Unlike most mammals, cats--both domestic and wild--are indifferent to sweets. A new study in PLoS Genetics explains the molecular mechanism behind their strictly carnivorous behavior. "We took a behavioral question and answered it molecularly," says Joseph Brand, senior author of the study and Associate Director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

Researchers have identified 23 new longevity genes by screening the genome of Caenorhabditis elegans, a small worm that is used as a model organism in genetics studies. The findings are reported in the inaugural issue of PLoS Genetics.

In 1909, while harvesting a typical corn crop (Zea mays) in Illinois, a field worker noticed a plant so unusual that it was initially believed to be a new species. Its "peculiarly shaped ear" was "laid aside as a curiosity" and the specimen was designated Zea ramosa (from the Latin ramosus, "having many branches"). Due to the alteration of a single gene, later named ramosa1, both the ear and the tassel of the plant were more highly branched than usual, leading to loose, crooked kernel rows and to a tassel that was far bushier than the tops of normal corn plants.

Yale School of Medicine is the recipient of a $6.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a microarray center for research on the nervous system.

University of Colorado at Boulder scientists have used a fluorescent marker to predict the individual life spans of identical worms that were genetically engineered to illuminate stress levels, implying living organisms have "hidden physiological states" that dictate their ability to deal with the rigors of life.

It started several years ago with the observation that a large group of seemingly unconnected genes were behaving differently in patients with stomach cancer. Now a multi-national research team led by the Melbourne Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) has joined the proverbial dots and identified a potential new target for stomach cancer therapy, according to a paper published today in the prestigious Nature Medicine journal.