Biosentients - Science Biology… etc

Dwindling federal funding jeopardizes important animal and biomedical research, together with the institutional research programs that focus on them, a group of Michigan State University researchers warn. The alarm was sounded today in the journal Science by MSU scientists James Ireland, George Smith, Jose Cibelli and five colleagues from other institutions. It comes just as the landmark sequencing of the domestic cattle genome is published in the same issue……..

According to the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, over 600 million visitors pass through the gates of over 1,300 zoological parks, reserves and aquariums worldwide every year.

Springtime brings many new animals to these parks as well, as newborns. Collected here are some photographs from zoos and aquariums around the world from the past couple of ………

Researchers predict that global climate change will make a number of regions around the world warmer and drier, a factor which, taken by itself, would seem to increase the risk of wildfires. But a newly released study led by a Montana State University researcher shows that changes in the types of vegetation covering an area play a major role in determining how often that area is burned by fires and could even counteract the effects of changes in temperature and moisture……..

Researchers at the Omics Science Center (OSC) of the RIKEN Yokohama Institute in Japan along with scientists from McGill University and other institutions worldwide are challenging current notions of how genes are controlled in mammals. Three years of intensive research by members of the international FANTOM consortium will culminate with the publication of several milestone scientific papers in Nature Genetics and other journals on April 20……..

Bioinformatics scientists from UC San Diego just moved closer to unlocking the mystery of how human cells switch from “proliferation mode” to “specialization mode.” This computational biology work from the Jacobs School of Engineering’s bioengineering department could lead to new ideas for curbing unwanted cell proliferationincluding some cancers. This research, published in Nature Genetics, could also improve our understanding of how organs and other complex tissues develop……..

An invasion of soybean aphids poses a problem for soybean farmers requiring application of pesticides, but a team of Penn State entomologists thinks a careful choice of nitrogen-fixing bacteria may provide protection against the sucking insects. Soybeans are legumes, plants that can have a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria - rhizobia - and therefore do not need additional nitrogen fertilizer. Each type of legume - peas, beans, lentils, alfalfa - have their own rhizobia……..

A team of scientists has discovered a new chemical reaction for producing one of the four nucleotides, or building blocks, needed to build DNA. The reaction includes an unusual first step, or mechanism, and unlike other known reactions that produce the DNA building block, uses an enzyme that speeds up, or catalyzes, the reaction without bonding to any of the compounds, or substrates, in the reaction……..

An unmapped reservoir of briny liquid chemically similar to sea water, but buried under an inland Antarctic glacier, appears to support unusual microbial life in a place where cold, darkness and lack of oxygen would previously have led researchers to believe nothing could survive, as per newly published research……..

Eating just one and a half servings of tart cherries could significantly boost antioxidant activity in the body, according to new University of Michigan research reported at the 2009 Experimental Biology meeting in New Orleans.1 In the study, healthy adults who ate a cup and a half of frozen cherries had increased levels of antioxidants, specifically five different anthocyanins the natural antioxidants that give cherries their red color……..

Keeping warm isn’t the only reason lizards and other cold-blooded critters bask in the sun. As per a research studyreported in the May/recent issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, chameleons alter their sunbathing behavior based on their need for vitamin D. “It’s a longstanding assumption that thermoregulation is the only reason that lizards bask,” says Kristopher Karsten, a biologist at Texas Christian University who led the study. “Our results suggest that in addition to thermoregulation, vitamin D regulation appears to have a significant impact on basking behavior as well”……..