A way of predicting which patients will respond well to treatment with a common chemotherapy drug used in breast cancer was unveiled at the European Cancer Conference (ECCO 14) today (Monday 24 September). Dr Iain Brown, from the University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, told the conference that he and his colleague, Dr Andrew Schofield, had identified two genes that could identify which cells would be resistant and which would respond to docetaxel.

Rice University scientists have captured the first optical images of carbon nanotubes inside a living organism. Using fruit flies, the researchers confirmed that a technique developed at Rice -- near-infrared fluorescent imaging -- was capable of detecting DNA-sized nanotubes inside living fruit flies.

Computerized craniofacial anthropometry can help identify patients with fetal alcohol syndrome

• Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is the most extreme expression of alcohol’s adverse effects on the fetus.
• Early and reliable identification of FAS-related facial abnormalities can help to manage problems.
• Craniofacial anthropometry from 3D images appears to be able to identify patients with FAS, even across ethnicities.

The neurotransmitter dopamine is believed to influence the development and/or maintenance of alcoholism. Findings regarding the dopamine D2 receptor gene, however, have been inconsistent. New research suggests that a neighboring gene, ankyrin repeat and kinase domain containing 1, may also be involved in addictive behaviors.

The production of melanin gives us sunburns, but it also helps invertebrate animals to encapsulate attacking fungi and parasites. Uppsala University researchers, in collaboration with Korean and Thai colleagues, can now show that melanin also protects against bacterial infections, at least in crayfish. The study is published in the latest Net edition of Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Spring-run Chinook salmon and other fish in the rivers of California’s Central Valley could be harmed by more water-storage dams, according to researchers at Duke University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Space flight has been shown to have a profound impact on human physiology as the body adapts to zero gravity environments. Now, a new study led by researchers from the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University has shown that the tiniest passengers flown in space—microbes—can be equally affected by space flight, making them more infectious pathogens.

Men who have lower-pitched voices have more children than do men with high-pitched voices, researchers have found. And their study suggests that for reproductive-minded women, mate selection favours men with low-pitched voices.

Scientists from the University of Exeter and Shimane University in Japan have proved for the first time that vitamin C is essential for plant growth. This discovery could have implications for agriculture and for the production of vitamin C dietary supplements.

Researchers from the University of Warwick, and University College London, have found that lack of sleep can more than double the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. However they have also found that point comes when too much sleep can also more than double the risk of death.

A dinosaur skeleton found 24 years ago in Montana has finally been identified as a new species that links North American dinosaurs with Asian dinosaurs. The dinosaur would have weighed 30 to 40 pounds, walked on two feet and stood about three feet tall. The fossil came from sediment that's about 80 million years old