The SAGA (Spt-Ada-Gcn5-Acetyltransferase) complex, which is conserved in eukaryotes, plays a key role in regulating gene expression. It is comprised of 21 proteins, and its functions include histone acetylation and … [Read more]

John McWhorter feels, with regret, that this interview represents neither himself, Professor Behe, nor Bloggingheads usefully, takes full responsibility for same, and has asked that it be taken down from the site. He apologizes to all who found its airing objectionable. Update from Robert ...Evolution News & Views found this 11 days ago on bloggingheads.tv Find more top science news, videos, and blogs on ScienceBlips: Life Science

A report of the EMBL conference 'The Complex Life of mRNA: From Synthesis to Decay', Heidelberg, Germany, 18-21 March 2010.

Chromosome end protection is accomplished by telomeres. How cells cope with spontaneously unprotected telomeres while avoiding cell cycle arrest or cell death is a fascinating question.

The human heart, a tireless organ that beats within our chests continuously for decades, continues to amaze me, in spite of my having studied it for several years now.  My continued amazement stems not from the fact that this muscle functions for so long, and for the most part without us being aware of it (although this is indeed phenomenal), but from the rich variety of behavior that it exhibits across multiple scales. 
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Background

Colonization with bacterial species from the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) is associated with fast health decline among individuals with cystic fibrosis. In order to investigate the virulence of the Bcc, several alternative infection models have been developed.

Background

Colonization with bacterial species from the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) is associated with fast health decline among individuals with cystic fibrosis. In order to investigate the virulence of the Bcc, several alternative infection models have been developed.

An effective field theory on a lattice is applied successfully to nuclei as large as carbon-12. Published Mon Apr 19, 2010

The Turing mechanism provides a paradigm for the spontaneous generation of patterns in reaction–diffusion systems. A framework that describes Turing-pattern formation in the context of complex networks should provide a new basis for studying the phenomenon.

Author(s): Lei Xu (徐磊), Alexis Bergès, Peter J. Lu (陸述義), André R. Studart, Andrew B. Schofield, Hidekazu Oki (沖秀一), Simon Davies, and David A. WeitzWe investigate the 3D structure and drying dynamics of complex mixtures of emulsion droplets and colloidal particles, using confocal microscopy. Air invades and rapidly collapses large emulsion droplets, forcing their contents into the surrounding porous particle pack at a rate proportional to the s...[Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 128303] Published Wed Mar 24, 2010

Totally share-worthy talk at TED: Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation.Bottom line: Rewards don't work for problems where thinking out of the box is part of the solution. Science knows it, but apparently business managers don't. Doing it for money does not get the job done faster, ...Bjorn posted 10 hours ago from pleion.blogspot.com Find more top science news, videos, and blogs on ScienceBlips: Life Science

LONDON (AP) -- The discovery of a small prehistoric circle of stones near Stonehenge may confirm the theory that the mysterious monument in southwest England was part of a massive funeral complex built around a river, researchers said Tuesday....

Two recent studies in Arabidopsis have identified quantitative trait loci (QTLs) by population- association and family-based studies, respectively, providing further data on the genetic architecture of complex-trait variation in plants.

Bengt R. Karlsson A new, two-parameter, nonaffine family of complex Hadamard matrices of order 6 is reported. It interpolates between the two Fourier families and contains as one-parameter subfamilies the Dita-check family, a symmetric family, and an almost (up to equivalence) self-adjoint family. ... [J. Math. Phys. 50, 082104 (2009)] published Wed Aug 26, 2009.

Thirty years ago p53 was discovered as a cellular partner of simian virus 40 large T-antigen, the oncoprotein of this tumour virus. The first decade of p53 research saw the cloning of p53 DNA and the realization that p53 is not an oncogene but a

Efforts toward creating artificial cells are shedding light on how life may have emerged.Authors: Anna C. Balazs, Irving R. Epstein

Advances in genomics have made it possible to use genome-wide
association (GWA) studies to explore the genetic basis of common traits in humans, leading to
advances in biological knowledge and technical expertise. The power of the GWA approach has
now been extended successfully to Arabidopsis

Chia-Chun Chou and Robert E. Wyatt Complex-extended Bohmian mechanics is investigated by analytically continuing the wave function in polar form into the complex plane. We derive the complex-extended version of the quantum HamiltonJacobi equation and the continuity equation in Bohmian mechanics. Complex-extended Bohmian mechanics rec ... [J. Chem. Phys. 132, 134102 (2010)] published Fri Apr 2, 2010.

Rare variants distributed across large genomic regions make a substantial contribution to the genetic basis of complex diseases, according to a simulated genome-wide association (GWA) study that is backed by real disease-mapping data.GWA studies are based on the assumption that complex diseases are caused

 
Los Angeles architects DRDS have designed a sports complex for the Hyundai-Samsung Consortium in Hwaseong, Korea. (more…)

Learning from the similarities and differences between phylogenetic branches.

If the evidence is overwhelming that man-made climate change is already upon us and set to wreak planetary havoc, why do so many people refuse to believe it?

On the front lines in the battle to kill the out-of-control oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is a material with the consistency of a half-melted milkshake and a mundane name: mud.

The HIV-1 Tat protein relieves a block to transcription elongation by recruiting positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) to an RNA element (TAR) on the viral mRNA, but why the HIV-1 promoter was inactive was unclear. Now it is shown that Tat binds to P-TEFb in its inactive 7SK snRNP form, and this complex is recruited to the HIV-1 promoter before transcription initiation, in a TAR-independent manner. The inhibitory 7SK snRNP complex is displaced once transcription begins, resulting in P-TEFb activation.

Understanding the key elements of biofuel combustion is an important step toward insightful selection of next-generation alternative fuels.

Centuries ago, scientists began reducing the physics of the universe into key laws described by a handful of parameters. Such simple descriptions have remained elusive for complex biological systems -- until now. A biophysicist has identified parameters for several biochemical networks that distill the entire behavior of these systems into simple equivalent dynamics. The discovery may hold the potential to streamline the development of drugs and diagnostic tools, by simplifying the research models.