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Gene ‘switch’ reverses cancer in common childhood leukemia

Gene ‘switch’ reverses cancer in common childhood leukemia
Melbourne researchers have shown a type of leukemia can be successfully 'reversed' by coaxing the cancer cells back into normal development. The discovery was made using a model of B-progenitor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), the most common cancer affecting children. Researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute showed that switching off a gene called Pax5 could…
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Human Ancestors Got Herpes from Chimps’ Ancestors

Human Ancestors Got Herpes from Chimps’ Ancestors
  A herpes virus that infects humans originated in chimpanzees before it jumped into our early human ancestors, according to a new study. Researchers found that herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) infected hominids before their evolutionary split from chimpanzees 6 million years ago, whereas herpes simplex 2 (HSV-2) was transferred from ancient chimpanzees to human ancestors such…
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New fossil find pinpoints the origin of jaws in vertebrates

New fossil find pinpoints the origin of jaws in vertebrates
  A major fossil discovery in Canada sheds new light on the development of the earliest vertebrates, including the origin of jaws, the first time this feature has been seen so early in the fossil record. A key piece in the puzzle of the evolution of vertebrates has been identified, after the discovery of fossilised…
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The First Vertebrate Sexual Organs Evolved as an Extra Pair of Legs

The First Vertebrate Sexual Organs Evolved as an Extra Pair of Legs
  We humans use the euphemism for sex that “we like to get a leg over” but the first jawed vertebrates – the placoderms – they liked to get a leg in. They were the first back-boned creatures to evolve male genital organs, or claspers, supported by a bony internal skeleton. What’s even more peculiar is that,…
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Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters

Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters
THE HOTTEST CULTURAL CONTROVERSY OF 2005 was the Intelligent Design challenge to the theory of evolution, being played out in classrooms and courtrooms across America. The crux of the argument made by proponents of Intelligent Design is that the theory of evolution is in serious trouble. They claim that the evidence for evolution is weak,…
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Anti-diabetic drug slows aging and lengthens lifespan, animal study suggests

Anti-diabetic drug slows aging and lengthens lifespan, animal study suggests
A study by Belgian doctoral researcher Wouter De Haes (KU Leuven) and colleagues provides new evidence that metformin, the world's most widely used anti-diabetic drug, slows aging and increases lifespan. In experiments reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers tease out the mechanism behind metformin's age-slowing effects: the drug causes…
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Australia’s deadly eruptions were reason for the first mass extinction

Australia’s deadly eruptions were reason for the first mass extinction
A Curtin University researcher has shown that ancient volcanic eruptions in Australia 510 million years ago significantly affected the climate, causing the first known mass extinction in the history of complex life. Published in the journal Geology, Associate Professor Fred Jourdan from Curtin's Department of Applied Geology, along with colleagues from several Australian and international institutions, used…
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Rising sea levels will be too much, too fast for Florida

Rising sea levels will be too much, too fast for Florida
It is amazing for me to see the very aggressive building boom underway in south Florida; on the beaches and barrier islands, throughout downtown and in the low western areas bordering the Everglades. They are building like there is no tomorrow. Unfortunately, they are right. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published its…
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A habitable environment on Martian volcano?

A habitable environment on Martian volcano?
The  Martian volcano Arsia Mons may have been home to one of the most recent habitable environments yet found on the Red Planet, geologists say. The research shows that volcanic eruptions beneath a glacial ice sheet would have created substantial amounts of liquid water on Mars's surface around 210 million years ago. Where there was water,…
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