ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Imagine two tango dancers sweeping across the dance floor and suddenly encountering a slick spot. To avoid a slip or even a nasty tumble, the pair must work together to support one another and glide safely through the stressful moment.
In a similar way, a certain type of helper protein called a stress-specific molecular chaperone prevents its client proteins from collapsing during stressful situations by uncoiling a long, supportive arm that wraps around them, a University of Michigan-led research team has shown. (more…)
UCLA stem-cell researchers have identified a certain type of cell and a signaling pathway in the placental niche that play a key role in stopping blood stem cells from differentiating into mature blood cells in the placenta. Preventing this premature differentiation is critical to ensuring a proper blood supply for an individual’s lifetime.(more…)
COLLEGE PARK, Maryland – The Israeli public is wary of launching airstrikes aimed at disrupting Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons, reports a new public opinion poll by researchers at the University of Maryland.
Only 19 of percent of all Israelis favored a go-it-alone strike by Israel, while 42 percent supported a strike only with U.S. backing, and 34 percent opposed any strike. Survey findings for Israeli Jews closely paralleled the results for the entire population of the nation. (more…)
In Guardians of Finance, economists Ross Levine, James R. Barth, and Gerard Caprio Jr. argue that the financial meltdown of 2007 to 2009 was no accident — it was negligent homicide. Levine speaks with Deb Baum about how that happened, what can be done, and why the home team always seems to win.
A new book co-authored by Brown University economist Ross Levine argues that the reason the United States suffers financial crises time and time again is because the major regulatory agencies — the so-called “guardians of finance” — do not work for the public. Instead, they frequently work in the best interests of the financial services industry, the very entities they are supposed to be regulating. Guardians of Finance: Making Regulators Work for Us, published in February by MIT Press, goes beyond telling us what went wrong. The authors also suggest reforms needed to prevent the next crisis. (more…)
A year-long study by Yale University paleontologists concludes that two related horned dinosaurs are different animals and not adult and juvenile versions of the same.(more…)
Parasitic wasps using tiny insects known as aphids as living nurseries for their brood can sniff out whether the host insect is protected by symbiotic bacteria, researchers have discovered.
A research team including Martha (Molly) Hunter from the department of entomology in the University of Arizona’s College of Agriculture of Life Sciences has disentangled relationships in an assembly of players that resemble Russian dolls: a bacterium that lives inside a tiny insect, a virus that infects those bacteria, and a parasitic wasp that lays its eggs in the insect.
In a war between parasite and host, the parasitic wasp, Aphidius ervi, and the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, are locked in a battle for survival. (more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Fifty million years ago, India slammed into Eurasia, a collision that gave rise to the tallest landforms on the planet, the Himalaya Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau.(more…)
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Often faced with overwhelming anxiety, patients newly diagnosed with lung cancer can find themselves in distress, and new research recommends nurses play a key role in alleviating concerns, leading to a better quality of life for patients.(more…)