Schematic diagram of the protein structure surrounding the molecular segment responsible for light emission in the cyan fluorescent protein amFP486. Schematic diagram by Jim Remington, UO Institute of Molecular BiologyDiscovery may lead to promising new research tools

University of Oregon scientists report their discovery of the basis for the blue coloration found in many coral reef formations in an article published this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Coffee provides more than just a morning jolt; that steaming cup of java is also the number one source of antioxidants in the U.S. diet, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Scranton (Pa.). Their study was described today at the 230th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

Research teams at Nihon Nohyaku Co., Ltd., Bayer CropScience and DuPont have developed two new classes of broad-spectrum insecticides that show promise as a safer and more effective way to fight pest insects that damage food crops. The insecticides, which represent the first synthetic compounds designed to activate a novel insecticide target called the ryanodine receptor, may also help tackle the growing problem of insecticide resistance, the researchers say. They described their studies today at the 230th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

How germ cells decide whether to be sperm or eggs

Johns Hopkins biologists have determined how developing embryos tell their specialized "germ cells" whether to develop into a male's sperm or a female's eggs.

Don't call them the Dirt Doctors, or Sultans of Soil, they're just clever Lab guys. A team from Los Alamos National Laboratory has a paper in this week's Science Magazine with a new way to count bugs in dirt. Bacteria, that is, in the highly complex world beneath our feet.

Investigators at the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA examining responses to cocaine and methamphetamine use find distinct differences in onset, pattern and duration.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have identified a previously unknown family of virulence factors that make the bacterium responsible for the plague especially efficient at killing its host.

Chemists at Ohio State University have gained new insight into how sunlight affects DNA. And what they found overturns ideas about genetic mutation that originated decades ago.

Max Planck researchers uncover the mechanism by which the new genetically engineered vaccine functionsThe vaccine has been licensed to the Vakzine Projekt Management who will test it in clinical trials early 2006. The responsible mechanisms for the high efficacy of this vaccine has now been deciphered (Journal of Clinical Investigations, August 18, 2005).

A drug first used to reduce the risk of stomach ulcers in people taking certain types of painkillers offers an alternative to surgery after miscarriage, according to a study by researchers at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health and other research institutions.

The study appears in the August 18, 2005, New England Journal of Medicine.

Current methods to curb the epidemic of sleeping sickness in eastern Uganda are failing, concludes a Research Letterin this week’s issue of The Lancet.

New phage display technique successful in identifying compounds that show potential to overcome drug resistance

A simple, harmless virus might hold the key to the more effective and efficient development of HIV and anti-viral drugs, UCI chemical biologists have found.

A well-respected researcher who is now a chief of an immunology laboratory of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has rocked the boat in the past few years for the experts in the understanding of the autoimmune system.

A special stretch of genetic material may turn off the immune suppression that stymies attempts to fight cancer with a vaccine, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) at Houston.