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Researchers create potatoes with higher levels of carotenoids

Potatoes with higher levels of beneficial carotenoids are the result of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) studies to improve one of America's most popular vegetables.

Oct 24th, 2012

Large-scale production of biofuels made from algae poses sustainability concerns

Scaling up the production of biofuels made from algae to meet at least 5 percent -- approximately 39 billion liters -- of U.S. transportation fuel needs would place unsustainable demands on energy, water, and nutrients, says a new report from the National Research Council.

Oct 24th, 2012

Genome evolution and carbon dioxide dynamics

Using the size of guard cells in fossil plants to predict how much DNA each cell contained (the genome size), researchers have discovered that variations in genome sizes over geological time correlate with atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

Oct 24th, 2012

Greenpeace warns EU off herbicide-tolerant GM crops (w/video)

Global environmental watchdog Greenpeace launched a new report Monday warning the European Union against authorising herbicide-tolerant genetically engineered (HTGE) crops, saying they would lead to herbicide-resistant super-weeds.

Oct 22nd, 2012

Evolution of new genes captured

Like job-seekers searching for a new position, living things sometimes have to pick up a new skill if they are going to succeed. Researchers from the University of California, Davis, and Uppsala University, Sweden, have shown for the first time how living organisms do this.

Oct 19th, 2012

Virus exploits cellular waste disposal system

ETH-researchers demonstrate how vaccinia virus manipulates the cellular waste-disposal system and thereby cleverly tricks the cell into assisting the intruders replication. Now, the virologists have turned the tables, using inhibitors of this cellular waste-disposal system as a way to block virus infection.

Oct 18th, 2012

New technique for sorting live cells may expedite biomedical research (w/video)

Researchers from North Carolina State University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed a new technique that uses sound waves to rapidly separate selected collections of cells for use in biomedical research.

Oct 17th, 2012

Researchers develop new method for detection of specific DNA sequences

The detection of specific DNA sequences is central to the identification of disease-causing pathogens and genetic diseases, as well as other activities. But current detection technologies require amplification by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), fluorescent or enzymatic labels, and expensive instrumentation.

Oct 1st, 2012

Bioengineers design rapid diagnostic tests inspired by nature

By mimicking nature's own sensing mechanisms, bioengineers at UC Santa Barbara and University of Rome Tor Vergata have designed inexpensive medical diagnostic tests that take only a few minutes to perform.

Sep 27th, 2012

Researchers identify biochemical functions for most of the human genome (w/video)

New map finds genetic regulatory elements account for 80 percent of our DNA.

Sep 5th, 2012

Biomass characterization technology

Biomass recalcitrance - the problem of how to break down complex plant-based cellulosic feedstock into sugars that can be fermented to produce sustainable biofuels and other renewable biobased products - can be overcome through improved methods of biomass characterization.

Aug 29th, 2012

History of agricultural biotechnology: How crop development has evolved

Have you ever wondered where our agricultural crops come from? And what were they like thousands of years ago, or hundreds of years ago? Our food crops today are in fact very different from the original wild plants from which they were derived.

Aug 23rd, 2012

A team of scientists move toward rational design of artificial proteins

Past efforts to predict protein structure have met with limited success, but now a scientific team led by Glenn Butterfoss, and Barney Yoo, research scientists at New York University, in collaboration with investigators from the U.S. Department of Energy?s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), Stony Brook University and Temple University have demonstrated that a computer modeling approach similar to one used to predict protein structures can accurately predict peptoid conformation as well.