Tag Archives: university of chicago

Landmark genetic analysis identifies how woolly mammoth adapted to arctic life

The first comprehensive analysis of the woolly mammoth genome reveals extensive genetic changes that allowed mammoths to adapt to life in the arctic. Mammoth genes that differed from their counterparts in elephants played roles in skin and hair development, fat metabolism, insulin signaling and numerous other traits. Genes linked to physical traits such as skull shape, small ears and short tails were also identified. As a test of function, a mammoth gene involved in temperature sensation was resurrected in the laboratory and its protein product characterized. (more…)

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Shape-shifting molecule tricks viruses into mutating themselves to death

A newly developed spectroscopy method is helping to clarify the poorly understood molecular process by which an anti-HIV drug induces lethal mutations in the virus’ genetic material. The findings from the University of Chicago and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology could bolster efforts to develop the next generation of anti-viral treatments. (more…)

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Ancient ‘genomic parasites’ spurred evolution of pregnancy in mammals

Study identifies thousands of genes that were turned on or off in the uterus during the evolution of pregnancy

An international team of scientists has identified large-scale genetic changes that marked the evolution of pregnancy in mammals. (more…)

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Highly effective new anti-cancer drug shows few side effects—in mice

As injections or pills, drug inhibits an enzyme active in many cancer types

A new drug, known as OTS964, can eradicate aggressive human lung cancers transplanted into mice, according to a new report. The drug, given as a pill or by injection, inhibits the action of a protein that is overproduced by several tumor types, including lung and breast, but is rarely expressed in healthy adult tissues. Without this protein, cancer cells begin the cell-division process but fail to complete it and die. (more…)

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Uranium-extracting technology for seawater earns student a Fuel Cycle Research Award

Scientists have long known that seawater contains small concentrations of valuable metals, but a technologically feasible extraction method has remained elusive. The University of Chicago’s Carter Abney, a graduate student in chemistry, has been developing materials called metal-organic frameworks to help address the problem. (more…)

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Decreased ability to identify odors can predict death

For older adults, being unable to identify scents is a strong predictor of death within five years, according to a study published Oct. 1 in the journal PLOS ONE. Thirty-nine percent of study subjects who failed a simple smelling test died during that period, compared to 19 percent of those with moderate smell loss and just 10 percent of those with a healthy sense of smell. (more…)

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Deceptive-looking vortex line in superfluid led to twice-mistaken identity

So long, solitons: University of Chicago physicists have shown that a group of scientists were incorrect when they concluded that a mysterious effect found in superfluids indicated the presence of solitons—exotic, solitary waves. Instead, they explain, the result was due to more pedestrian, whirlpool-like structures in the fluid. They published their explanation in the Sept. 19 issue of Physical Review Letters. (more…)

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Massive hunter prowled water’s edge

UChicago collaboration unveils African dinosaur Spinosaurus, 9 feet longer than T. rex

Scientists have unveiled what appears to be the first truly semiaquatic dinosaur, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. New fossils of the massive Cretaceous-era predator reveal it adapted to life in the water some 95 million years ago, providing the most compelling evidence to date of a dinosaur able to live and hunt in an aquatic environment. (more…)

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