Researchers from George Washington University Medical Center have discovered a way to detect a specific autism spectrum disorder by using blood samples. Additionally the researchers discovered that drugs which affect the methylation state of genes may reverse some of autism's effects.

A March 24, 2010 press release from Johns Hopkins details a research team that screened hundreds of thousands of small chemical compounds, and identified a class of compounds that - at least in a test tube - blocks tuberculosis growth. The scientists screened 175,000 small chemical compounds and identified a potent class of compounds that selectively slows down this protein’s activity.

Scientists working to understand more about the brains ability to learn and change in relation to the age of the cells have reported a new finding that they were able to prompt a new period of plasticity in the brain of juvenile mice. Their study involved the transplant a specific type of immature neuron from embryonic mice to the visual cortex of juvenile mice. The visual cortex has a period of very high plasticity during the earliest stages of development. During the period of plasticity, cells in this region react strongly to visual cues and respond with rapid synaptic transmissions produce the neural circuitry that is crucial for proper visual function.

Vanderbilt University has published a study that reports human cells moving in what seem to be independent ways similar to amoebae and bacteria. These results are thought to be a first in cell biology and were inspired in a unique way. The researchers’ adopted some new assumptions

First proposed in 1929 by J.B.S. Haldane in his essay on the origin of life, the "soup theory" suggested that life as we know it was the result of UV radiation converting methane, ammonia and water into the first organic compounds in the early earth oceans. The first cells grew by fermenting this organic primordial soup to generate energy in the form of ATP.

Even small errors made by cells during protein production can have profound disease effects, and nature has developed ways to uncover these mistakes and correct them. Though in the case of one essential protein building block—the amino acid alanine—nature has been extra careful, developing not one, but two checkpoints in her effort to make sure that this component is used correctly.

Researchers from the Nestlé Research Center in Switzerland have published evidence that suggests that eating dark chocolate can correct stress-related biochemical imbalances and actually reduce the levels of stress hormones found in the body.

A new way for scientists to interact with and understand the structure of
important biological molecules critical to human health is now available. Called
iSee, it’s now possible to interactively fly over, zoom into and dive through 3D
visualisations of these molecules in atomic detail.
 

University of Illinois researchers have designed a new system for studying bacterial locomotion. As described in the September issue of Nature Methods, physics professors Yann Chemla and Ido Golding, designed a microfluidic chamber in which the bacteria could swim, and allow the researchers to introduce stimuli - such as chemical attractants - to observe directional changes.

In a significant win for the little guy, an obscure member of an ancient group of organisms was recently discovered to be a primary mover and shaker in the processing of nitrogen worldwide. Once considered to be an insignificant player in oceanic processes, the strain known as Nitrosopumilus maritimus has demonstrated the ability to outcompete newer, larger species in the hunt for ammonia.