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Agricultural biotechnology isn't the first promising new technology to become ensnared in trade politics. The same fate buried supersonic commercial air travel — but that time, the boot was on the other foot.
The received wisdom in AIDS vaccine research is that stimulating cellular immunity is more important than producing antibodies. But some experts are now reviving the antibody strategy, says Erika Check.
Beneath the peaks of Colorado nestles an unusual institute that leads the world in atomic physics. Peter Aldhous visits JILA, where a culture of sharing has underpinned Nobel success.
When you're a large organism and made of wood, you can't have a heart or other contractile organs, but you still need to move fluids to live. How is this done?
The mechanical properties of natural substances such as bone and shell are envied by those involved in the fabrication of materials. A 'bricks-and-mortar' structure, assembled layer by layer, is the key to making sea shells.
Telomeres — the tips of chromosomes — need to be preserved, and this involves replenishing telomeric DNA when it has been eroded. But telomeres must not become too long, and one aspect of length control is now revealed.
Powerful electric currents have been detected in discharges between thunderclouds and the upper atmosphere. Carried by gigantic jets, they are a new factor in the model of the Earth's electrical and chemical environment.
Male–female conflict over mating rate can drive rapid evolution and lead to female refusal to mate with males from other populations, so implicating sexual conflict in the generation of biodiversity.
In a 'biphasic' system, a catalyst dissolved in a liquid phase can be recycled if the reaction products are captured in an adjacent phase. A catalyst-storing liquid that is plentiful and environmentally friendly has been found.
At the junctions between two neurons, the machinery that releases neurotransmitter from one cell must lie near calcium channels and align with detectors in the receiving cell. We now have a better idea how this occurs.
The northernmost segment of the global mid-ocean-ridge system, the Gakkel ridge, is a bit of an oddity. Provocative data are emerging from an international geophysical and geochemical study of the region.
