Clicking knees are antelopes' way of saying 'back off'

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Knee clicking can establish mating rights among antelopes. A study of eland antelopes, published in the open access journal BMC Biology, has uncovered the dominance displays used by males to settle disputes over access to fertile females, without resorting to genuine violence.

New spaceship force field makes Mars trip possible

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According to the international space agencies, "Space Weather" is the single greatest obstacle to deep space travel. Radiation from the sun and cosmic rays pose a deadly threat to astronauts in space.

New research, out today, Tuesday, November 4, published in IOP Publishing's Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, shows how knowledge gained from the pursuit of nuclear fusion research may reduce the threat to acceptable levels, making man's first mission to Mars a much greater possibility.

Lung airway cells activate vitamin D and increase immune response

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Vitamin D is essential to good health but needs to be activated to function properly in the human body. Until recently, this activation was thought to happen primarily in the kidneys, but a new University of Iowa study finds that the activation step can also occur in lung airway cells.

The study also links the vitamin D locally produced in the lung airway cells to activation of two genes that help fight infection. The study results appear in the Nov. 15 issue of the Journal of Immunology, now online.

New type of fuel found in Patagonia fungus

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BOZEMAN, Mont. -- A team led by a Montana State University professor has found a fungus that produces a new type of diesel fuel, which they say holds great promise.

Calling the fungus' output "myco-diesel," Gary Strobel and his collaborators describe their initial observations in the November issue of Microbiology.

The discovery may offer an alternative to fossil fuels, said Strobel, MSU professor of plant sciences and plant pathology. The find is even bigger, he said, than his 1993 discovery of fungus that contained the anticancer drug taxol.

NYU biologists identify genes that prevent changes in physical traits due to environmental changes

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New York University biologists have identified genes that prevent physical traits from being affected by environmental changes. The research, which studied the genetic makeup of baker's yeast, appears in the latest issue of the Public Library of Science's journal, PloS Biology.

NYU biologists Mark Siegal, an assistant professor, and Sasha Levy, a post-doctoral fellow, who are part of NYU's Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, conducted the study.

Snakebite is a neglected threat to global public health

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Snakebites cause considerable death and injury worldwide and pose an important yet neglected threat to public health, says new research published in this week's PLoS Medicine. The study used the most comprehensive methods yet to estimate that at least 421,000 envenomings and 20,000 deaths from snakebites occur each year, especially in South and South East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Spatial and temporal clustering of dengue virus transmission in Thai villages

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Rainforest fungus makes diesel

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A unique fungus that makes diesel compounds has been discovered living in trees in the rainforest, according to a paper published in the November issue of Microbiology. The fungus is potentially a totally new source of green energy and scientists are now working to develop its fuel producing potential.

NIAID media availability: Seizures following parasitic infection associated with brain swelling

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Protein-printing technique gives snapshots of immune system defense

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Nov. 3, 2008) — When Albrecht Durer and other Renaissance artists painstakingly etched images onto plates, swabbed ink into the fine grooves and transferred the images to paper with a press, they never could have guessed that centuries later the same technique would uncover the secrets of human cells.

Whitehead Institute and Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have borrowed a technique from such "intaglio" printing to create snapshots describing the behavior of immune cell populations at a moment in time.