Researchers at K.U. Leuven and Harvard University show that stretches of DNA previously believed to be useless `junk` DNA play a vital role in the evolution of our genome. They found that unstable pieces of junk DNA help tuning gene activity and enable organisms to quickly adapt to changes in their environments. The results will be published in the journal Science. Junk DNA "Most people do no...

Fallow deer become hoarse when trying to attract a mate, according to scientists from Queen Mary, University of London. Writing in the journal Animal Behaviour, Dr Alan McElligott from Queen Mary`s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences has found that male fallow deer (bucks) can call for a mate more than 3000 times per hour during the peak of the mating season. Their prolonged vocal efforts c...

The research is clear: Adolescents tend to fare better — academically and behaviorally — when they live with both biological parents. But when their parents frequently argue, young adults are significantly more likely to binge drink than other teenagers. They also tend to smoke, and their poor school grades are similar to those of their peers who don`t have both biological parents at h...

Though the growing shift toward oral chemotherapy agents offers cancer patients greater freedom and independence during their treatment, physicians say use of the new medications also poses more chances for patients to skip doses, miss prescription refills, and take their drugs in a dangerous way. An increasing number of cancer patients who receive chemotherapy now do so at home, with the click of...

A mixture of some organic acids and some extracts from plants turns out to be enough to greatly reduce pathogenic bacteria on chicken breast meat. Add some irradiation to the mix and it makes a lethal combination against the bacteria. Food Safety Consortium researchers at the University of Arkansas System’s Division of Agriculture found that they could greatly reduce E. coli O157:H7, Listeri...

That`s one conclusion from a new study that looked at how virulence evolves in parasites. The research examined whether parasites evolve to be more or less aggressive depending on whether they are closely connected to their hosts or scattered among more isolated clusters of hosts. The research was led by Geoff Wild, an NSERC-funded mathematician at the University of Western Ontario, with colleague...

Elderly people who live below the poverty line and perceive their neighborhoods to be dangerous are more likely to have a mobility disability. Researchers suggest that even perceiving one`s neighborhood as unsafe can `get into the body` and, ultimately, prove hazardous for elder health. Cheryl Clark MD, ScD, from Brigham and Women`s Hospital, Boston, led a team of researchers who studied 1,884 peo...

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have identified many potential new drug targets for cancers long deemed “untouchable” due to the type of genetic mutation they contain. These studies are beginning to reveal new ways of attacking cancer by targeting a largely hidden network of normal genes that cancer cells rely on for survival. Independent research teams led by Howard Hughes...

Molecules with five-fold symmetry arrange themselves on a surface as a two-dimensional crystal, although theoretically this ought not to be possible. Recently researchers at Empa and the University of Zurich have taken the first steps to a better understanding of this "impossible" behavior by monitoring the complicated crystallization process with a scanning tunnel microscope.  Five...

Research led by the University of Leicester suggests people today and in future generations should look to the past in order to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. The dangers of rising sea levels, crop failures and extreme weather were all faced by our ancestors who learnt to adapt and survive in the face of climate change. Dr Jago Cooper, of the School of Archaeology and Ancient Histor...