Student | Page 38 of 45 | SpiritIndia.com

Gene :: With fruit fly sex, researchers find mind-body connection

The fruit fly gene “doublesex” is responsible for ensuring that male flies look male and females look female. New Brown University research led by biologist Michael McKeown shows that doublesex not only helps shape bodies but also shapes behavior, acting with together with the gene “fruitless” to guide flies’ courtship routines and responses. The finding, published in Nature Genetics, shows that sexual development in flies — and, perhaps, in humans — is a more complicated proposition than previously thought.

Gene :: Living view in animals shows how cells decide to make proteins

Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have visualized in a living animal how cells use a critical biological process to dice and splice genetic material to create unique and varied proteins.

Breast Cancer :: Cancer prognosis gene GATA-3 found to control the fate of breast cells

Scientists have discovered an unsuspected role for a gene known to be one of the best predictors of human breast cancer outcome.

Brain :: Protein shown to rally biological clock

A biologist at Washington University in St. Louis and his collaborators have identified the factor in mammalian brain cells that keeps cells in synchrony so that functions like the wake-sleep cycle, hormone secretion and loco motor behaviors are coordinated daily over a 24-hour period.

HIV :: AIDS kills 250,000 people each month – like monthly tsunami

More people die from HIV/Aids every month than in the Indian Ocean tsunami, says Professor Robert Gallo, who helped identify the HIV/AIDS virus nearly 25 years ago, said the Asian tsunami killed an estimated 230,000 people.

Flu :: Flu can bide time in icy limbo before re-emerging – BGSU

It sounds like the stuff of a campy ’50s horror movie (“It Came from the Ice!”), but a Bowling Green State University biologist believes it’s a very real possibility.

Ecology :: Biocontrol of wavyleaf thistle being studied in Texas

Wavy leaf thistle was difficult to find along Panhandle highways five years ago. But now the noxious weed can be found moving into pastures, said a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station researcher. Dr. Jerry Michels, Experiment Station entomologist at Bushland, along with Nagendra Earle, a West Texas A&M University graduate student, began looking at controlling the intruding noxious weed with natural controls about two years ago.

Scientists solve mystery of how largest cellular motor protein powers movement

Scientists now understand how an important protein converts chemical energy to mechanical force, thus powering the process of cell division, thanks to a new structural model by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers.

Ultra-intense laser blast creates true ‘black metal’

“Black gold” is not just an expression anymore. Scientists at the University of Rochester have created a way to change the properties of almost any metal to render it, literally, black. The process, using an incredibly intense burst of laser light, holds the promise of making everything from fuel cells to a space telescope’s detectors more efficient — not to mention turning your car into the blackest black around.

Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America and ConvaTec Recognize Young Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease

The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) and ConvaTec, a world-leading manufacturer of ostomy and wound care products, announced today the recipients of the Great Comebacks(R) Program 2006 Ina Brudnick Scholarship and the Comeback Kids awards. Abby Ryan, the 2006 Ina Brudnick Scholar, was honored alongside Lauren Belanger, Becca Davis and Michelle Flude, the 2006 Comeback Kids, in New York City on November 18th at CCFA’s annual meeting.