science wire

Giant plankton-eating fishes roamed the prehistoric seas for over 100 million years before they were wiped out in the same event that killed off the dinosaurs, new fossil evidence has shown. An international team describe how new fossils from Asia, Europe and the US reveal a previously unknown dynasty of giant plankton-eating bony fishes that filled the seas of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, between 66-172 million years ago.

Despite identical genes and a shared environment, only some mutant nematode embryos develop a gut, which appears violet in this photomicrograph.

Contact: Alex Lyda alyda [a] columbia (p) edu (212) 305-0820 NEW YORK (Feb.

Clinical researchers and scientists at the University of Sheffield have set up a new advisory group which will utilise the experience of Motor Neurone Disease (MND) patients to help shed light on the disease and inform future research proposals.

Six faculty members at the University of California, Berkeley, are among 68 new members and nine foreign associates elected today (Wednesday, Feb.

Scientist, businessman, and philanthropist George Cowan will talk about his new book, Manhattan Project to the Santa Fe Institute.

Workers in Honduras who make athletic apparel with university-emblazoned logos now have a chance to fight for higher wages and improved working conditions, thanks to a groundbreaking agreement reached with the assistance of Columbia and other universities.

BIOSS researcher investigates new engineering strategies for cartilage-implants Freiburg, 15. Injuries to joints and cartilage can have serious consequences, including osteoarthritis.

Columbia University students have earned top honors at the Sara and Frank McKnight Prize in Undergraduate Sciences competition.

PA 24/09 The annual migration of over a million wildebeest across the Serengeti and Maasai Mara is often described as one of the greatest spectacles on earth.

Scientists from Freiburg, Germany, awarded grant of one million Euros for a project to improve higher education in Russia Freiburg, 12.

Specific biochemical changes in proteins called histones, which act as spools around which DNA is wound in the cell nucleus, can be used to predict prognosis and response to treatment in certain grou

Another step on the road to a cure for diabetes may give hope to the world?s 171 million diabetes sufferers, thanks to collaboration between teams from McGill University and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF).

Blood clotting finding may lead to new treatments Key protein that causes the blood to clot is produced by blood vessels in the lungs and not just the liver, according to new research %0A " Imperial College London News Release Under STRICT embargo for 17.

An international team led by researchers from Columbia University Medical Center was able to cure osteoporosis in mice and rats through a daily dose of an experimental compound that inhibits serotonin synthesis in the gut.

A psychologist from the University of Sheffield has written a new brain training book designed to give the reader a thorough mental work out, whilst also answering the scientific questions about how brain training works. The Rough Guide Book of Brain Training which is written by Dr Tom Stafford, from the University of Sheffield´s Department of Psychology, and Dr Gareth Moore, a brain training and puzzle author, contains 100 days worth of puzzles designed to exercise our brains.

February 05, 2010 — Coral Gables, Florida — What role does diet and exercise play in the treatment and care of breast cancer survivors?

New clinical trials unit launched at Imperial Watch video interviews with the co-directors of the Imperial Clinical Trials Unit - %0A " By Lucy Goodchild Thursday 4 February 2010 A new unit dedicated to setting up and running clinical trials was launched yesterday at Imperial College London.

Frankfurt - Universität Frankfurt FRANKFURT. Inder M. Verma gehört zu den weltweit führenden Wissenschaftlern, wenn es um die Entwicklung von speziellen Viren für Gentherapien geht.

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have been carrying out 'laboratory gunfights' to show that we move faster when we react to something in our environment than we do when we initiate the action ourselves.

February 03, 2010 — The high-tech research facility will create jobs and accelerate the pace of discovery in neurological processes and related diseases The National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Montreal - McGill Montreal, February, 1, 2010 " Scientists have identified a double agent in the eye that, once triggered, can morph from neuron protector to neuron killer.

Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have performed the first complete genomic sequencing of a brain cancer cell line, an advance that could lead to personalized treatments based on the unique biological signature of an individual's cancer and that may unveil new molecular targets for which more effective and less toxic drugs can be developed.

Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have performed the first complete genomic sequencing of a brain cancer cell line, an advance that could lead to personalized treatments based on the unique biological signature of an individual's cancer and that may unveil new molecular targets for which more effective and less toxic drugs can be developed.

Berlin - Freie Universität Berlin Kommunikations- und Informationsstelle der Freien Universität Berlin Telefon: 030-838 73180 Telefax: 030-838 73187 E-Mail: kommunikationsstelle [a] fu-berlin (p) de

Zurich - University of Zurich Die ersten Landwirbeltiere besassen sechs Hals- und zwanzig Brustwirbel.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Neuroscientists at MIT and Tsinghua University in Beijing show that increasing brain magnesium with a new compound enhanced learning abilities, working memory, and short- and long-term memory in rats.

When medication fails to control seizures in children with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), a rare genetic disorder that affects multiple organ systems and frequently causes epilepsy, surgery to remove part of the brain is often necessary. But pre-surgical testing, which involves the implanting of electrodes into a child's head, can lead to longer hospital stays and greater risks from surgery.

Montreal - McGill . Malaria causes more than two million deaths each year, but an expert multinational team battling the global spread of drug-resistant parasites has made a breakthrough in the search for better treatment.

Children with leukaemia could be offered tailored treatment to avoid unnecessary side-effects from chemotherapy, thanks to research carried out at the University of Sheffield.

From left, President Shirley M. Tilghman and Campaign Co-Chairs Robert S. Murley and Nancy B. Peretsman spoke to reporters Thursday, Nov.

            At left: Horizontal (left) and vertical (right) slices of brain show increased blood flow (red region) in brainstem (VTA or ventral tegmental area) in measurements made by functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Scientists have found that those who run barefoot, or in minimal footwear, tend to avoid "heel-striking," and instead land on the ball of the foot or the middle of the foot. In so doing, these runners use the architecture of the foot and leg and some clever Newtonian physics to avoid hurtful and potentially damaging impacts, equivalent to two to three times body weight, that shod heel-strikers repeatedly experience.

Montreal - McGill Studies of the victims of the Walkerton, Ont. tainted drinking water tragedy have led researchers to discover DNA variations in genes that increase the risk of developing post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome (PI-IBS).

Lighting up nerves could help people with eye condition Retinitis Pigmentosa New £2 million partnership to push forward research in an emerging field of science called optogenetics %0A " Wednesday 2

Researchers at UC San Diego who last year genetically engineered bacteria to keep track of time by turning on and off fluorescent proteins within their cells have taken another step toward the construction of a programmable genetic sensor.

What's in a face? Plenty, according to scientists at Princeton University. A pair of Princeton psychology researchers has developed a computer program that allows scientists to analyze better than ever before what it is about certain human faces that makes them look either trustworthy or fearsome.

Osamu Shimomura, who today was named a winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry , will receive the award for a discovery he made while working at Princeton.

Princeton researchers Herschel Rabitz (left) and Raj Chakrabarti are part of a team that has made a discovery extending Darwin's theory of evolution.

A team of researchers at Princeton University and The Cancer Institute of New Jersey has identified a long-sought gene that is fatefully switched on in 30 to 40 percent of all breast cancer patients, spreading the disease, resisting traditional chemotherapies and eventually leading to death.

Walter Kauzmann, whose deep insights into the water-loathing properties of greasy molecules paved the way for the modern study of proteins, has died at age 92.