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Research helps explain why some flu strains cause major pandemics and others lead to seasonal epidemics

The exchange of genetic material between two closely related strains of the influenza A virus may have caused the 1947 and 1951 human flu epidemics, according to biologists.

6 Mar 2008

Influencing factors and recommendations that enhance the autonomy of cancer patients in clinically terminal situations

The PhD, defended by Ana María Martínez Fernández at the University of the Basque Country, proposes a series of recommendations that contribute to improving clinical and care tasks of the professionals who treat terminal cancer patients.

4 Mar 2008

Researchers measure field strength and density of ICF implosions

Scientists have identified for the first time two distinctly different types of electromagnetic configurations in inertial confinement fusion implosions that have substantial effects on implosion dynamics and diagnosis.

1 Mar 2008

Discovery of gene in Asian monkeys that blocks AIDS

Researchers at Harvard Medical School have identified a gene in Asian monkeys that may have evolved as a defense against lentiviruses, the group of viruses that includes HIV.

1 Mar 2008

Evolutionary analysis of influenza viruses

Reassortment of the influenza A virus occurs frequently throughout its evolutionary history, according to a new study published February 29 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens.

1 Mar 2008

Understanding primate evolution could aid HIV research

Evolution moves in fits and starts, shaping species through random genetic mutations that can help them survive or even hasten their death.

28 Feb 2008

2 oxygenation events in ancient oceans sparked spread of complex life

The rise of oxygen and the oxidation of deep oceans between 635 and 551 million years ago may have had an impact on the increase and spread of the earliest complex life, including animals, according to a study reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences online Early Edition during the week of February 25 – 29.

26 Feb 2008

Coral alga may hold key to malaria prevention

A brown alga discovered in Sydney harbour by Sydney University scientists could provide the key to treating diseases that disable and kill millions each year

21 Feb 2008

Heat shock protein 90 helps explain the speed of evolution

Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) has a greater impact on the appearance of new traits than previously expected, according to two articles published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) by researchers in Whitehead Member Susan Lindquist's lab and their colleagues in Christine Queitsch's lab at Harvard University's FAS Center for Systems Biology.

20 Feb 2008

How a red blood cell loses its nucleus

Unlike the rest of the cells in your body, your red blood cells lack nuclei.

17 Feb 2008

New control mechanism for genetic code translation discovered in bacteria

Almost all organisms, from bacteria to human beings, share the same genetic code, a group of universal instructions used to convert DNA or RNA sequences into proteins, the "building blocks" of life.

17 Feb 2008

How red blood cells nuke their nuclei

Unlike the rest of the cells in your body, your red blood cells lack nuclei.

12 Feb 2008

Beginnings of complex life traced to microRNA

Dartmouth College researchers and colleagues from the University of Bristol in the U.K. have traced the beginnings of complex life, i.e. vertebrates, to microRNA.

12 Feb 2008

What gives us fingertip dexterity?

Quickly moving your fingertips to tap or press a surface is essential for everyday life to, say, pick up small objects, use a BlackBerry or an iPhone.

8 Feb 2008

New insights into Legionella pneumophila

A study published online in Genome Research (www.genome.org) describes new insights into Legionella pneumophila, the bacteria responsible for most cases of Legionnaires' disease.

7 Feb 2008

Impact of electronic personal health record on hypertension under study

Whether patients with an electronic handle on their health are more successful at beating one of the nation's leading chronic diseases is under study.

7 Feb 2008

Gene in grain-producing plants guards against infection in animals and humans

Purdue University and USDA-Agricultural Research Service scientists have discovered that a type of gene in grain-producing plants halts infection by a disease-causing fungus that can destroy crops vital for human food supplies.

5 Feb 2008

Viruses for a healthy pregnancy

Sequences of DNA in the human genome that originated from ancient viral infections have some surprising effects on our bodies and are even essential for a healthy pregnancy, according to an article in the February issue of Microbiology Today.

31 Jan 2008

Telepathic genes recognize similarities in each other

Genes have the ability to recognise similarities in each other from a distance, without any proteins or other biological molecules aiding the process, according to new research published this week in the Journal of Physical Chemistry B.

25 Jan 2008

Evolutionary 'battle scars' identify enhanced antiviral activity

Rapid evolution of a protein produced by an immunity gene is associated with increased antiviral activity in humans, a finding that suggests evolutionary biology and virology together can accelerate the discovery of viral-defense mechanisms, according to researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

25 Jan 2008