All Stories by Christen Brownlee
- Health & Medicine
Protein interacts with hormone that quells hunger
A protein that's more abundant in the blood of obese people inactivates leptin, a hormone that controls hunger.
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Sleeper Finding: Hormone key to hibernation?
A recently discovered hormone may play a major role in triggering and maintaining hibernation.
- Health & Medicine
See Blind Mice: Algae gene makes sightless eyes sense light
Scientists have prompted mouse-eye cells that aren't normally light sensitive to respond to light.
- Health & Medicine
Parasite can’t survive without its tail
The protozoan that causes African sleeping sickness can't survive in the mammalian bloodstream without its long, whiplike tail.
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Pigging Out Healthfully: Engineered pork has more omega-3s
Scientists have created pigs that sport much higher concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids in their tissues than normal pigs do.
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Thugs and Bugs
With some laboratory detective work, scientists are discovering how various pathogens interact with their targets.
- Materials Science
Networking with Friends: Nanotech material reconnects severed neurons
A new material made of nanometer-sized protein particles appears to be able to bridge the gap between severed nerves.
- Plants
Small difference factored big in rice domestication
A change in a single letter of a rice plant's genetic code gave it the ability to hold onto grains until harvest.
- Health & Medicine
May I Propose a High-Fiber Toast?
Scientists have genetically modified wheat to boost a type of dietary fiber linked to numerous health benefits.
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Fit Moms, Brainier Babies: Exercising mothers provide neurological benefits
Offspring of mice that jogged each day during pregnancy may have a mental advantage over pups of sedentary moms.
- Health & Medicine
Genes for macular degeneration
Variations in two genes could account for three-quarters of all cases of age-related macular degeneration.
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Thymus twice as nice for mice
Mice have a second thymus, located in the neck.
