science wire

Three years ago, geneticists reported the startling discovery that nearly half of all people in the U.S. with European ancestry carry a variant of the fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene, which causes them to gain weight — from three to seven pounds, on average — but worse, puts them at risk for obesity.

While he's not opposed to drugs that fight baldness, the billionaire said more brainpower should be directed toward global health crises and broken schools than the cosmetic worries of developed nations.

Postgraduate and postdoctoral students at Cambridge are being offered the chance to participate in the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning's Enterprisers programme from June 1-4 for free, courtesy of generous support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

A UK research group dedicated to work on a rare genetic condition that turns muscle to bone will be established thanks to a donation that takes the University of Oxford's fundraising campaign, Oxford Thinking , past the £800m mark .

A new network was announced today by the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), and Dr. Bartha Knoppers, Director of the Centre of Genomics and Policy (CGP) located within the McGill University/Genome Quebec Innovation Centre, will occupy a key role.

Professor Dek Woolfson is based in the School of Chemistry and holds a joint appointment with the Department of Biochemistry, because his research is done at the interface between chemistry and biology.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Although it looks small and unassuming, the tiny origami crane sitting in a sample dish in University of Illinois professor Jennifer Lewis? lab heralds a new method for creating complex three-dimensional structures for biocompatible devices, microscaffolding and other microsystems.

A study on the genome of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) has brought scientists closer to identifying and avoiding the adverse DNA changes that naturally occur when these cells are multiplied in laboratory.

Liverpool, UK - 12 April 2010: Scientists at the University of Liverpool have discovered that dangerous strains of Salmonella are beginning to emerge in people infected with HIV in Africa.

In a world first, xenon gas has been successfully delivered to a newborn baby in a bid to prevent brain injury following a lack of oxygen at birth. This pioneering technique was developed by Professor Marianne Thoresen of the University of Bristol and carried out at St Michael's Hospital, part of University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust.

When it comes to treating incurable diseases, hopes are high for stem cells because they can develop into a multitude of specialized cells. But despite rapidly accumulating and promising results - stem cells are for instance implicated in the treatment of Type 1 diabetes- the nature, function and differentiation capacity of stem cells are still poorly understood.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Two notorious Great Lakes invaders—the zebra mussel and the round goby—now play a central role in transferring toxic chemicals called PCBs up the food chain and into Saginaw Bay walleyes, one of that region's most popular sport fish.

A study by the University of Bern shows that East African cichlids that were exposed to a change of food in their nursery show significantly better cognitive performance as adults. The researchers were thus able to demonstrate experimentally for the first time that a single striking change in environmental conditions has positive effects on intelligence.

The Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA has been awarded $14.9 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to establish a center dedicated to interdisciplin

Jay Yim, 21, had worked on improving his fitness since age 15. In preparation for this year's Los Angeles Marathon on March 21, the University of Southern California pre-med student had been training with a marathon club and regularly did 10-mile runs on his own.

PA 76/10 Medication and behavioural interventions help children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) better maintain attention and self control by normalising activity in the same brain systems, according to researchers at The University of Nottingham.

A research group at the School of Biotechnology at KTH together with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala and Cambridge University has taken a step forward in Alzheimer research. They have been helped by the fruit fly. Together the researchers from the three schools of learning describe how a new molecule can prevent a poisonous protein which it is considered causes Alzheimer's disease from accumulating in the brain.

Professor Stafford Lightman and his team in the Laboratories for Integrative Neuroscience and Endocrinology are interested in how stress impacts upon human health throughout the lifespan ?

Marine life could be protected from the lethal effects of plastic pollution, according to groundbreaking research from experts at the University of Sheffield, which has hailed coastal microbes as a potential `clean-up´ solution.

Scientists at the Universities of Oxford, Southampton and St George's, University of London are asking people with and without Alzheimer's disease to come forward with examples of their writing as part of a study to identify changes in language use that occur with the condition. 'We're encouraging people to go to their attics, rifle the back of drawers and search through piles of paperwork, to wherever they keep their old diaries, letters and notebooks,' says Dr Celeste de Jager of the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing (OPTIMA) at the University of Oxford.

