Scanning for Cancer’s Biochemical Signature

Researchers in the states may have found a way to detect potential prostate tumours using Magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and this should lead to fewer false negatives, better precision when locating tumours and a better idea of how aggressive they are. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy analyses the...

The echoing links between bats and dolphins

Bats and dolphins may appear to be very different types of mammals – after all one of them flies and the other swims – but it turns out they have both, independently evolved exactly the same gene that allows them to use sound as a way of visualising the world around them. Both bats and dolphins hun...

The Benefits of Running Barefoot

People who run barefoot learn to minimise impact shock, adopting a different style of running from those in shoes, according to research published in Nature this week.  This could help us to understand the impact-related injuries suffered by a high percentage of runners. Daniel Lieberman and c...

The Fish with wonky mouths

Among the enormous diversity of cichlid fish living in Lake Tanganyika in eastern Africa, one group in particular has evolved a most unusual feeding habit: they sneak up behind other fish and pick their scales off, approaching every time either from the left or right side. You can easily see whether...

The Chemical that Keeps Nerves Alive

Researchers at Cambridge’s Babraham Institute have identified a factor that helps to stop nerves from degenerating. This could lead to better treatments for degenerative diseases, but also better ways to halt the degradation of a nerve when it gets damage as a result of an injury or stroke......