Scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norwich have discovered how roots find their way past obstacles to grow through soil. The discovery, described in the forthcoming edition of Science, also explains how germinating seedlings penetrate the soil without pushing themselves out as they burrow.
The key is in the fuzzy coat of hairs on the roots of plants says Professor Liam Dolan. We have identified a growth control mechanism that enables these hairs to find their way and to elongate when their path is clear.
Studying the similarities and genetic links between canine and human cancers gives University of Minnesota veterinarian Jaime Modiano insights to help fight the disease. (Photo Credit: University of Minnesota, Academic Health Center)
Solar cell technology is marching ahead, though it still struggles with the two problems: efficiency and high production costs. In collaboration with Satoshi Uchida at the University of Tokyo, Michael Grätzel and his research group at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne have now developed new sensitizers that should help an inexpensive type of solar cell to be more efficient. As they report in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the sensitizers are based on the dye indoline.
Differences in gene expression levels between people of European versus African ancestry can affect how each group responds to certain drugs or fights off specific infections, report researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center and the Expression Research Laboratory at Affymetrix Inc. of Santa Clara, CA.
A new study provides valuable insight into a previously undescribed mechanism that regulates a prominent cancer-associated protein. The research, published by Cell Press in the February 29th issue of Molecular Cell, will enhance understanding of the fundamental processes that contribute to breast cancer.
Researchers have found a gene responsible for a particularly debilitating form of epilepsy that also leads to kidney failure, according to a report published online on February 28th and also in the March 7th print issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, a publication of Cell Press. Whats more, the new findings, which begin to crack open the cell biology of the problem, were made with the help of just three affected individuals.
An area of the brain involved in the planning and production of spoken and signed language in humans plays a similar role in chimpanzee communication, researchers report online on February 28th in the journal Current Biology, a publication of Cell Press.
Chimpanzee communicative behavior shares many characteristics with human language, said Jared Taglialatela of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. The results from this study suggest that these similarities extend to the way in which our brains produce and process communicative signals.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Eosinophilic esophagitis, an inflammatory condition known as EE that often mimics reflux and can cause refusal to eat, affects about 1 in 2000 children in the United States and its prevalence is growing. Researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine and Riley Hospital for Children report that treatment with oral or swallowed/sprayed steroids results in significant patient improvement, but that if discontinued relapse is common.
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