Body

(Philadelphia, PA) – A team of scientists from Temple University School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania has moved another step closer to solving a decades-long mystery of how the all-important flow of calcium into the cell's power source, the mitochondria, is controlled.

For the first time, researchers tracking the behavior of emperor penguins near the sea have identified the importance of sea ice for the penguins' feeding habits. The research, published November 21 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Shinichi Watanabe from Fukuyama University, Japan and colleagues, Japan describes emperor penguin foraging behavior through the birds' chick-rearing season.

LA JOLLA, CA – November 22, 2012 – Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have made a major advance in understanding how flu viruses replicate within infected cells. The researchers used cutting-edge molecular biology and electron-microscopy techniques to "see" one of influenza's essential protein complexes in unprecedented detail. The images generated in the study show flu virus proteins in the act of self-replication, highlighting the virus's vulnerabilities that are sure to be of interest to drug developers.

The molecular mechanisms whereby a spectrum of dahlias, from white to yellow to red to purple, get their color are already well known, but the black dahlia has hitherto remained a mystery. Now, a study published in BMC Plant Biology reveals for the first time that the distinctive black-red colouring is based on an increased accumulation of anthocyanins as a result of drastically reduced concentrations of flavones.

A hungry mantis shrimp may be the last thing that a passing fish sees before it is snatched from the water by the predator. Maya deVries from the University of California, Berkeley, says 'Spearer mantis shrimps stay in their sandy burrows and they wait for a fast-moving prey item to come by, but then they come out of nowhere and grab the prey with their long skinny appendages.' However, little was know about how these vicious predators unleash their lightning-fast attacks.

Just 10 minutes spent in the back seat of a car with a smoker in the front, boosts a child's daily exposure to harmful pollutants by up to 30%, reveals research published online in Tobacco Control.

Pollutant levels exceeded those found in restaurants, bars, and casinos, the study showed.

Children are very vulnerable to the effects of second hand smoke, because most of this occurs in cars and private homes—locations not covered by outright public bans on smoking—say the authors.

BOSTON – A new targeted drug demonstrated its ability to control metastaticgastrointestinal stromal tumor, an uncommon and life-threatening form of sarcoma, after the disease had become resistant to all existing therapies, report investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who led the worldwide clinical trial.

Epithelial cells are homebodies – they like to attach to things and becoming detached initiates a form of cell suicide known as anoikis (literally "homeless" in Latin). But in order for cancer cells to metastasize they have to leave their homes and to survive while traveling they must resist anoikis – like a third-grader at sleep-away camp. Cancer cells do this by taking a page from the neuron playbook. Neurons are by nature unbound – they grow and link to each other and not to a substrate.

Avian pox has been recorded in British bird species such as house sparrows and wood pigeons for a number of years. However, the emergence of a new strain of this viral disease in great tits is causing concern amongst vets and ornithologists.

Wildlife vet Dr Becki Lawson from ZSL says: "Infection leads to warty, tumour-like growths on different parts of a bird's body, particularly on the head around the eyes and beak.

In the marine world, high-energy prey make for high-energy predators. And to survive, such marine predators need to sustain the right kind of high-energy diet. Not just any prey will do, suggests a new study by researchers from the University of British Columbia and University of La Rochelle, in France.

Published today in the online journal PLOS ONE, the study is the first to show that the survival of whales and dolphins depends on the quality of their diets and this plays an important role in conservation.

Women scientists in primatology are poorly represented at symposia organized by men, but receive equal representation when symposia organizers are women or mixed groups, according to research published November 21 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Lynne Isbell and colleagues from the University of California, Davis.

Less than 2% of the earth's fossils are preserved in volcanic rock, but researchers have identified a new one: the skull of a rhino that perished in a volcanic eruption 9.2 million years ago. The find is described in a paper published November 21 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Pierre-Olivier Antoine and colleagues from the University of Montpellier, France.

Whether living with pirates or in the wild, parrots have exceptional abilities to mimic the sounds they hear. One species, the orange-fronted conure, may have evolved this ability in order to communicate with specific individuals in other flocks, according to research published November 21 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Thorsten Balsby from the University of Aarhus, Denmark and colleagues from the University of Copenhagen.

Studying the genetic variability of endangered species is becoming increasingly necessary for species conservation and monitoring. But, endangered species are difficult to observe and sample, and typically harbour very limited genetic diversity. Until now, the process of finding genetic markers was time consuming and quite expensive. These obstacles make the collection of genetic data from endangered animals a difficult task to fulfill.

Immune globulin replacement began decades ago as a treatment for patients who could not make their own protective antibodies, but has proven to have much broader benefits than originally expected.