Summaries | Headlines

Deep Sleep: Researchers Discovery How To Simulate Slow Wave Activity (May 1, 2007) -- Sleep remains one of the big mysteries in biology. All animals sleep, and people who are deprived of sleep suffer physically, emotionally and intellectually. But nobody knows how sleep restores the ... > full story

Hawaiian Treasure, Macadamia Nuts Good For The Heart (May 1, 2007) -- Incorporating macadamia nuts into a heart healthy diet can reduce cardiovascular disease risks according to ... > full story

Structural Biology Breakthrough: New Way To Analyze Moving Parts Of Large Proteins (May 1, 2007) -- Scientists have discovered a new way to analyze the moving parts of large proteins -- a breakthrough that will make it easier for structural biologists to classify and scrutinize the active sites of ... > full story

Real Diet Pill? New 'Exercise Pill' Tells Cells To Burn Fat; Works in Mice (May 1, 2007) -- A new pill makes normal mice resistant to weight gain even when they are fed a high-fat diet. The synthetic drug is designed to mimic fat, and allows scientists to chemically switch on PPAR-d, the ... > full story

Pistachios Lower Cholesterol, Provide Antioxidants (May 1, 2007) -- A handful of pistachios may lower cholesterol and provide the antioxidants usually found in leafy green vegetables and brightly colored fruit, according to a team of ... > full story

Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Type II Diabetes Are Similar At The Molecular Level (May 1, 2007) -- Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes, the human version of mad cow disease, and other degenerative diseases are more closely related at the molecular level than scientists ... > full story

Counting On Trees: Scientists Are Creating A National Biomass And Carbon Dataset For USA (May 1, 2007) -- After completing a two-year pilot phase, Woods Hole Research Center scientists are expanding the scope of the "National Biomass and Carbon Dataset" for the year 2000. NBCD2000 will be an invaluable ... > full story

High Doses Of Phytochemicals, Including Flavanoids, In Teas And Supplements Could Be Unhealthy (May 1, 2007) -- Those phytochemicals -- natural plant-based compounds that give fruits and vegetables a reputation as healthy food -- could be unhealthy if consumed in high doses in dietary supplements, teas or ... > full story

Elevated Tungsten In Trees Coincides With Nevada Leukemia Cluster (May 1, 2007) -- Tungsten began increasing in trees in Fallon, Nevada several years before the town's rise in childhood leukemia cases, according to a recent study. This is the first study that has examined changes ... > full story

'War Between The Sexes': The Coevolution Of Genitalia In Waterfowl (May 1, 2007) -- A team of biologists discovered anatomical details about the female reproductive tract in waterfowl that indicate that male and female anatomy have coevolved in a "sexual arms race." While the ... > full story

Ape Gestures Offer Clues To The Evolution Of Human Communication (May 1, 2007) -- Researchers have found bonobos and chimpanzees use manual gestures of their hands, feet and limbs more flexibly than they do facial expressions and vocalizations, further supporting the evolution of ... > full story

Pharmaceutical Compounds Found In Nation's Fresh Water (May 1, 2007) -- According to a recent study, pharmaceuticals are being found in septic tanks and, consequentially, ground water due to incomplete human metabolism and excretion into the waste stream or by disposal ... > full story

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Apple -- The apple is a tree and its pomaceous fruit, of species Malus domestica in the rose family Rosaceae, is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits. It is a small deciduous tree reaching 5-12 m ... > full article

Brain -- In animals, the brain, or encephalon, is the control center of the central nervous system. In most animals, the brain is located in the head, protected by the skull and close to the primary sensory ... > full article

Motor neuron -- In vertebrates, motor neurons (also called motoneurons) are efferent neurons that originate in the spinal cord and synapse with muscle fibers to facilitate muscle contraction and with muscle spindles ... > full article

Sensory neuron -- Sensory neurons are nerve cells within the nervous system responsible for converting external stimuli from the organism's environment into internal electrical impulses. For example, some sensory ... > full article

Heart -- The heart is a hollow, muscular organ in vertebrates that pumps blood through the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions, or a similar structure in annelids, mollusks, and arthropods. The ... > full article

Lung -- The lung is the essential organ of respiration in air-breathing vertebrates. Its principal function is to transport oxygen from the atmosphere into the bloodstream, and to excrete carbon dioxide from ... > full article

Immune system -- The immune system is the system of specialized cells and organs that protect an organism from outside biological influences. (Though in a broad sense, almost every organ has a protective function - ... > full article

Enzyme -- Enzymes are proteins that catalyze (i.e. accelerate) chemical reactions. Enzymes are biochemical catalysts. In these reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called substrates, ... > full article

Pathogen -- A pathogen or infectious agent is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its host. The term is most often used for agents that disrupt the normal physiology of a multicellular animal or ... > full article

Vaccination -- Vaccination is the process of administering weakened or dead pathogens to a healthy person or animal, with the intent of conferring immunity against a targeted form of a related disease agent. It ... > full article

Anthrax -- Anthrax, also referred to as splenic fever, is an acute infectious disease caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis and is highly lethal in some forms. Anthrax most commonly occurs in wild and ... > full article

Deer -- A deer is a ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. A number of broadly similar animals, from related families within the order Artiodactyla, are often also called ... > full article

Pheromone -- A pheromone is any chemical produced by a living organism that transmits a message to other members of the same species. There are alarm pheromones, food trail pheromones, sex pheromones, and many ... > full article

Japanese beetle -- The Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica) is a beetle about 1.5 cm (0.6 inches) long and 1 cm (0.4 inches) wide (smaller in Canada), with shiny copper-colored elytra and a shiny green top of the thorax ... > full article

Gypsy moth -- The gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, is a moth of European origin. Gypsy moth larvae prefer hardwoods, but may feed on several hundred different species of trees and shrubs. In the East the gypsy moth ... > full article

Tree -- A tree can be defined as a large, perennial, woody plant. Though there is no set definition regarding minimum size, the term generally applies to plants at least 6 m (20 ft) high at maturity and, ... > full article

Agriculture -- Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and many other desired products by the cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). The practice of ... > full article

Plant -- Plants are a major group of living things including familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, ferns, and mosses. About 350,000 species of plants, defined as seed plants, bryophytes, ferns and ... > full article

Fungus -- A fungus (plural fungi) is a eukaryotic organism that digests its food externally and absorbs the nutrient molecules into its cells. Fungi are very important economically: yeasts are responsible for ... > full article

Photosynthesis -- Photosynthesis, generally, is the synthesis of sugar from light, carbon dioxide and water, with oxygen as a waste product. It is arguably the most important biochemical pathway known; nearly all life ... > full article