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Gene analysis adds layers to understanding how our livers function

If you get up in the morning feeling energetic and clearheaded, you can thank your liver for manufacturing glucose before breakfast time. Among a host of other vital functions, it also clears our body...

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New neural mechanism is found to regulate the chronic stress response

In addition to the classic stress response in our bodies - an acute reaction that gradually abates when the threat passes - our bodies appear to have a separate mechanism that deals only with chronic...

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Weakening communication between two parts of the brain in mice reduced their...

Erasing unwanted memories is still the stuff of science fiction, but Weizmann Institute scientists have now managed to erase one type of memory in mice. In a study reported in Nature Neuroscience, they...

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Researchers identify 6,500 genes that are expressed differently in men and women

Men and women differ in obvious and less obvious ways—for example, in the prevalence of certain diseases or reactions to drugs. How are these connected to one's sex? Weizmann Institute of Science...

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New, water-based, recyclable membrane filters all types of nanoparticles

Separation technology is at the heart of water purification, sewage treatment and reclaiming materials, as well as numerous basic industrial processes. Membranes are used to separate out the smallest...

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Restoring cardiac function with a matrix molecule

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide, yet the few available treatments are still mostly unsuccessful once the heart tissue has suffered damage. Mammalian hearts are actually able...

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How to reduce shockwaves in quantum beam experiments

The tiny cone-shaped "skimmers" used in experiments looking for exotic chemical-quantum phenomena resemble the intake mechanisms of aircraft engines, and they perform similar functions: Each directs...

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Jerusalem tower younger than thought

Gihon Spring, just downhill from the ancient city of Jerusalem, was crucial to the survival of its inhabitants, and archaeologists had uncovered the remains of a massive stone tower built to guard this...

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The dust storm microbiome

Israel is subjected to sand and dust storms from several directions: northeast from the Sahara, northwest from Saudi Arabia and southwest from the desert regions of Syria. The airborne dust carried in...

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Pigments made by beets may help boost resistance to disease and the nutrition...

Color in the plant kingdom is not merely a joy to the eye. Colored pigments attract pollinating insects, they protect plants against disease, and they confer health benefits and are used in the food...

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The lining of our intestines uses an approach known to business to quickly...

Every time we swallow food, cells that line the intestines must step up their activity in a sudden and dramatic manner. According to a new study by Weizmann Institute of Science researchers, reported...

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The unexpected role of a well-known gene in creating blood

One of the first organ systems to form and function in the embryo is the cardiovascular system: in fact, this developmental process starts so early that scientists still have many unresolved questions...

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Self-assembling protein complexes could provide scaffolding for nanostructures

When hemoglobin undergoes just one mutation, these protein complexes stick to one another, stacking like Lego blocks to form long, stiff filaments. These filaments, in turn, elongate the red blood...

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What happens at the moving edge of a crack?

It is said that a weak link determines the strength of the entire chain. Likewise, defects or small cracks in a solid material may ultimately determine the strength of that material – how well it will...

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Israeli gene-crunching firm aims to cut data down to size

The human genome has been mapped, but the genomes of most humans have not – at least not yet. When individual genomes are mapped, the world will have a problem: there is simply not enough space in the...

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Eat a purple potato if you know what's good for you

Israeli scientists synthesize healthier potatoes and tomatoes in brilliant colors. The technology can also produce unusually hued ornamental flowers.

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Scientists find bacteria in pancreatic tumors that metabolize a common drug

To the reasons that chemotherapy sometimes does not work, we can now add one more: bacteria. In a study published today in Science, researchers describe findings that certain bacteria can be found...

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Altitude training for cancer-fighting cells

Mountain climbers and endurance athletes are not the only ones to benefit from altitude training - that is, learning to perform well under low-oxygen conditions. It turns out that cancer-fighting cells...

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Genomic recycling: Ancestral genes take on new roles

One often hears about the multitude of genes we have in common with chimps, birds or other living creatures, but such comparisons are sometimes misleading. The shared percentage usually refers only to...

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An original method of cooling ions could have new and interesting uses

When investigating atoms, scientists face a challenge: At room temperature, individual atoms in a gas have kinetic energy, and fly around at large velocities. Temperature is, in essence, the relative...

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Principles for computational design of binding antibodies

The idea of proteins that can be designed on computers for specific functions has been a cutting-edge concept that has stubbornly remained "in the future." New research at the Weizmann Institute of...

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Faster metabolism makeover—nurturing your gut bacteria

Here's how to take control of your cravings and lose weight for good by improving your gut health.

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Juno probe discovers surprising activity in Jupiter's interior

NASA's Juno spacecraft has plumbed the depths of Jupiter, revealing that the planet's famous bands of swirling winds extend thousands of kilometres down. The work is the sharpest glimpse yet into...

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Off track: How storms will veer in a warmer world

Under global climate change, the Earth's climatic zones will shift toward the poles. This is not just a future prediction; it is a trend that has already been observed in the past decades. The dry,...

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Odors that carry social cues seem to affect volunteers on the autism spectrum...

Autism typically involves the inability to read social cues. We most often associate this with visual difficulty in interpreting facial expression, but new research at the Weizmann Institute of Science...

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How malaria tricks the immune system

Global efforts to eradicate malaria are crucially dependent on scientists' ability to outsmart the malaria parasite. And Plasmodium falciparum is notoriously clever: It is quick to develop resistance...

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Mini brains may wrinkle and fold just like ours

Flat brains growing on microscope slides may have revealed a new wrinkle in the story of how the brain folds.

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Genetic barcodes are used to quantify crucial populations in a coral reef...

Almost all the wildly varied, colorful fish that populate coral reefs start life as tiny, colorless, tadpole-like larvae. Telling one from the other is nearly impossible - even for experts - and this...

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Researchers identify 'social place cells' in the brain that respond to the...

Whether we're playing a team sport or just strolling with our family through the park, we're continually aware of the positions of those around us - and where each is heading. Scientists have, in...

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Study uncovering multiple new, unusual bacterial immune defense mechanisms...

Until a decade ago, scientists were not aware that bacteria had complex immune systems - ones that could keep up with the pace of evolution in viruses called phages that infect bacteria. That changed...

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