Genetic Archaeology News Archives Page 13

New Center Explores Influence Of Nature Versus Nurture On Genes (8/4/2007)

The age-old debate of nature versus nurture has a new twist: Scientists say the two N's may be so entwined that their influence on our genes combines to shape our health and development in ways we never imagined. ...> Full Article

Molecular Biologists Employ Reporter Genes To Track Cells And Organisms (8/4/2007)

To help molecular biologists in the difficult task of keeping abreast of current events in the world of cells and organisms, they employ reporter genes to 'broadcast' specific happenings. ...> Full Article

Discovery Provides Key Evidence Of Life's Beginnings (8/3/2007)

Researchers from Saint Louis University (SLU) and Peking University in China are revealing for the first time the findings of a discovery that could change the way we think about the development of life on Earth. ...> Full Article

Fossils Older Than Dinosaurs Reveal Pattern Of Early Animal Evolution On Earth (8/3/2007)

The abundant diversity of characteristics within species likely helped fuel the proliferation and evolution of an odd-looking creature that emerged from an unprecedented explosion of life on Earth more than 500 million years ago. University of Chicago paleontologist Mark Webster reports this finding in the July 27 issue of the journal Science. ...> Full Article

British Researchers Search For Cumbrian Roots (8/3/2007)

Over a hundred Cumbrian volunteers are needed to give blood samples to help researchers at Newcastle University as part of a national study which uses genetic information to reveal the history of British people. ...> Full Article

What A Pregnant Mother Eats Makes Her Children More Susceptible To Disease (8/2/2007)

Experiments in animals have provided additional and tantalizing evidence that what a pregnant mother eats can make her offspring more susceptible to disease later in life. ...> Full Article

Biologist Receives Grant To Study Beetle Horn Evolution (8/2/2007)

With the aid of a $530,000, three-year National Science Foundation grant, Indiana University Bloomington biologist Armin Moczek will continue his research into the origin and diversification of beetle horns. Horned beetles are increasingly being recognized as a new model system in evolutionary and developmental biology, and this is the second NSF grant given to Moczek to further develop his study system. ...> Full Article

Genomics Study Provides Insight Into The Evolution Of Unique Human Traits, Including Endurance Running (8/2/2007)

Today, researchers from the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center (UCDHSC), along with colleagues from Stanford University, report the results of a large-scale, genome-wide study to investigate gene copy number differences among ten primate species, including humans. ...> Full Article

Early Modern Human Skull Includes Surprising Neanderthal Feature (8/1/2007)

New radiocarbon analysis dates human skull to 33,000 years ago ...> Full Article

New Method Better Identifies Functionally Related Genes On The Bacterial Chromosome (8/1/2007)

The moment a bacterial pathogen makes contact with its host, its goal is simple: to infect. To do the job, it has to turn a specific array of genes on and off and show a little know-how in adapting to its new environment. A new tool developed at Rockefeller University allows scientists to identify more precisely than before this specific array of genes - known and unknown - that are expressed as a result of this interaction as well as determine what functions they may perform. ...> Full Article

Study Solves Mystery Of Mammalian Ears (7/31/2007)

A 30-year scientific debate over how specialized cells in the inner ear amplify sound in mammals appears to have been settled more in favor of bouncing cell bodies rather than vibrating, hair-like cilia, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. ...> Full Article

Parents Seeking Sex Abandon 1 In 3 Offspring (7/31/2007)

The eggs of the penduline tit Remiz pendulinus are frequently abandoned as both parents go in search of new sexual conquests, a study published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology has found. ...> Full Article

World's Oldest Functional Prosthetic Body Part (7/30/2007)

An artificial big toe attached to the foot of an ancient Egyptian mummy could prove to be the world's earliest functional prosthetic body part, say scientists. ...> Full Article

Cormorants Underwater Vision No Better Than Humans (7/29/2007)

Researchers at the School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham have discovered that cormorants' underwater vision is no better than that of humans. They have found that these birds flush out prey by disturbing it, rather than pursuing it at speed. ...> Full Article

Grandfathers' Role In Reproduction Unravelled By Researchers (7/29/2007)

Researchers at the University of Sheffield, in collaboration with the University of Turku in Finland, have discovered that grandfathers have little influence on the reproductive success of their adult children, where as grandmothers gain two extra grandchildren for every ten years they live after the menopause. ...> Full Article

