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TALLAHASSEE, Fla.--In the natural stream communities of Trinidad, guppy populations live close together, but evolve differently. Upstream, fewer predators mean more guppies but less food for each; they grow slowly and larger, reproduce later and less, and die older. Downstream, where predators thrive, guppies eat more, grow rapidly, stay small, reproduce quickly and die younger.

Ancient human teeth are telling secrets that may relate to modern-day health: Some stressful events that occurred early in development are linked to shorter life spans.

"Prehistoric remains are providing strong, physical evidence that people who acquired tooth enamel defects while in the womb or early childhood tended to die earlier, even if they survived to adulthood," says Emory University anthropologist George Armelagos.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- New research conducted at the University of Maryland's bat lab shows Egyptian fruit bats find a target by NOT aiming their guiding sonar directly at it. Instead, they alternately point the sound beam to either side of the target. The new findings by researchers from Maryland and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel suggest that this strategy optimizes the bats' ability to pinpoint the location of a target, but also makes it harder for them to detect a target in the first place.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, U.S.A. (Feb. 4, 2010) — A new finding described today by teams from the National Cancer Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the University of Toronto offers a clue as to how genes can have what you might call multiple personalities.

La Jolla, CA—Nuclear pore complexes are best known as the communication channels that regulate the passage of all molecules to and from a cell's nucleus. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, however, have shown that some of the pores' constituent proteins, called nucleoporins, pull double duty as transcription factors regulating the activity of genes active during early development.

In a finding that may overturn the scientific consensus, scientists are reporting the first discovery of the female sex hormone progesterone in a plant. Until now, scientists thought that only animals could make progesterone, a steroid hormone secreted by the ovaries. Progesterone prepares the uterus for pregnancy and maintains pregnancy. A synthetic version, progestin, is used in birth control pills and other medications. The discovery is reported in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Natural Products.

Auckland, New Zealand and Chicago, USA -- February 4, 2010 -- Giving smokers information about their own individual risk of serious illness helps motivate them to quit smoking, according to a paper published in the current issue of Postgraduate Medical Journal.

The best way to track a moving object with a flashlight might be to aim it to one side, catching the object in the edge of the beam rather than the center. New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science reveals that bats, which 'see' with beams of sound waves, skew their beams off-center when they want to locate an object. The research, which recently appeared in Science, shows that this strategy is the most efficient for locating objects.

Boston, MA -- Overeating in mice triggers a molecule once considered to be only involved in detecting and fighting viruses to also destroy normal metabolism, leading to insulin resistance and setting the stage for diabetes. The new study, led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), specifically links together the immune system and metabolism, a pairing increasingly suspected in diseases that include — in addition to diabetes — heart disease, fatty liver, cancer, and stroke.

UCSF researchers have identified an elusive molecular regulator that controls the ability of human sperm to reach and fertilize the egg, a finding that has implications on both treating male infertility and preventing pregnancy.

The team of biophysicists and molecular biologists also broke through a previous barrier to this research by developing a method to record electrical activity of a single human sperm cell through a process called patch-clamping.

DETROIT – Online programs that provide information and tips about fruits and vegetables may be the key to getting more Americans to eat healthier, say researchers at Henry Ford Hospital.

Researchers found that when given access to an online program about fruits and vegetables, participants increased their daily fruit and vegetable intake by more than two servings. Many of the participants continued using the program after the study concluded, and even reported their family members became involved in the program.

Looking for ABA and ABI3 in moss

In 1995 Quatrano and David Cove, Ph.D., a longtime colleague from the University of Leeds in the U.K., showed that ABA was at work in P. patens as well as in seeds.

In 2006 Heather Marella, a WUSTL graduate student, and Yoichi Sakata, Ph.D., a visiting scientist in Quatrano's lab, showed ABI3 is also present in P. patens. Whereas seed plants have only a single copy of the ABI3 gene, P. patens has at least three.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota have found that the hydrodynamic environment of fish can shape their physical form and swimming style. The research, available on the Journal of Experimental Biology Web site, was sponsored by the National Science Foundation's National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics.

A substance's level of acidity is measured by its pH value; the lower the pH value, the more acidic is the substance. McClintock says data collected since the pre-industrial age indicates the mean surface pH of the oceans has declined from 8.2 to 8.1 units with another 0.4 unit decline possible by century's end. A single whole pH unit drop would make ocean waters 10 times more acidic, which could rob many marine organisms of their ability to produce protective shells – and tip the balance of marine food chains.

Prions are a special class of proteins best known as the source for mad cow and other neurodegenerative diseases. Despite this negative reputation, according to a new report in the February 5th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, a prion may also have important and very positive roles in brain function. The researchers suggest that a prion-like protein may participate in memory in higher eukaryotes, from sea slugs on up.