Dian Donnai, Professor of Medical Genetics at The University of Manchester and current President of the European Society for Human Genetics, is the 2010 recipient of the March of Dimes/Colonel Harland Sanders Award for lifetime achievement in the field of genetic sciences.

In the second of a series of articles marking the 10th anniversary of the Human Genome Project [ HPG ] , OxSciBlog talks to Professor Chris Ponting of the MRC Functional Genomics Unit at Oxford University.

Playing ?Pong? with the blink of an eye: low cost technology could enable people with severe physical disabilities to become ?gamers? for the first time University students develop computer game that

Two University of Manchester academics will share the stage with renowned naturalist Sir David Attenborough at the launch of the Society of Biology today (Thursday 25th March).

UCL today celebrated the government's commitment of funding to the Centre for Medical Research and Innovation (UKCMRI), the planned state-of-the-art biomedical research institute in central London of which UCL is a partner.

How do we process thoughts and store memories? A team of researchers headed by Dr. Nahum Sonenberg of McGill's Department of Biochemistry and Goodman Cancer Centre has discovered that brains in mammals modify a particular protein in a unique way, which alters the protein's normal function.

Why do some people with mental illnesses entertain bizarre and seemingly irrational beliefs that make their lives a misery?

Tune in tomorrow to watch Nobel laureate Eric Kandel on episode six of the Charlie Rose Brain Series . Episode Six: The Aging Brain will be broadcast Thursday, March 25 at 11:00 p.m. EST on PBS. In addition to Kandel, the program will feature Scott Small , associate professor of neurology at Columbia; Brenda Milner from the Montreal Neurological Institute; Larry Squire from the University California San Diego; and John Hardy from University College London.

A new consortium of four research teams from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the University of California, San Diego has been selected by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, based in the United Kingdom, to receive a $4 million grant over five years to study neuronal circuits underlying higher brain function.

The Dead Hand tells, from both the American and the Russian perspectives, of the end of the Cold War arms race and its legacy of peril.

Scientists go into battle to disarm superbug Imperial researchers talk about tackling %0A " By Lucy Goodchild Friday 19 March 2010 Two recent pieces of research from Imperial reveal new ways of tackl

UCL scientists and surgeons have led a revolutionary operation to transplant a new trachea into a child and use the child's own stem cells to rebuild the airway in the body.

PA 56/10 Unique research into 'artificial life' forms at The University of Nottingham is being showcased in an unusual exhibition at the Royal College of Art in London.

Largest European Congress for Plant Science to be held at the University of Freiburg, Germany, in 2012 Freiburg, 18.

Major new research effort targets key pig diseases The project aims to prevent and diagnose costly respiratory diseases in pigs - %0A > Wednesday 17 March 2010 A consortium of researchers in Cambr

Cell division in cyanobacteria controlled by same kind of circadian rhythms that govern human sleep Physics Professor Alexander van Oudenaarden, left, works in his lab with physics graduate student Bernardo Pando. CAMBRIDGE, Mass. A team of researchers at MIT and the University of California at San Diego has shown how cell division in a type of bacteria known as cyanobacteria is controlled by the same kind of circadian rhythms that govern human sleep patterns.

A team of McGill Chemistry Department researchers led by Dr. Hanadi Sleiman has achieved a major breakthrough in the development of nanotubes - tiny "magic bullets" that could one day deliver drugs to specific diseased cells.

New treatments for inflammatory lung diseases and a host of other conditions could be developed following a study into the impact of circadian rhythms - or body clock - at The University of Manchester.

Construction will start in late March on Princeton University's new Neuroscience and Psychology Buildings to be located south of Icahn Laboratory and west of Washington Road.

Matilda Larsson, in the background you can see her research in the form of a state of the heart diagram.