Blame junk food or a lack of exercise. But long before the modern obesity epidemic, evolution made us fat too.
"We're the fat primates," said Devi Swain-Lenz, a postdoctoral associate in biology at Duke University.
The fact that humans are chubbier...
Researchers trying to better understand and treat blood-sugar disorders such as type 2 diabetes can look for new clues in odd little fish that dwell in Mexican caves.
The fat, eyeless cavefish harbor the same genetic mutation as people with...
A previously unknown component of our cells that delivers proteins like a bike courier in heavy traffic could shed light on the mechanisms that allow cells to spread in diseases such as cancer.
The new vesicle discovered by scientists from...
Using sophisticated screening across animal species, researchers at Yale have created a cellular blueprint of the human lung that will make it easier to understand the design principles behind lung function and disease—and to bioengineer new lungs.
The research, published...
Humboldt's flying squirrel.
Credit: Nicholas J Kerhoulas
Scientists always assumed it was a northern flying squirrel gliding through the canopies of Pacific coastal forests. But now a recent in-depth...
Rendering of bacteria. Bacteria have an immune system to fight off invasive viruses called phages, scientists say.
Credit: © zuki70 / Fotolia
It may come as a bit of a surprise to learn that bacteria have an immune system -- in...
Biomedical engineers have grown the first functioning human skeletal muscle from induced pluripotent stem cells.
The advance builds on work published in 2015 when researchers at Duke University grew the first functioning human muscle tissue from cells obtained from muscle...
After being treated with an inhibitor of electrical synapses, about 25 percent of wild-type (WT) flatworms regenerated into double-headed forms (DH), while 72 percent regenerated as seemingly normal one-headed worms (CRPT). But further analysis showed that the normal-appearing flatworms...
This is an image of Pseudooides.
Credit: University of Bristol
Everyone wants to be with their family over the holidays, but spare a thought for a group of orphan fossils that have been separated from their parents since the dawn of...
In 2015, University of California San Diego biologists Ethan Bier and Valentino Gantz developed a breakthrough technology known as "active genetics," which results in parents transmitting a genetic trait to most of their offspring (instead of 50 percent receiving...
Besides affecting weight, scientists believe the timing of food consumption affects one's circadian rhythms and may be the route by which dietary habits impact lifespan.
Credit: © tatomm / Fotolia
A new high-precision feeding system for lab mice reinforces the idea...
