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The "vegetable lamb" plant — once believed to bear fruit that ripened into a living baby sheep — produces substances that show promise in laboratory experiments as new treatments for osteoporosis, the bone-thinning disease. That's the conclusion of a new study in ACS' monthly Journal of Natural Products.

A Los Alamos National Laboratory toxicologist and a multidisciplinary team of researchers have documented potential cellular damage from "fullerenes"—soccer-ball-shaped, cage-like molecules composed of 60 carbon atoms. The team also noted that this particular type of damage might hold hope for treatment of Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, or even cancer.

Today's publication in Nature of the genetic blueprint for the zebra finch marks 10 years of success for the Ensembl project in helping researchers to navigate the genomes of a Noah's Ark of species.

Take a look at this: Scientists from Buffalo, Cleveland, and Oklahoma City made a huge step toward making the blind see, and they did it by using a form of gene therapy that does not involve the use of modified viruses.

In research to be published tomorrow (01 April 2010) in Nature, scientists break the news that they have sequenced the zebra finch genome. This is only the second ever bird genome to be sequenced – the first being that of the chicken.

A study of the genetics of common diseases including diabetes, heart disease and bipolar disorder has found that commonly occurring copy number variations – duplicated or missing chunks of DNA in our genome – are unlikely to play a major role in such diseases. The research, funded by the Wellcome Trust, is published online today in the journal Nature.

The main cause of a rapid global cooling period, known as the Big Freeze or Younger Dryas - which occurred nearly 13,000 years ago - has been identified thanks to the help of an academic at the University of Sheffield.

A new paper, which is published in Nature today (1 April 2010), has identified a mega-flood path across North America which channelled melt-water from a giant ice sheet into the oceans and triggering the Younger Dryas cold snap.

An international research consortium has identified more than 800 genes that appear to play a role in the male zebra finch's ability to learn elaborate songs from his father. The researchers also found evidence that song behavior engages complex gene regulatory networks within the brain of the songbird– networks that rely on parts of the genome once considered junk.

Scientists from the Drug Discovery Unit (DDU) at the University of Dundee - working together with partners at the University of York and the Structural Genomics Consortium in Toronto - have made a major breakthrough in identifying new treatments for a fatal disease which infects tens of thousands of Africans each year.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The unmet or unrealistic expectations adoptive parents often have is a recurring theme in postadoption depression, according to research from Purdue University.

In gastric cancer patients who have had part or all of their stomach removed, the hormone ghrelin may lessen post-operative weight loss and improve appetite, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.

A Kansas State University researcher is exploring the use of Chinese wolfberries to improve vision deficiencies that are common for type-2 diabetics.

Dingbo "Daniel" Lin, K-State research assistant professor of human nutrition, is studying wolfberries and their potential to improve damage to the retina. His findings show that the fruit can lower the oxidative stress that the eye undergoes as a result of type-2 diabetes.

How many gallons of water does it take to produce $1 worth of sugar, dog and cat food, or milk? The answers appear in the first comprehensive study in 30 years documenting American industry's thirst for this precious resource. The study, which could lead to better ways to conserve water, is in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal.

Scientists in the United Kingdom are reporting evidence that consumption of insects contaminated with a toxic metal may be a factor in the mysterious global decline of meat-eating, or carnivorous, plants. Their study describes how meals of contaminated insects have adverse effects on the plants. It appears in ACS' semi-monthly journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Scientists have uncovered what could be a very important clue in answering one of the most perplexing questions about cancer: why does it spread to the liver more than any other organ? In a new research report published in the April 2010 issue of Journal of Leukocyte Biology (http://www.jleukbio.org), scientists from New York University describe experimental results suggesting that the immune system may be the reason.