Stories Tagged ‘Biology’

Catch and Release

December 17, 2007 - Filed under: Environmental, Physical/Natural Science | Tagged: ,

A drought-interrupting rain showers a trio of anglers, but they remain undeterred from their task – despite the weather and a complete lack of interest in catching fish.

Caving for Creatures

July 21, 2007 - Filed under: Environmental, Physical/Natural Science | Tagged: ,

Born eyeless, these small, white, almost transparent animals spend their lives underground and have diets that, seemingly, are mud-centered. Their very existence appears tenuous.

Weed Killer, Parkinson’s Link Explored

June 29, 2007 - Filed under: Health, Physical/Natural Science | Tagged: ,

Researchers at The University of Alabama are offering clues as to why some people appear to have a higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease following exposure to a widely used chemical weed killer.

Take Two Drops of Lizard Spit and Call Me in the Morning

September 18, 2006 - Filed under: Health, Physical/Natural Science | Tagged: ,

Gila monsters are reclusive, cold-blooded, raw egg-loving lizards whose venomous bites can cause intense pain. Ah, but within that same mouthful of venom-laced saliva is a marvelously therapeutic protein – one which has already been synthesized and used in diabetic drug treatments. And, it’s one which University of Alabama researchers are analyzing in hopes it could later improve the digestive performance of humans compromised by intestinal cancer and/or surgery.

If A Frog Had Pockets

June 14, 2006 - Filed under: Environmental, Physical/Natural Science | Tagged: ,

If anyone or anything ever needed a champion to take up its cause, it was the lowly chytrid. Not so long ago, the microscopic fungus was relatively unknown, unloved and, although it didn't seem to impact the tiny organism's psyche, generally regarded as unimportant. And this dismissive approach was coming from many mycologists, those botanists who specifically study fungi.

UA Works to Stop PD

April 30, 2006 - Filed under: Physical/Natural Science | Tagged: , ,

There’s an almost audible buzz emitting from a basement level laboratory in The University of Alabama’s Biology Building. The five graduate and 10 undergraduate students who work there, alongside Drs. Guy and Kim Caldwell, UA biology professors, are pumped. So too are their aforementioned faculty mentors.

A Different Kind of Drug Problem

January 8, 2006 - Filed under: Health, Physical/Natural Science | Tagged:

The world has a drug problem. It’s not limited to the one you may be thinking of, and scientists are starting to look for solutions to it in places you might not imagine – places like the surfaces of volcanoes lying almost a mile beneath the ocean’s surface.

A Fish Story Unlike Any Other

November 22, 2005 - Filed under: Environmental, Physical/Natural Science | Tagged:

And you thought Tuscaloosa, Ala., wasn’t an international travel destination. More than 1,000 fish carcasses from around the world – including China, Russia, Vietnam and Africa – are periodically arriving at The University of Alabama as part of a $3 million National Science Foundation-sponsored project scientists hope will ultimately reveal more about gene function in fish and, eventually, humans.

Protection in a Protein

June 10, 2005 - Filed under: Health, Physical/Natural Science | Tagged: , ,

University of Alabama researchers have demonstrated that a specific protein protects against the loss of the brain neurons whose demise leads to Parkinson's disease, a central nervous system disorder estimated to affect more than 1 million Americans.

Seizing the Data

Science magazine, arguably the world's premier research journal for scientists, recently highlighted a University of Alabama undergraduate student's efforts in constructing an online database on the genetics of epilepsy.

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