all biology stories

How does a worm build a throat?

404132862 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:00:24 -0400

Mention worms to most people, and they probably think of fishing, gardening, or trips to the vet. Mention them to Susan E.

New steps forward in cell reprogramming

404132862 — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:00:20 -0400

Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have substantially improved the odds of successfully reprogramming differentiated cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) by blocking the activity of the gene that instructs the cells to stop dividing.

Glimpsing the birth of our earliest reproductive cells

404132862 — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:20:24 -0400

It has long been a mystery how the developing embryo designates those rare, precious cells destined to produce sperm and eggs -- enabling us to have offspring - since these primordial germ cells' existence is fleeting and hard to spot with the tools of biology.

Massachusetts Lt. Governor tours Harvard research facilities

404132862 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:43:08 -0400

Massachusetts Lt. Governor Timothy Murray on Wednesday toured Harvard labs in both Cambridge and Boston.

"The Patrick Administration has been very supportive of the university research sector in Massachusetts and we welcomed the opportunity to show him the range of projects ongoing at Harvard, in both Cambridge and Longwood, that are cutting-edge, multidisciplinary and often involve collaboration with partners from other institutions, including the University of Massachusetts, and industry," Casey said.

New department reflects the evolution of human evolution

50443248 — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:17:07 -0400

Earlier this month, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) made official what scientists worldwide have known for years: Harvard is a hotbed of research and teaching in the field of human evolutionary biology — the study of why we’re the way we are.

Evolution explored from all angles

50443248 — Thu, 28 May 2009 07:10:20 -0400

From humanity’s close relationship to chimpanzees to the missing link between land and sea creatures, the Harvard Museum of Natural History (HMNH) has capped off a year celebrating Darwin and “On the Origin of Species” with a new exhibit that puts evolution front and center.

Study finds genetic links to age of first menstrual period, menopause

50443248 — Sun, 17 May 2009 12:57:26 -0400

Newly identified gene variants associated with the age at which females experience their first menstrual period and the onset of menopause may help shed light on the prevention of breast and endometrial cancer, osteoporosis, and cardiovascular disease.

Nectar nurtures pitcher plant’s eating habits

50443248 — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:45:31 -0400

New research from the Harvard Forest shows that carnivorous pitcher plants use sweet nectar to attract ants and flies to their water-filled traps, not color, as earlier research had indicated.

The work, which was among the first to experimentally examine the role of nectar in attraction by pitcher plants in the field, not only served to advance understanding of insect-eating plants, it also helped to improve science education at local schools. It was conducted as part of a National Science Foundation-funded program to enrich science training of local schoolteachers.

Exploring hidden life’s abundance

404132862 — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:55:25 -0500

Two miles below the surface of the Sargasso Sea lies a depression in the Earth’s crust filled with sediment and, scientists believe, teeming with life — exotic, microscopic, and very likely never before seen by human eyes.

Efficiency of producing iPS cells markedly improved

404132862 — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:55:30 -0400

Some of the most challenging obstacles limiting the reprogramming of mature human cells into stem cells may not seem quite as daunting in the near future. Two independent research groups, one lead by Harvard Stem Cell Institute Principal Faculty member Konrad Hochedlinger, and another at the Whitehead Institute, are describing new tools that provide invaluable platforms for elucidating the molecular, genetic and biochemical mechanisms associated with reprogramming.

Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers turn one form of adult mouse cell directly into another

404132862 — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:40:13 -0400

In a feat of biological prestidigitation likely to turn the field of regenerative medicine on its head, Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) co-director Doug Melton and post doctoral fellow Qiao "Joe" Zhou report having achieved what has long been a dream and ultimate goal of developmental biologists – directly turning one type of fully formed adult cell into another type of adult cell.

Driven:

404132862 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:29:50 -0400

When the baby vomited again, Gail Melton knew something was seriously wrong with her second child, a son she and her husband, Doug Melton, had named Sam.

Experiment advances understanding of cell reprogramming

404132862 — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:54:35 -0400

The announcement last year by scientists in Japan, at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI), and at the Whitehead Institute that they had each — independently — coaxed adult cells into reverting to an embryonic stem cell-like state was arguably the biggest news in developmental biology since the cloning of Dolly the ewe.

Biologists remember landmark theory

404132862 — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:12:41 -0400

Forty years ago, Edward O. Wilson and Robert H. MacArthur described how size and isolation determine how many species an island can support. Last week, biologists gathered to mark the theory’s anniversary, calling it a “pivotal point” in ecology’s relatively short history.

Professor Lord Robert May of Oxford University said the word “ecology” — which describes the interaction between an organism and its environment — was coined just a little more than a century ago. By the 1960s, he said, the science of ecology was still mainly a descriptive one, lacking theories to tie together the observations by scientists in the field.

Losos’ lizards give evolutionary clues in island experiments

50443248 — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 15:41:16 -0400

Tiny islets in the Bahamas have proven useful laboratories to illustrate natural selection’s effects on island lizards, which saw their legs lengthen, then shorten as ground-dwelling predators drove them into the trees.

The experiments capped years of research into a type of lizard called an anole on the Caribbean islands. The research, conducted by Jonathan Losos, the Monique and Philip Lehner Professor of the Study of Latin America, examined the relationships between lizards that shared similar habitats and characteristics but lived on different islands.

Losos described his research Tuesday (Sept. 18) during the kickoff talk in this year’s lecture series sponsored by the Harvard Museum of Natural History (HMNH).