Scientists know little about how the brain assigns cells to participate in encoding and storing memories. Now a UCLA/University of Toronto team has discovered that a protein called CREB controls the odds of a neuron playing a role in memory formation. The April 20 edition of Science reports the findings, which suggest a new approach for preserving memory in people suffering from Alzheimer's or other brain injury.

The study reveals the likely mechanism by which the Arabidopsis plant flowers in response to changes in day length. Earlier research had shown that plants' leaves perceived seasonal changes in day length, which triggers a long-distance signal to travel through the plant's vascular system from the leaf to the shoot apex, where flowering is induced. However, the identity of the long-distance signal remained unclear.

A new study has pinpointed a natural ingredient of human blood that effectively blocks HIV-1, the virus predominantly responsible for human AIDS, from infecting immune cells and multiplying. The virus blocker might play a role in the progression of HIV to full-blown AIDS and—because it works in a different way than existing antiretroviral inhibitors—could lead to the development of another class of drugs in the fight against the pandemic disease, researchers reported in the April 20, 2007 issue of the journal Cell, a publication of Cell Press.

A molecule thought crucial to ferrying the deadly rabies virus into the brain, where it eventually kills, apparently isn’t. The surprising finding, say researchers at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, may change the way scientists think about how central nervous system-attacking viruses such as herpes viruses invade the brain and cause disease.

It is difficult to find similarities between Grenoble and Hollywood or between the researchers at the ESRF and the Institut de Biologie Structural (IBS) and world-known filmmakers. However, scientists from these institutes based in Grenoble (France) have managed to produce a movie. The actors are not celebrities but a protein whose role is to eliminate toxic molecules. They filmed this protein in action by freezing it at several states. They publish their results this week in Science.

Your bird field guide may be out of date now that University of Florida scientists discovered a new genus of frogmouth bird on a South Pacific island.

A pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, gives birth to a baby aphid. The red spots inside the mother are the eyes of baby aphids that still inside her. For pea aphids, the ability to go forth and multiply can depend on a single gene, according to new research.

Strawberries are good for you, but serving them in daiquiri form may make them even healthier, scientists show.

People who significantly cut back on the amount of salt in their diet could reduce their chances of developing cardiovascular disease by a quarter, according to a report on bmj.com today.