Body

LA JOLLA, CA-- It takes dozens of chemical reactions for a cell to make isoprenoids, a diverse class of molecules found in every type of living organism. Cholesterol, for example, an important component of the membranes of cells, is a large isoprenoid chemical. The molecule that gives oranges their citrusy smell and taste is an isoprenoid, as is the natural antimalarial drug artemisinin.

Social networks are commonplace in this day and age, and how we fit in may depend on anything from political affiliation, to religion, to even our own personality traits. According to a new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers who are okay with being rejected from a group are more likely to purchase things that set them apart from the norm.

As the Endangered Species Act nears its 40th birthday at the end of December, conservation biologists are coming to terms with a danger not foreseen in the early 1970s: global climate change.

Federal fisheries scientists have published a special section in this month's issue of Conservation Biology that outlines some considerations for coming decades. A University of Washington climate scientist helped biologists determine the long-term forecast for aquatic animals.

A long-proboscid fly with an extra-long, tongue-like proboscis might seem to take extra-long to feed on a flower, but it actually has an advantage over its counterparts with average sized nectar-sipping mouth parts. It can suck up almost all nectar available in a flower in one go, because it has more efficient suction pumps in its head, says Florian Karolyi of the University of Vienna in Austria, about a study he and his team conducted in South Africa's Namaqualand region. The findings are published in Springer's journal Naturwissenschaften – The Science of Nature.

PITTSBURGH (December 9, 2013) … Synthetic, man-made cells and ultrathin electronics built from a new form of "zero-dimensional" carbon nanotube may be possible through research at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. The research, ""Zero-Dimensional" Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes," was published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

Researchers from UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered a biological mechanism that makes brain tumor cells drug resistant by allowing them to escape from the drugs designed to target them. The study was published online Dec. 5 by the journal Science.

Glioblastoma is the most common and deadliest form of brain cancer, and the surface of its cells are marked by telltale mutations that accelerate tumor growth. The drugs currently used to find and kill glioblastoma cells target those mutations.

New Rochelle, NY, December 11, 2013—People with the genetic blood clotting disorder hemophilia who have been infected with HIV for decades have an increased proportion of immune cells in their blood that specifically target HIV. This protective immune response helps chronically infected hemophilia patients survive, even during periods of HIV activity, according to a study published in BioResearch Open Access, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

Cancer involves a breakdown of normal cell behavior. Cell reproduction and movement go haywire, causing tumors to grow and spread through the body.

A new finding by University of Pennsylvania scientists has identified key steps that trigger this disintegration of cellular regulation. Their discovery—that a protein called Exo70 has a split personality, with one form keeping cells under tight control and another contributing to the ability of tumors to invade distant parts of the body—points to new possibilities for diagnosing cancer spread.

Johns Hopkins researchers say that a drug approved to treat lung cancer substantially shrank tumors in mice that were caused by a rare form of bone cancer called chordoma.

If there is any native forest in the vicinity, tree, fern and herbaceous species typical of these forests penetrate under the pine plantations without any need for action. That way it is possible, to a certain extent, for native forests to be restored, thanks to the process known as ecological succession. This is the conclusion reached by the UPV/EHU's Landscape, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services group in its research carried out on the pine plantations of Bizkaia. The work has been published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management.

Finding the perfect gift for that special someone is never easy and the challenge gets even harder during the holiday season. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers shopping for more than one person tend to pass on "guaranteed hits" in lieu of getting something unique for each person on their list.

Understanding the science behind pain, from a simple "ouch" to the chronic and excruciating, has been an elusive goal for centuries. But now, researchers are reporting a promising step toward studying pain in action. In a study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, scientists describe the development of a new technique, which they tested in rats, that could result in better ways to relieve pain and monitor healing.

This news release is available in German.

Cuckoos that lay their eggs in the nest of a magpie so that their chicks can be raised by the latter better hope that their young are not raised together with other magpies. The chances of cuckoo fledglings raised in mixed broods being fed by their foster parents are much lower, according to research led by Manuel Soler of the Universidad de Granada in Spain. The findings are published in Springer's journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

Researchers from the Laboratory of Cancer Metabolism (LCM) led by George Thomas at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) and the Division of Hematology/ Oncology, University of Cincinnati, have shown that loss of either one of two tumor suppressors, ribosomal proteins RPL5 or RPL11, fail to induce cell-cycle arrest, but prevent the proliferation of cells as they have a reduced capacity to synthesize proteins.