Microbes have been getting a lot of bad publicity lately. From methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) outbreaks to E. coli in our food, the headlines have made it abundantly clear that bacteria are very inventive when it comes to harming human health. With all of this bad news, we often forget that the vast majority of microbes are harmless. In fact, many microbes benefit other organisms… Continue reading Beneficial Bacteria Help Power the Human Intestine

Mental disorders are found worldwide, and approximately one in four adults in the United States suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. The biological causes of many mental disorders are unknown and, thus, the mode of treatment is not always obvious. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental disorder that affects about 2.2 million American adults, a third of whom develop symptoms as children… Continue reading Anxious mice may hold clues to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Abnormally high body fat, also known as obesity, has become an epidemic in the United States. The National Institutes of Health estimates that today approximately two-thirds of the population is overweight and nearly one-third is obese. This is a marked increase from 1960 when less than half the population was overweight and less than a sixth were categorized as obese. Obesity has serious health and economic consequences, and as a result, a great deal of research has probed the causes and consequences of obesity. The psychology behind obesity has been well studied as has certain genetic predispositions for becoming obese, but at a recent American Chemical Society conference in Boston, another potential cause of obesity was discussed– a virus. Could a virus be responsible for this epidemic? Continue reading Is Obesity Contagious?

Sun light is perhaps the only source of energy that can keep up with the world’s ever increasing appetite for energy. More solar energy strikes the Earth in one hour than all the global fossil fuels combined can provide in a year. However, utilizing this solar energy is not trivial… Continue reading Harnessing the Power of the Sun: The Bright Promise of Solar Cells

Stem cells are no strangers to media attention. In the midst of all the hype and debate, it can be difficult to determine the scientific facts. Recently, several exciting technological advances have been reported in the stem cell field, and we will explore one of them in the following article. Scientists have discovered a surprisingly simple way to re-program ordinary mouse cells to behave like embryonic stem cells. Because this method of stem cell creation avoids the destruction of an embryo, many ethical concerns could potentially be side-stepped. Could this be the answer to the stem cell debate? Continue reading Giving Ordinary Cells the Superpowers of Stem Cells

As usual, it turns out that your mother was right — the group you surround yourself with might just get you into trouble. Last month in the journal Nature Neuroscience, two groups of researchers reported that in the devastating disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) the cells that die, the motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord, might not be to blame for the disease. Instead, this new research suggests the blame lies with the neurons’ neighbors, cells called astrocytes, which might induce the motor neurons to die… Continue reading Toxic neighbors: Astrocytes Trigger Neuron Death in ALS

While man’s eternal search for “the fountain of youth” continues, a study published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that we (at least the gourmands among us) may not like what we find. Scientists have known for decades that reducing the amount of food consumed can extend the lifespan of multiple organisms, ranging from yeast to rats. Exactly how reducing the number of calories consumed prolongs life is unknown, but theories abound. Some researchers believe that ingesting fewer calories slows down the rate at which our bodies metabolize, or break down, food and turn it into energy, thereby slowing the aging process. Others believe that decreased calorie consumption sets loose fewer free radicals, the harmful particles generated as a side effect of metabolism. The most recent theory, proposed by researchers at the National Institute on Aging (NIA), is that long term calorie cutting, or caloric restriction (CR), prolongs life in part by delaying the aging of the immune system… Continue reading Living Longer with a Healthier Immune System

Malaria is a parasitic disease that affects 300 million people worldwide, and kills nearly 1 million people each year, according to the World Health Organization. Because it is transmitted by mosquitoes, it is prevalent in sub-tropical regions of the world, putting about 40% of the world’s population at risk and creating one of the most important and challenging health problems faced by our global society. This month, a research study published in Science magazine suggests an extremely creative and interesting idea for how science might battle this epidemic in the future… Continue reading Unusual Allies in the Fight against Malaria: Fruit Flies, Bumble Bees and Selfish Beetles

Have you ever drunk a big glass of milk or eaten an ice cream cone and then felt sick to your stomach afterwards? If so, you might be one of the estimated 30-50 million Americans who have difficulty digesting milk and other dairy products and are said to be “lactose intolerant” (lactose is the sugar present in dairy products such as milk). Worldwide, the ability to drink milk as an adult is actually a rare one. Babies, of course, need to be able to digest the energy-rich lactose sugar in their mother’s breast milk, but for most people the ability to break down lactose disappears during childhood as expression of the gene that allows digestion of lactose gradually gets turned off. However, the percentage of adults who retain the ability to digest lactose (this ability is referred to as “lactose tolerance”) as adults varies greatly among different populations. Scientists investigating why some populations have higher rates of lactose tolerance have found that this ability is likely to be intricately connected to the agricultural habits of our distant ancestors… Continue reading Got lactase? How (some of) our bodies evolved to enjoy milk with our cookies

With cherry trees blooming from Jamaica Pond to the Public Gardens, Boston and the rest of New England experienced a reprieve from winter weather earlier this season. In fact, December 2006 was the warmest December on record in Boston, with the average monthly temperature reaching 6 degrees higher than normal. But what does this dramatic and sustained increase in temperatures mean for gardens and gardeners in the spring? Continue reading To Bloom or Not to Bloom: Environmental Sensing in Flowering Plants