Ever since a forward-thinking trio of physicists identified the phenomenon known as self-organized criticality---a mechanism by which complexity arises in nature---scientists have been applying its concepts to everything from economics to avalanches.

The most detailed three-dimensional seismic images yet of the Chicxulub crater, a mostly submerged and buried impact crater on the Mexico coast, may modify a theory explaining the extinction of 70 percent of life on Earth 65 million years ago.

Defective sperm cells do not pass through the body unnoticed. A new University of Missouri study provides evidence that the body recognizes and tags defective sperm cells while they undergo maturation in the epididymis, a sperm storage gland attached to the testis. According to researchers, only the best sperm that have the highest chance of succeeding in fertilization will survive the production process without a “tag.”

A University of Rochester scientist discovered that the toxins in cigarette smoke wipe out a gene that plays a vital role in protecting the body from the effects of premature aging. Without this gene we not only lose a bit of youthfulness – but the lungs are left open to destructive inflammation and diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer.

Researchers have found the brain region that controls the decision to halt your midnight exploration of the refrigerator and commence enjoyment of that leftover chicken leg. What’s more, they said, such mechanisms governing exploration are among those that malfunction in addiction and mental illness.

Four of five patients participating in a trial of an experimental protocol designed to induce immune tolerance to HLA-mismatched kidney transplants have been able to discontinue immunosuppressive drugs. A mismatch of HLA (human leukocyte antigen) proteins is the most difficult immunological barrier to transplantation. The report of the study conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) appears in the January 24 New England Journal of Medicine.

Queen’s University immunologists have discovered how to manipulate the immune system to increase its power and protect the body from successive viral infections.

An international research consortium today announced the 1000 Genomes Project, an ambitious effort that will involve sequencing the genomes of at least a thousand people from around the world to create the most detailed and medically useful picture to date of human genetic variation. The project will receive major support from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, England, the Beijing Genomics Institute, Shenzhen (BGI Shenzhen) in China and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Dr. Quansheng Du. When a cell’s assets get divided between daughter cells, Dr. Quansheng Du wants to make sure both offspring do well.