ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Artificial cells to study molecular crowding and gene expression created
• Scientists solve a 14,000-year-old ocean mystery
• Antiviral enzyme contributes to several forms of cancer
• Continuous satellite monitoring of ice sheets needed to better predict sea-level rise
• Boldly illuminating biology's 'dark matter'
• Undiagnosed pre-diabetes highly prevalent in early Alzheimer's disease study
• Sexual reproduction only second choice for powdery mildew
• Kill-switch controls immune-suppressing cells, scientists discover
• DNA flaws may contribute to cancer risk in people with type 2 diabetes
• Some volcanoes 'scream' at ever-higher pitches until they blow their tops
• Imaging electron pairing in a simple magnetic superconductor
• Key step in molecular 'dance' that duplicates DNA deciphered
• Drug candidate leads to improved endurance
• Proteins involved in immunity potentially cause cancer
• Strong pregnancy outcomes for survivors of childhood cancer
• New theory uncovers cancer's deep evolutionary roots

Artificial cells to study molecular crowding and gene expression created Posted: 14 Jul 2013 01:09 PM PDT Scientists have approximated molecular crowding in an artificial cellular system and found that tight quarters help the process of gene expression, especially when other conditions are less than ideal.

Scientists solve a 14,000-year-old ocean mystery Posted: 14 Jul 2013 01:09 PM PDT At the end of the last Ice Age, as the world began to warm, a swath of the North Pacific Ocean came to life. During a brief pulse of biological productivity 14,000 years ago, this stretch of the sea teemed with phytoplankton, amoeba-like foraminifera and other tiny creatures, who thrived in large numbers until the productivity ended -- as mysteriously as it began -- just a few hundred years later.

Antiviral enzyme contributes to several forms of cancer Posted: 14 Jul 2013 01:09 PM PDT Researchers have discovered that a human antiviral enzyme causes DNA mutations that lead to several forms of cancer.

Continuous satellite monitoring of ice sheets needed to better predict sea-level rise Posted: 14 Jul 2013 01:08 PM PDT The length of the satellite record for the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets is currently too short to tell if the recently reported speed-up of ice loss will be sustained in the future or if it results from natural processes, according to a new study.

Boldly illuminating biology's 'dark matter' Posted: 14 Jul 2013 01:08 PM PDT Microbial dark matter comprises the invisible infrastructure of life that can have profound influences on the most significant environmental processes. By employing next generation DNA sequencing of single cell genomes, researchers are systematically filling in the bacterial and archaeal tree of life's uncharted branches.

Undiagnosed pre-diabetes highly prevalent in early Alzheimer's disease study Posted: 14 Jul 2013 01:08 PM PDT When a neurologist began enrolling people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease into a nationwide study last year, he expected to find only a handful of participants with undiagnosed glucose intolerance, as all the patients were already under a doctor's care and those with known diabetes were excluded. But the scientists said he was "shocked" by how many study participants were found to have pre-diabetes -- a finding that is triggering important questions.

Sexual reproduction only second choice for powdery mildew Posted: 14 Jul 2013 01:06 PM PDT Genetically, powdery mildew is perfectly adapted to its host plants. Evidently, sexual reproduction and new combinations of genetic material usually prove disadvantageous for the fungus. Asexual reproduction, however, is considerably more successful for mildew, as plant biologists demonstrate. Nonetheless, the fungus still allows itself a sexual reproduction cycle.

Kill-switch controls immune-suppressing cells, scientists discover Posted: 14 Jul 2013 01:06 PM PDT Scientists have uncovered the mechanism that controls whether cells that are able to suppress immune responses live or die.

DNA flaws may contribute to cancer risk in people with type 2 diabetes Posted: 14 Jul 2013 01:06 PM PDT A type of genetic abnormality linked to cancer is more common in people with type 2 diabetes than the rest of the population, a new study has found.

Some volcanoes 'scream' at ever-higher pitches until they blow their tops Posted: 14 Jul 2013 01:05 PM PDT Swarms of small earthquakes can precede a volcanic eruption, sometimes resulting in "harmonic tremor" resembling sound from some musical instruments. A new analysis shows tremor during a 2009 sequence at Alaska's Redoubt Volcano glided to substantially higher frequencies, then stopped abruptly just before six of the eruptions.

Imaging electron pairing in a simple magnetic superconductor Posted: 14 Jul 2013 01:05 PM PDT Using a technique to measure the energy required for electrons to pair up and how that energy varies with direction, scientists have identified the factors needed for magnetically mediated superconductivity—as well as those that aren't.

Key step in molecular 'dance' that duplicates DNA deciphered Posted: 14 Jul 2013 01:05 PM PDT Scientists have captured new details of the biochemical interactions necessary for cell division. The research may suggest ways for stopping cell division when it goes awry.

Drug candidate leads to improved endurance Posted: 14 Jul 2013 01:05 PM PDT Scientists have shown that a drug candidate significantly increases exercise endurance in animal models.

Proteins involved in immunity potentially cause cancer Posted: 14 Jul 2013 01:05 PM PDT A set of proteins involved in the body's natural defenses produces a large number of mutations in human DNA, according to a new study. The findings suggest that these naturally produced mutations are just as powerful as known cancer-causing agents in producing tumors.

Strong pregnancy outcomes for survivors of childhood cancer Posted: 13 Jul 2013 06:51 AM PDT New research finds that almost two-thirds of female survivors of childhood cancer who tried unsuccessfully for at least a year to conceive eventually got pregnant.

New theory uncovers cancer's deep evolutionary roots Posted: 12 Jul 2013 07:28 AM PDT A new way to look at cancer -- by tracing its deep evolutionary roots to the dawn of multicellularity more than a billion years ago -- has been proposed. If their theory is correct, it promises to transform the approach to cancer therapy, and to link the origin of cancer to the origin of life and the developmental processes of embryos.

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