A protein called calpain can be the key either preventing or promoting the cell death, a Queen's University study has found.

Wheat producers have more than the drought cutting into their yields this year, said two Texas Agricultural Experiment Station researchers.

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole and Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Sciences Center have discovered the presence of the genetic material RNA in the centrosome, the organizing structure inside each cell that assures proper cell division.

The rediscovery of two frog species feared extinct has made a new Colombian protected area the focal point for efforts to save amphibians from a deadly fungus decimating their populations in Central and South America.

The new technologically advanced D-SPECT camera enables shorter image acquisition times, provides better image quality and opens the door to new diagnostic procedures using simultaneous multi-isotope imaging--providing the potential to revolutionize functional imaging, according to results released at SNM's 53rd Annual Meeting June 3–7 in San Diego.

Biomedical engineering undergraduates at Johns Hopkins have invented a new way to close the chest after heart surgery. It uses polymer cable ties threaded through the ribs in place of steel wires that are used to pierce the breastbone in most operations today.To operate on the heart, surgeons usually cut through the breastbone. After correcting the heart problem, they reconnect the sternum by piercing it with steel wires, pulling the bone segments together and twisting the wires tight. Because this half-century-old technique poses some risks to both the surgeon and the patient, undergraduates at The Johns Hopkins University have invented a less intrusive and potentially safer chest closure system that threads locking polymer clasps through the ribs.

Like a celebrity living on mineral water, the glassy-winged sharpshooter consumes only the dilute sap of woody plants--including grapevines in California, which is feverishly working to prevent the insect's flight into prized vineyards.

It may sound like Saturday cartoons: a strong-boned rat that can't be broken. But a couple of Texas researchers say the real hero is citrus juice.

Researchers have demonstrated that learning about the appearance of their parents may give birds a preference for mates with exaggerated parental traits, rather than traits that more exactly match those of their parents. Such learned mate preferences may help drive the evolution of exaggerated traits and strong morphological differences between sexes – phenomena seen frequently in birds and other animals. The findings are reported by Carel ten Cate, Machteld Verzijden and Eric Etman of Leiden University, and appear in the June 6th issue of Current Biology.

By comparing how quickly human facial expressions of different types are detected in a crowd of neutral faces, researchers have demonstrated that male angry faces are a priority for visual processing – particularly for male observers. The findings are reported by Mark Williams of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Jason Mattingley of the University of Melbourne, Australia, and appear in the June 6th issue of Current Biology.