and language.

27 Apr 2009

Roche and Pharmasset start phase IIb clinical trial of R7128 nucleoside polymerase inhibitor for chronic hepatitis C

Pharmasset, Inc. and Roche have announced that the first patient has been dosed in a Phase IIb study of R7128, the nucleoside polymerase inhibitor most advanced in development for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C (HCV).

26 Apr 2009

Aussies wanted for international groundbreaking study on depression

Australians researchers have put out a call for 400 people to take part in a study on depression.

26 Apr 2009

Discovery shows that different parts of chromosomes can have very different evolutionary histories

A new study reveals that - contrary to decades of evolutionary thought - chromosome regions that are prone to breakage when new species are formed are a rich source of genetic variation.

23 Apr 2009

Americans ambivalent toward divorce and nonmarital childbearing

The increase in single-parent families was a dramatic social change of the 20th century.

22 Apr 2009

Key genetic mechanism a potential key to new class of antibiotics

Researchers have determined the structure of a key genetic mechanism at work in bacteria, including some that are deadly to humans, in an important step toward the design of a new class of antibiotics, according to an accelerated publication that appeared online today as a "paper of the week" in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

20 Apr 2009

When every photon counts: unusual cell nuclei help nocturnal animals see better

The eyes of nocturnal mammals have very large numbers of highly-sensitive rod photoreceptors (the cell type responsible for night vision).

16 Apr 2009

Move over, Y chromosome - it's time X got some attention

In the first evolutionary study of the chromosome associated with being female, University of California, Berkeley, biologist Doris Bachtrog and her colleagues show that the history of the X chromosome is every bit as interesting as the much-studied, male-determining Y chromosome, and offers important clues to the origins and benefits of sexual reproduction.

16 Apr 2009

Secret to night vision in nocturnal animals revealed

Researchers have discovered an important element for making night vision possible in nocturnal mammals: the DNA within the photoreceptor rod cells responsible for low light vision is packaged in a very unconventional way, according to a report in the April 17th issue of Cell , a Cell Press publication.

16 Apr 2009

Scientists uncover mimicry at the molecular level that protects genome integrity

The new study, which was published on April 12, 2009, in an advanced online edition of the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, draws new parallels between the Rad60 DNA repair factor and SUMO, a small ubiquitin-like modifier, which are both essential for maintaining genome stability during replication.

13 Apr 2009

DNA origami rectangle made with 'bottom-up' construction approach

The construction of complex man-made objects--a car, for example, or even a pizza--almost invariably entails what are known as "top-down" processes, in which the structure and order of the thing being built is imposed from the outside (say, by an automobile assembly line, or the hands of the pizza maker).

9 Apr 2009