News & HighlightsNews
Research identifies a protein that helps determine the fate of RNA
After it is transcribed from DNA, RNA can go on to many fates. While the most familiar path may lead directly to the production of protein, RNA molecules themselves can also become capable of altering the expression of genes. New research helps explain how the destiny of an RNA sequence is achiev...
Promising class of new cancer drugs causes memory loss in mice
Cancer researchers are constantly in search of more-effective and less-toxic approaches to stopping the disease, and have recently launched clinical trials testing a new class of drugs called BET inhibitors. These therapies act on a group of proteins that help regulate the expression of many gene...
A newly discovered molecular feedback process may protect the brain against Alzheimer’s
It is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease: Toxic protein fragments known as amyloid-β clumped together between neurons in a person’s brain. Neurons themselves make amyloid-β, and for reasons that aren’t fully understood, its accumulation ultimately contributes to the memory loss, personality c...
In exploring a fly’s choice of a mate, researchers track the neural circuits that bridge sensory perception and behavioral action
If you’ve ever found a banana overtaken by a swarm of tiny flies, you were in fact witnessing an orgy of amorous Drosophila melanogaster. These trespassers engage in fervent courtship and mating atop ripe fruits, and the sex is anything but casual. In particular, male flies are very precise in ch...
New research helps explain why a deadly blood cancer often affects children with malaria
In equatorial Africa, a region of the globe known as the “lymphoma belt,” children are ten times more likely than in other parts of the world to develop Burkitt’s lymphoma, a highly aggressive blood cancer that can be fatal if left untreated. That area is also plagued by high rates of malaria,...
New research sheds light on the molecular origins of Parkinson’s disease
As Parkinson’s disease progresses in patients, a puzzling dichotomy plays out in their brains. One set of neurons degenerates, while a similar population nearby is spared the same degree of damage. Why the difference? An answer to this question could clear the way for preventions and treatments f...
Mutations linked to genetic disorders shed light on a crucial DNA repair pathway
Dividing cells are prone to errors, and so they must be prepared to summon sophisticated emergency systems to deal with potential damage. One type of division-derailing mishap can occur when assault by certain chemicals causes two strands of DNA to permanently connect when they shouldn’t, in what...
Fly brains filter out visual information caused by their own movements, like humans
Our brains are constantly barraged with sensory information, but have an amazing ability to filter out just what they need to understand what’s going on around us. For instance, if you stand perfectly still in a room, and that room rotates around you, it’s terrifying. But stand still in a room a...
Atomic view of cellular pump reveals how bacteria send out proteins
Bacteria have plenty of things to send out into world beyond their own boundaries: coordinating signals to other members of their species, poisons for their enemies, and devious instructions to manipulate host cells they have infected. Before any of this can occur, however, they must first get th...
Cell division speeds up as part of antibody selection, study shows
It’s a basic principle of immunology: When a germ invades, the body adapts to that particular target and destroys it. But much remains unknown about how the immune system refines its defensive proteins, called antibodies, to most effectively zero in on that invader. Experiments at The Rockefeller...
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