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Public Release: 2-Dec-2012
 Nature Chemical BiologyGlowing fish shed light on metabolism A tiny, translucent zebrafish that glows green when its liver makes glucose has helped an international team of researchers identify a compound that regulates whole-body metabolism and appears to protect obese mice from signs of metabolic disorders. 
National Institutes of Health and by a grant from the American Heart Association
Contact: Jason Socrates Bardi
Public Release: 2-Dec-2012
Nature GeneticsCell surface transporters exploited for cancer drug delivery According to Whitehead Institute researchers, a protein known as monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1), which is highly expressed in a subset of metabolically altered cancer cells, is needed for the entry of the investigational cancer drug 3-bromopyruvate (3-BrPA) into malignant cells. This work may open a new avenue for cancer therapeutic research, as other transport molecules have already been identified on the surface of certain cancer cells.
National Institutes of Health, David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Jane Coffin Childs Fund, National Science Foundation
Contact: Nicole Rura
Public Release: 2-Dec-2012
Nature ChemistryA shock to pollution in chemistry Solvents are everywhere in chemistry and a major environmental concern. High-frequency milling is an energy-efficient alternative: the impact of steel balls in a rapidly moving jar drives reactions. Direct observation of the underlying chemistry is difficult but scientists used X-rays to observe, for the first time, in real time the chemistry when a mill mixes, grinds and transforms simple ingredients into a complex product. The study opens new opportunities in Green Chemistry and environmentally-friendly synthesis. Contact: Claus habfast
Public Release: 2-Dec-2012
Nature NeuroscienceChildhood trauma leaves mark on DNA of some victims Gene-environment interaction causes lifelong dysregulation of stress hormones. Contact: Barbara Meyer
Public Release: 2-Dec-2012
Nature NeuroscienceOrigin of intelligence and mental illness linked to ancient genetic accident Scientists have discovered for the first time how humans -- and other mammals -- have evolved to have intelligence. Researchers have identified the moment in history when the genes that enabled us to think and reason evolved.
Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council and European Union
Contact: Tara Womersley
Public Release: 2-Dec-2012
Nature Structural & Molecular BiologyScientists at Scripps Research Institute discover how 2 proteins help keep cells healthy Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have determined how two proteins help create organelles, or specialized subunits within a cell, that play a vital role in maintaining cell health. This discovery opens the door for research on substances that could interfere with the formation of these organelles and lead to new therapies for cancer.
National Institutes of Health, Japan Science and Technology Agency
Contact: Mika Ono
Public Release: 2-Dec-2012
Nature GeneticsGenes linked to low birth weight, adult shortness and later diabetes risk An international team of genetics researchers has discovered four new gene regions that contribute to low birth weight. Three of those regions influence adult metabolism, and appear to affect longer-term outcomes such as adult height, risk of type 2 diabetes and adult blood pressure. The cumulative effect of the genes is equivalent to the effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy.
National Institutes of Health, Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, and others
Contact: John Ascenzi
Public Release: 2-Dec-2012
Nature GeneticsNew gene-sequencing tools offer clues to highest-risk form of a childhood cancer Using powerful gene-analysis tools, researchers have discovered mutations in two related genes, ARID1A and ARID1B, that are involved in the most aggressive form of the childhood cancer neuroblastoma. While these findings do not immediately improve clinical treatments, they identify a novel pathway that is defective in these cancers, a pathway that scientists can now study to develop potential new therapies.
St. Baldrick's Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Children's Oncology Group, and others
Contact: Rachel Salis-Silverman
Public Release: 2-Dec-2012
Nature Cell BiologyThe role of the cellular entry point of anthrax identified Anthrax uses a receptor on the surface of cells to inject its lethal toxins. However, the physiological function of this receptor, named Anthrax Toxin Receptor 2a (Antxr2a), remained unknown until now. A team led by Marcos Gonzalez-Gaitan, a professor at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, in collaboration with Gisou van der Goot at EPFL, reveals that Antxr2a actually plays a role in embryonic development, orienting cell division along a specific plane. Contact: Marcos Gonzalez-Gaitan
Public Release: 2-Dec-2012
Nature GeneticsInsights into the genetic causes of coronary artery disease and heart attacks By identifying a further 15 genetic regions and 104 independent genetic variants associated with coronary artery disease, one of the most common causes of death in the worldwith, researchers have identified some of the most prominent biological pathways that underlie the disease. These pathways that control CAD could be targets for the development of new drug treatments in the future. Contact: Aileen Sheehy
Public Release: 2-Dec-2012
Nature Climate ChangeRecord high for global carbon emissions Global CO2 emissions are set to rise again in 2012, reaching a record high of 35.6 billion tonnes -- according to the University of East Anglia. Contact: Lisa Horton
Public Release: 1-Dec-2012
Genes & DevelopmentX-ray analysis deciphers master regulator important for skin cancer With the X-ray vision of DESY's light source DORIS, a research team from Hamburg and Iceland has uncovered the molecular structure of a master regulator central to the most deadly form of skin cancer, melanoma. The results, published in the scientific journal "Genes & Development", throw new light on the workings of the so-called Microphthalmia-associated Transcription Factor MITF, that is not only connected to skin cancer, but also to a variety of hereditary diseases. Contact: Thomas Zoufal
Public Release: 1-Dec-2012
