Researchers have obtained the first recordings of brain-cell activity in an actively flying fruit fly. The work suggests that at least part of the brain of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) “is in a different and more sensitive state during flight than when the fly is quiescent,” says a study author.
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Drugs that target the way cells convert nutrients into energy could offer new approaches to treating a range of conditions including heart attack and stroke. Using a new way to screen for potential drugs, researchers have identified several FDA-approved agents, including an over-the-counter anti-nausea drug, that can shift cellular energy metabolism processes in animals.
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In order to regulate their body temperature as efficiently as possible, wild female bats switch between two strategies depending on both the ambient temperature and their reproductive status.
In a study that could lead to new therapeutic targets for patients with the cystic fibrosis, scientists have identified a defective signaling pathway that contributes to disease severity.
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Physicists are now able to mount up to two photons on top of one another to construct a variety of quantum states of light.
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Watching TV medical shows might not be the best way to learn what to do when someone has a seizure. Researchers screened the most popular medical dramas and found that doctors and nurses on the shows responded inappropriately to seizures almost half the time, according to a new study.
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To find the causes for cancer, biochemists and developmental biologists retraced the function of an important human cancer gene 600 million years back in time. For the first time, they have identified the oncogene myc in a fresh water polyp and they have shown that this oncogene has similar biochemical functions in ancestral metazoan and [...]
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Galectin-4 and galectin-8, carbohydrate-binding proteins found in our intestines, can recognize and kill bacteria that have human blood type sugar molecules on their surfaces. This discovery explains why bacteria can’t sneak past our immune systems by camouflaging themselves with blood type molecules. It may also explain why the human population has a diversity of blood [...]
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Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing new 3-D maps of the interstellar gas in the local area around our sun. A French-American team of astronomers presents new absorption measurements towards more than 1800 stars. They were able to characterize the properties of the interstellar gas within each sight line.
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The master gene SRC-3 not only enhances estrogen-dependent growth of cancer cells, it also sends a signal to the cell membrane to promote cell movement — a key element of cancer metastasis, said researchers. The finding not only uncovers a new activity for SRC-3, it also clears up a mystery about how the message that [...]
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