Gene splice helps fight crop disease, say researchers

2010-03-14T14:16:28Z

<div><p>Biologists on Sunday said they had found a potential superweapon in a long-running arms race with bacteria that threaten essential crops.</p><p>Tested in a lab, their technique entails inserting a gene kit into a plant so that its immune system recognises and fights germ invaders, they reported in the journal Nature Biotechnology.</p><p>Bacteria cause huge losses to crops eac...

Scientists find new way to help crops fight pests

2010-03-14T11:15:12Z

<div><p>LONDON (Reuters) - An international team of scientists has managed to transfer disease resistance from one plant family to another, offering broader protection from potentially costly and destructive pests.</p><p>A team led by Cyril Zipfel at Britain's Sains...

"Personal" study shows gene maps can spot disease

2010-03-11T07:45:23Z

<div><p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two studies published on Wednesday show it is possible to sequence the entire gene maps of families with inherited diseases and pinpoint the offending bit of DNA.</p><p>The studies, which would not have been possible a year or two ago, are the first real delivery of the promised transformation of medical science from the

Parents give kids fewer bad genes than thought: study

2010-03-10T16:16:57Z

<div><p>American scientists have for the first time unlocked the genetic code of an entire family, and made a startling discovery -- that parents pass on fewer mutations than previously thought.</p><p>Scientists had long believed that each parent passed on some 75 genetic mutations to their children.</p><p>But the result of research by a team at the Institute for Systems Biol...

Genetic researchers win $500K US medical prize

2010-03-10T11:30:20Z

<div><p>Three American scientists who contributed to the mapping of the human genetic blueprint — an advance that continues to give the medical world a better understanding of human disease — were awarded the nation's richest prize in medicine and biomedical research Wednesday.</p><p>The $500,000 Albany Medical Center prize is being shared by D...

Top home-school texts dismiss Darwin, evolution

2010-03-08T14:45:38Z

<div id="subtitle">Home-schooling parents who prefer evolution say textbook publishers push Bible's origin story</div><div><p>Home-school mom Susan Mule wishes she hadn't taken a friend's advice and tried a textbook from a popular Christian publisher for her 10-year-old's biology lessons.</p><p>Mule's precocious daughter Elizabeth excels at science and has been studying tarantulas since she was 5. But she wat...

Scientists find why "sunshine" vitamin D is crucial

2010-03-08T10:30:12Z

<div><p>LONDON (Reuters) - Vitamin D is vital in activating human defences and low levels suffered by around half the world's population may mean their immune systems' killer T cells are poor at fighting infection, scientists said on Sunday.</p><p>The findings by Danish researchers could help the fight against infectious diseases and global epidemics, they said, and could be particularly useful in the searc...

Bugs in the gut can cause obesity: study

2010-03-05T17:15:57Z

<div><p>The bugs that help digest food may also cause the body to pack on the pounds if they are not properly regulated, a new study has found.</p><p>That is because if the wrong kinds of bacteria take over they can cause a low-level inflammation that leads to a pre-diabetic condition and an elevated appetite, the study published Thursday in the journal Science found.</p><p>"It has been assumed that the obesity epidemic in the developed world is driven by an i...

CORRECTION India Prehistoric Snake

2010-03-04T20:45:52Z

In this 2008 photo released by Wilson et al. 2010, PLoS Biology shows blocks preserving the snake Sanajeh indicus in association with a partial clutch of three sauropod eggs and a sauropod hatchling. The fossilized remains of a 67 million-year-old snake found coiled around a dinosaur egg offer rare insight into the ancient reptile's dining habits and evolution, scientists said Tuesday, March 2, 2010. The findings, which appeared in Tuesday's issue of the PLoS Biology journal, provide the first e...

Gene test claims to show what diet works best

2010-03-04T14:34:12Z

<div id="subtitle">Low-fat or low-carb? Gene test claims to show which diet works best; skeptics aren't so sure</div><div><p>Diet not working? Blame your genes. That's the pitch behind a new test that claims to show whether people will do better on a low-fat or a low-carb weight loss plan.</p><p>We're all hard-wired with DNA that controls how we burn and store calories from various foods, and the test claims to sort out this machinery. A study this week found ...

It's official: An asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs

2010-03-04T11:16:24Z

<div><p>LONDON (Reuters) - A giant asteroid smashing into Earth is the only plausible explanation for the extinction of the dinosaurs, a global scientific team said on Thursday, hoping to settle a row that has divided experts for decades.</p><p>A panel of 41 scientists from across the world reviewed 20 years' worth of research to try to confirm the cause of the so-called Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction,...

Your best diet? It might be in your genes

2010-03-04T10:31:09Z

<div><p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Can't lose weight on a low-fat diet? Maybe you need to cut carbs instead, and a new genetic test may point the way, maker Interleukin Genetics Inc reported on Wednesday.</p><p>The small study of about 140 overweight or obese women showed that those on diets "appropriate" for their genetic makeup ...

Study raises hope for gut disease cures

2010-03-03T12:17:07Z

<div><p>Scientists unveiled Wednesday a complete genetic panorama of microbes in the human digestive track -- an advance that could help cure ailments like ulcers and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).</p><p>"This completely changes our vision," said Stanislav-Dusko Ehrlich, a researcher at France's Wolfgang Puck and Thomas Keller Keep Memory Alive's Power of Love Gala to Benefit The Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health at The Bellagio Resort Casino Las Vegas, rock</div><div><p>Fossils of a previously undiscovered species of dinosaur have been found in slabs of Utah sandstone that were so hard that explosives had to be used to free some of the remains, scientists said Tuesday. The bones found at Dinosaur Natio...

Dinosaur Discovery

2010-02-23T13:46:41Z

This image provided by Michael W. Skrepnick on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010 shows an artist's conception of the newly-discovered dinosaur Abydosaurus mcintoshi feeding on conifer trees. Paleontologists say this new species of dinosaur was found in Dinosaur National Monument, Utah hidden in slabs of sandstone so har...

China to release pollution-fighting fish in lake

2010-02-22T23:16:22Z

<div><p>Authorities in eastern China have said they will release 20 million algae-eating fish into one of the nation's most scenic lakes that has been ravaged by pollution.</p><p>Taihu Lake, which straddles Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, has been severely polluted by sewage as well as industrial and ag...

News on Life Sciences