BioScienceLong-term research reveals how climate change is playing out in real ecosystems Around the world, the effects of global climate change are increasingly evident and difficult to ignore. However, evaluations of the local effects of climate change are often confounded by natural and human induced factors that overshadow the effects of changes in climate on ecosystems. Now, a group of scientists writing in the journal BioScience report a number of surprising results that may shed more light on the complex nature of climate change.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Lori Quillen
Public Release: 1-Dec-2012
Cancer ResearchResearchers identify a mechanism for the transformation of colon polyps The causes underlying the development of certain types of common cancers have not yet been elucidated. In order to better determine the origin and the sequence of events responsible for the onset of colon cancer, the teams led by Thanos Halazonetis and Stylianos Antonarakis, professors at the UNIGE, Switzerland, have sequenced the DNA of biopsied tissue from colon polyps. The results show that these precancerous lesions have a specific profile. Contact: Thanos Halazonetis
Public Release: 1-Dec-2012
Journal of Thoracic OncologyLung cancer patients with pockets of resistance prolong disease control by 'weeding the garden' This study of 65 patients showed that continuing either crizotinib or erlotinib after the treatment of resistant pockets with focused radiation ("weeding the garden") was associated with more than half a year of additional cancer control.
NIH/National Cancer Institute
Contact: Garth Sundem
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
LancetEmerging vector-borne diseases create new public health challenge Human activities are advancing the spread of vector-borne, zoonotic diseases such as West Nile virus, Lyme disease and dengue fever, report scientists publishing a series of papers today in the journal the Lancet.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Cheryl Dybas
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
2012 AGU Fall MeetingGeoscientists cite 'critical need' for basic research to unleash promising energy resources Developers of renewable energy and shale gas must overcome fundamental geological and environmental challenges if these promising energy sources are to reach their full potential, according to a trio of leading geoscientists. Their findings will be presented on Dec. 4, at 5:15 pm (PT), at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco in Room 102 of Moscone Center West.
Stanford University, Cornell University, Colorado School of Mines
Contact: Mark Shwartz
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
Journal of Gerontology Series A: Biological and Medical SciencesVitamin D tied to women's cognitive performance Two new studies appearing in the Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences show that vitamin D may be a vital component for the cognitive health of women as they age. Contact: Todd Kluss
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
Proceedings of the National Acadamy of SciencesAncient microbes survive beneath the icy surface of Antarctic lake Researchers funded by the National Science Foundation describe in a new publication a viable community of bacteria that ekes out a living in a dark, salty and subfreezing environment beneath nearly 20 meters of ice in one of Antarctica's most isolated lakes.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Peter West
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
GeneticsNative Americans and Northern Europeans more closely related than previously thought Using genetic analysis, scientists have discovered that Northern European populations descend from a mixture of two very different ancestral populations, and one of these populations is related to Native Americans. This discovery helps fill gaps in scientific understanding of both Native American and Northern European ancestry, while providing an explanation for some genetic similarities among what would otherwise seem to be very divergent groups.
National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health
Contact: Phyllis Edelman
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
Ecological IndicatorsMaking sustainability policies sustainable Sweeping environmental policies come with hidden challenges -- not only striving to achieve sustainability and benefit the environment -- but over time ensuring the program itself can endure. Scientists at Michigan State University and their colleagues in China are examining China's massive Grain to Green Program -- an effort to persuade farmers to return cropland to forest through financial incentives. Their results were reported in this week's journal Ecological Indicators.
National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Contact: Sue Nichols
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
Plant Physiology PreviewCarbon dioxide could reduce crop yields High-yielding dwarf plant varieties lose their advantage due to increasing carbon dioxide concentration. Contact: Jos H. M. Schippers
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
EthologyThe colour of love: Zebrafish perform colorful courtship displays Billy Ocean may not have been thinking of fish when he wrote "The Color of Love", but Sophie Hutter, Attila Hettyey, Dustin Penn, and Sarah Zala from the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna were able to show that zebrafish males and females both wear their brightest colors while wooing a mate. Contact: Dr. Sarah Zala
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and GynaecologyWhen eating for 2 becomes a weighty issue Two-thirds of Australian mums-to-be are in the dark when it comes to how much weight they should gain during pregnancy. Contact: Alita Pashley
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
PLOS ONEElectrically spun fabric offers dual defense against pregnancy, HIV Electrically spun cloth with nanometer-sized fibers show promise as a cheap, versatile platform to simultaneously offer contraception and prevent HIV. New funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will further test the system's versatility and feasibility.
National Institutes of Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Contact: Hannah Hickey
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