Scientists have now disclosed the mystery how the insulin-secreting cells maintain an appropriate number of ATP sensing ion channel proteins on their surface. This mechanism explains how the human body can keep the blood glucose concentration within the normal range and thereby avoid the development of diabetes.

Ever since fishery biologists discovered non-native round gobies in the Great Lakes in 1990, scientists have been trying to figure out exactly how the unwanted intruders got there, and how they quickly spread to all five lakes. Now new information on the behavior of the fish present a new possibility. At night during the summer breeding season, countless newly hatched round gobies leave their...

Mice genetically engineered to have a disease like Alzheimer's have "silent" seizures that appear related to cellular changes involving the excess accumulations of the protein amyloid beta, said researchers.

Sperm whales, dolphins and other "toothed" whales hunt squid so deep in the ocean they must rely on biosonar. Paleontologists argue for a likely evolutionary scenario that explains how these whales developed echolocation. What initially was a rudimentary echolocating ability to find hard-bodied nautiloids in surface waters 40 million years ago was perfected, as nautiloids declined, into a refined...

A new mouse model for myotonic dystrophy -- the most common form of adult-onset muscular dystrophy -- helped researchers show that levels of CUGBP1, a protein that binds and controls the activity of the genetic material RNA, increase early in affected cells of the animals with the disease. This means CUGBP1 plays a key role in the disorder.

For the first time, a CSIRO radio telescope has been linked to others in China and Europe in real-time, demonstrating the power of high-speed global networks and effectively creating a telescope almost as big as the Earth.

In the dynamic world of the developing brain, neural stem cells give rise to neurons deep within the brain's fluid-filled ventricles. These newborn neurons then migrate along the stem cell fibers up to the neocortex, the seat of higher cognitive functions. Now, scientists have discovered a key mechanism of this migration -- one that may also play an important role in other developmental processes...

New insights into the role of estrogen receptor in mammary gland development may help scientists better understand the molecular origin of breast cancer, according to new research.

A biomedical engineer at Purdue University has developed a new method to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation that promises to be more effective than standard CPR because it increases nourishing blood flow through the heart by 25 percent over the current method. A new technique is desperately needed because conventional CPR has a success rate of 5 percent to 10 percent, depending on how fast...

Scientists discover how the immune system can drive the formation of new species. Plant geneticists and animal breeders alike know the problem: single individuals or entire broods will not thrive, some die early, or remain, even if they survive, the runts of the litter and thus not useful for continued breeding programs. What is annoying for the breeder, fascinates geneticists and molecular...

Each day cells detect and repair daily assaults to our DNA. Researchers have discovered that a well-known enzyme scans genes for damage and alerts the major cancer suppressor protein p53. The finding has implications for treating cancer and neurological diseases.

A light-emitting strain of bacteria and a nematode worm, which work together to prey on soil-dwelling insects, use insecticidal toxins to kill their insect hosts. Scientists are now investigating the potential role of these toxins in bacteria pathogenic to humans.

Scientists have recorded the entire genomic expression of a host bacterium and infecting virus over the eight-hour course of infection. Their study leads them to speculate that the meeting between a marine bacterial host and its virus may be not just a battle between individuals, but an evolutionarily significant exchange that helps both species become more fit for life in the harsh ocean...

Physicists have coaxed two separate atoms to communicate with a sort of quantum intuition that Albert Einstein called "spooky." In doing so, the researchers have made an advance toward super-fast quantum computing. The research could also be a building block for a quantum internet.

Scientists have shed light on how our bodies convert vibrations entering the ear into electrical signals that can be interpreted by the brain. Exactly how the electrical signal is generated has been the subject of ongoing research interest.

The hepatitis C virus infects up to 500,000 people in the UK alone, many of the infections going undiagnosed. It is the single biggest cause of people requiring a liver transplant in Britain. Now scientists have found monoclonal antibodies which may be a significant step towards a vaccine.

A specific gene mutation may be useful in predicting the level of aggression of thyroid cancer and help guide treatment options and follow-up care, according to new study findings. The mutation is a genetic alteration in the BRAF oncogene, a modified gene believed to cause cancer.

Non-Caucasian patients seeking medical care for primary biliary cirrhosis have more severe liver disease compared to Caucasian patients, a new study has found. The reasons for the health disparities are unknown, since patients in both groups were of similar age and had the disease for similar lengths of time.

Probiotics, the friendly bacteria beloved of yoghurt advertisers, may be an effective substitute for growth promoting antibiotics in pigs, giving us safer pork products, according to scientists.

Researchers have developed microchips capable of quickly and cheaply identifying dangerous and drug resistant bacteria in clinical samples, scientists recently announced.

Changes that have occurred in Brazil tropical rainforest for more than 100,000 years were studied by a team of researchers. They combined data from botany, palynology and genetics. Results indicated that the expansion of tropical conifer populations never occurred during interglacial periods, in contrast to what usually happened in the temperate latitudes. Such a finding should be useful for...

So vital is the p53 tumor suppressor gene in controlling cancer that its dysfunction is linked to more than half of human cancers. Now, a just-published study reveals new levels of subtlety in the body's management of this all-important tumor suppressor gene and the protein it produces. The findings also outline an important new cycle of gene-regulating modifications that may be widespread in the...

Northwestern University is using an economics theory to rehab people with lousy health habits. Researchers want participants to just change two unhealthy behaviors to see if the others will tag along. Sort of a buy two, get two free sale based on the Behavioral Economics Theory used by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman. Couch potatoes also get an arsenal of high-tech tools to help them make the...

If you eat the right grains for breakfast, such as whole-grain barley or rye, the regulation of your blood sugar is facilitated after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was previously not known that certain whole-grain products have this effect all day. This is due to a combination of low GI (glycemic index) and certain type of indigestible carbohydrates that occur in certain grain products.