Scientific American

Leeches Spill Guts about Elusive Mammals

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:02:08 EST

Want to suss out the existence of a shy mammal in a tropical jungle? Just check a bloodsucking leech.

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Genome Run: Andean Shrub Is First New Plant Species Described by Its DNA

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:45:00 EST

A flowering shrub from the Andean cloud forests made taxonomic history last month. The plant--now dubbed Brunfelsia plowmaniana --had puzzled botanists for decades as they endeavored to determine whether or not it was truly an evolutionary newcomer. When its DNA revealed this to be true, researchers made the unprecedented move to include B. plowmaniana 's genetic code in its description as a new species, in the journal PhytoKeys . That decision could open the door to future DNA definitions of new botanical species--and heal a rift in the field of botany.

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Slight Genetic Variations Can Affect How Others See You

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:00:00 EST

When we meet new people, we assess their character by watching their gestures and facial expressions. Now a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA suggests that those nonverbal cues are communicating the presence of a specific form of a gene that makes us more or less responsive to others’ needs.

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Hot Spring Yields New Hybrid Viral Genome

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:20:00 EST

In the hostile environment of a bubbling volcanic hot spring, a team of researchers at Portland State University in Oregon has discovered a new viral genome that seems to be the product of recombination between a DNA virus and an RNA virus -- a natural chimaera not seen before. Their findings appeared on 19 April in the journal Biology Direct .

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Depression in Teens Could Be Diagnosed with Blood Test

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:00:00 EST

Can a psychiatric disorder be diagnosed with a blood test? That may be the future if two recent studies pan out. Researchers are figuring out how to differentiate the blood of a depressed person from that of someone without depression.

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Shorted Circuits: Pentagon Looks to DNA from Plants to Foil Electronic Component Counterfeiters

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 07:00:00 EST

Counterfeit electronics embedded in missile guidance systems and hundred-million-dollar aircraft have become a serious problem for the U.S. military and its contractors. Unlike a knockoff Gucci purse or Rolex watch , however, it takes more than misspelled brand labels, altered logos or suspiciously low prices to spot a bogus microprocessor being passed off as the real thing. [More]

Gene Hunt Is On for Mental Disabilities in Children

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:45:00 EST

By Ewen Callaway of Nature magazine

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Drug-Resistant Malaria Spreads, Scientists Hunt Down Genetic Causes

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:20:00 EST

The malaria parasite is a wily organism, shifting its life stages as it flits from human to mosquito and back again. It still kills some 600,000 people each year and has outwitted eradication efforts, having developed resistance to previously popular drugs and, thus far, eluded vaccine-induced immunity.

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World Repository of Human Genetics Will Move to Amazon's Cloud

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:50:00 EST

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Gene Therapy Restores Sight to Three Patients

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EST

After several years of setbacks, gene therapy is once again yielding promising results. One area in which it is proving its potential is in restoring vision to patients who have been losing it since birth.

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The Ballooning Brain: Defective Genes May Explain Uncontrolled Brain Growth in Autism

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:00:00 EST

As a baby grows inside the womb, its brain does not simply expand like a dehydrated sponge dropped in water. Early brain development is an elaborate procession. Every minute some 250,000 neurons bloom, squirming past one another like so many schoolchildren rushing to their seats at the sound of the bell. Each neuron grows a long root at one end and a crown of branches at the other, linking itself to fellow cells near and far. By the end of the second trimester, neurons in the baby's brain have formed trillions of connections, many of which will not survive into adulthood--the least traveled paths will eventually wither. [More]

Blocking HIV's Attack (preview)

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:00:00 EST

A little more than three years ago a medical team from Berlin published the results of a unique experiment that astonished HIV researchers. The German group had taken bone marrow--the source of the body’s immune cells--from an anonymous donor whose genetic inheritance made him or her naturally resistant to HIV. Then the researchers transplanted the cells into a man with leukemia who had been HIV-positive for more than 10 years. Although treatment of the patient’s leukemia was the rationale for the bone marrow transplant therapy, the group also hoped that the transplant would provide enough HIV-resistant cells to control the man’s infection. The therapy exceeded the team’s expectations. Instead of just decreasing the amount of HIV in the patient’s blood, the transplant wiped out all detectable traces of the virus from his body, including in multiple tissues where it could have lain dormant. The German researchers were so surprised by the spectacularly positive results that they waited nearly two years before publishing their data.

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9-Year-Old Boy's Shrinking Brain Disorder Baffles Doctors

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:00:00 EST

Jason Egan does not walk, talk or eat like most nine-year-olds. He gets around in a wheelchair and depends on a feeding tube threaded into his stomach. He makes signs with his hands to communicate and has mustered the word "mom" on occasion. Although he cannot always articulate his feelings, he clearly feels a great deal. He is often seen smiling and laughing, especially when his father pushes him around the block near their home in Victoria, Australia .

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Exercise Instantly Affects DNA

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:03:08 EST

Maybe this will motivate you to work out. New research supports the idea that you don't need to spend hours at the gym everyday for your body to start feeling the positive effects of exercise. In fact, a single session on a stationary bike can affect your very DNA.

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Gene Therapy Could Help Corals Survive Climate Change

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:17:00 EST

Editor's note: Climate Query is a semi-weekly feature offered by Daily Climate, presenting short Q&A's with players large and small in the climate arena. Read others in the series at http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/query/climate-queries .

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Jumping Genes in the Brain Ensure That Even Identical Twins Are Different (preview)

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:45:00 EST

Your brain is special.

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Jumping Genes in the Brain Are Tied to Autism [Video]

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:44:00 EST

Stretches of DNA that move around the brain, colloquially known as jumping genes, may play a role in fostering one pernicious form of autism. It has long been known that a a mutation that switches off a gene called MECP2 is involved in Rett syndrome, the most physically disabling form of autism. Rett, which mostly affects girls, results in speech and motor defects that appear just after children learn to speak their first words and start walking.

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Mountain Maladies: Genetic Screening Susses Out Susceptibility to Altitude Sickness

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:00:00 EST

On his 27th birthday, David Hillebrandt and his wife Sally began to climb Mount Kenya, the second-highest mountain in Africa after Kilimanjaro. Instead of gearing up and heading straight for the mountain's tallest peak--which reaches 5,199 meters--the couple started their journey more leisurely, trekking through scenic ridges and valleys around the mountain at an altitude of about 3,000 meters. [More]

Sight Seen: Gene Therapy Restores Vision in Both Eyes

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST

Gene therapy has markedly improved vision in both eyes in three women who were born virtually blind. The patients can now avoid obstacles even in dim light, read large print and recognize people's faces. The operation, researchers predict, should work even better in children and adolescents blinded by the same condition.

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Cracks in the Plaques: Mysteries of Alzheimer's Slowly Yielding to New Research

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:30:00 EST

This has been a big week in Alzheimer's news as scientists put together a clearer picture than ever before of how the disease affects the brain. Three recently published studies have detected the disease with new technologies, hinted at its prevalence, and described at last how it makes its lethal progress through the brain.

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