The precise timing of the origin of life on Earth and the changes in life during the past 4.5 billion years has been a subject of great controversy for the past century. The principal indicator of the amount of organic carbon produced by biological activity traditionally used is the ratio of the less abundant isotope [...]
Continue reading about Scientist Uncovers Miscalculation In Geological Undersea Record
New findings about the causes of mad cow disease show that sometimes it may be genetic. Until several years ago, it was thought that the cattle prion disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy — also called BSE or mad cow disease — was a foodborne disease.
Continue reading about Mad Cow Disease Also Caused By Genetic Mutation
The probability of someone cheating during the course of a relationship varies between 40 and 76 percent. “It’s very high,” say researchers.
Continue reading about Infidelity Dissected: New Research On Why People Cheat
For up to a million women, enjoying a piece of pepperoni pizza has painful consequences. They have a chronic bladder condition that causes pelvic pain. Spicy food, as well as citrus and caffeine, can intensify the pain, which is so intense some women inject lidocaine into their bladders. Researchers previously thought chemicals from the food [...]
Continue reading about Some Bladder Problems Are Provoked By Colon
Oil spills and other environmental pollution, including low level leaks from underground pipes and storage tanks, could be quickly and easily spotted in the future using color-coded bacteria, scientists report.
Continue reading about Color-coded Bacteria Can Spot Oil Spills Or Leaky Pipes And Storage Tanks
The war against malaria in tropical countries was fought and lost in the 20th century on the basis of faulty intelligence, a ‘dodgy dossier’ which argued that the same methods used to tackle the disease in temperate countries would also work in the tropics.
Using the molecular equivalent of a tattoo on DNA that adult stem cells pass to their “daughter” cells in combination with gene expression profiles, researchers have identified two early steps in adult stem cell differentiation — the process that determines whether cells will form muscle, neurons, skin, etc., in people and animals.
Continue reading about DNA ‘Tattoos’ Link Adult, Daughter Stem Cells In Planarians
Marauding molecules cause the tissue damage that underlies heart attacks, sunburn, Alzheimer’s and hangovers. But scientists say they may have found ways to combat the carnage after discovering an important cog in the body’s molecular detoxification machinery.
Continue reading about Key Enzyme For Regulating Heart Attack Damage Found, Scientists Report
Chemical scientists have shown that, bad as the traffic is, the most harmful air pollution in Mexico City may not come from burning fossil fuels. Instead the culprit may be garbage incineration.
Continue reading about Tracking Down The Menace In Mexico City Smog
Magnetic resonance imaging measurements of the thickness of the optic nerve sheath are a good marker for raised intracranial pressure. New research shows that a retro-bulbar optic nerve sheath diameter above 5.82mm predicts raised ICP in 90 percent of cases.
Continue reading about New Marker For Raised Intracranial Pressure