Process Paves Way for Zebrafish Knockout Bank (7/28/2007)

A new, more efficient technique for generating systematic zebrafish gene knockouts may soon provide the genomic research community with a comprehensive zebrafish gene knockout bank. In last week's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH); the University of California, Los Angeles; and Peking University in Beijing, China, reported developing a technology to knockout zebrafish genes in a stable, targeted manner. ...> Full Article

Bagging Badlands In Search For Primate Fossils (7/28/2007)

In paleontology, discovery can be dirty. And the search can lead to some rugged places. This summer, Lamar University students and their professor, Jim Westgate, headed for the Badlands of Utah to do some paleontological prospecting. ...> Full Article

500 Year Old Korean Mummies May Provide Clues To Combat Hepatitis B (7/27/2007)

Mummies that have recently been unearthed in South Korea may provide clues on how to combat hepatitis B, according to Prof. Mark Spigelman of the Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. ...> Full Article

New Fruit Fly Gene Discovery May Change Ideas About How New Genes Are Formed (7/27/2007)

Scientists thought that most new genes were formed from existing genes, but Cornell researchers have discovered a gene in some fruit flies that appears to be unrelated to other genes in any known genome. ...> Full Article

Scientists Unravel Feeding Habits Of Flying Reptiles (7/27/2007)

Scientists at the University of Sheffield, collaborating with colleagues at the Universities of Portsmouth and Reading, have taken a step back in time and provided a new insight into the lifestyle of a prehistoric flying reptile. ...> Full Article

Dogs Can See Light 5 Times Dimmer Than Humans (7/26/2007)

A lot better than we do, says Paul Miller, clinical professor of comparative ophthalmology at University of Wisconsin-Madison. ...> Full Article

Surprising New Species Of Light-harvesting Bacterium Discovered In Yellowstone (7/26/2007)

In the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park, a team of researchers has discovered a novel bacterium that transforms light into chemical energy. The discovery of the chlorophyll-producing bacterium, Candidatus Chloracidobacterium (Cab.) thermophilum, will be described in the July 27 issue of the journal Science in a paper led by Don Bryant, Ernest C. Pollard professor of biotechnology in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Penn State, and David M. Ward, professor of microbial studies in the Thermal Biology Institute and Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences at Montana State University, and colleagues. ...> Full Article

Mastodon Extends The Time Limit On DNA Sequencing (7/25/2007)

In a new paper in PLoS Biology, Michael Hofreiter from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, and colleagues from Switzerland and the United States, announce the sequencing of the complete mitochondrial genome of the mastodon (Mammut americanum), a recently extinct relative of the living elephants that diverged about 26 million years ago. ...> Full Article

How Our Ancestors Coped With Abrupt Climate Change (7/24/2007)

A research consortium, led by Professor John Lowe in the Geography Department at Royal Holloway, University of London, has been awarded funding of £3m to develop a novel approach for assessing how humans may have responded to rapid environmental changes during the recent past. ...> Full Article

Blind Chickens Lay More Eggs (7/23/2007)

A strain of chickens that are naturally blind produce more eggs than their sighted counterparts, a U of G animal scientist has found. ...> Full Article

Research Suggests Single African Origin Of Humans (7/23/2007)

New research at the University of Cambridge claims to have compelling new evidence that humans stem from the same single point of origin. ...> Full Article

Charting Ever-Changing Genomes (7/23/2007)

Instead of immutable proprietary software, any species' genetic information resembles open source code that is constantly tweaked and optimized to meet the users' specific needs. But which parts of the code have withstood the test of time and which parts have undergone rapid evolutionary change has been difficult to assess. ...> Full Article

Queen Honeybees Promiscuity Produces More Productive Colonies (7/22/2007)

Why do queen honeybees mate with dozens of males? Does their extreme promiscuity, perhaps, serve a purpose? ...> Full Article

Whether Plant Or Animal New Genetic Model Can Predict Its Future (7/22/2007)

Rongling Wu is out to prove Mark Twain clearly didn't know a darn thing about genetics. ...> Full Article

African Black Plum Link To Baboon Contraception (7/21/2007)

Having spent a year in the rainforests of Nigeria, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow James Higham has announced unique findings on the reproductive ecology of female olive baboons and the contraceptive effects of the African black plum. ...> Full Article