All Stories by John Travis
-
Brain gene is tied to obesity
A gene involved in brain chemistry influences whether a person is thin or fat.
- Health & Medicine
Protein found central to ecstasy fever
Scientists have identified a protein contributing to the high fevers that are sometimes generated by the drug ecstasy.
-
Model Mice: Blood reveals signs of pancreatic cancer
Mice that develop pancreatic cancer show signs of the disease long before malignant tumors arise, just as people with this type of cancer do.
-
Seek and Destroy: Virus attacks cancer, spares normal cells
A virus carried by mosquitoes naturally homes in on cancer cells and destroys them.
-
Tiny Bubbles
Microscopic vesicles shed by cells may help the AIDS virus, benefit cancer cells, and drive the immune response.
-
Protein Portal: Enzyme acts as door for the SARS virus
A protein that regulates blood pressure also serves as the cellular portal for the SARS virus.
-
There’s no faking it
The brain activity in men and women having an orgasm is very similar.
-
HIV protein breaks biological clock
The AIDS virus secretes a protein that interferes with an animal's biological clock.
- Health & Medicine
Cleaning up glutamate slows deadly brain tumors
Eliminating the glutamate released by brain tumors may slow the cancer's growth.
-
Protein triggers nerve connections
Nonnerve cells called astrocytes secrete a protein that enables nerve cells to connect.
-
The good side of a viral infection?
Hepatitis A infections may protect people from allergies and asthma.
-
Getting Back to Normal: Protein enables the liver to regenerate quickly
A protein called stem cell factor enables the liver to regenerate and may even protect people from acute liver failure.
