ScienceDaily: Top Science News

Killing for DNA: A predatory device in the cholera bacterium Posted: 01 Jan 2015 01:36 PM PST Scientists have uncovered the unconventional way that the cholera bacterium stabs and kills other bacteria to steal their DNA, making it potentially more virulent. Cholera is caused when the bacterium Vibrio cholerae infects the small intestine. The disease is characterized by acute watery diarrhea resulting in severe dehydration.

'Bad luck' of random mutations plays predominant role in cancer, study shows Posted: 01 Jan 2015 11:23 AM PST A statistical model has been created that measures the proportion of cancer incidence, across many tissue types, caused mainly by random mutations that occur when stem cells divide. By this measure, two-thirds of adult cancer incidence across tissues can be explained primarily by “bad luck,” when these random mutations occur in genes that can drive cancer growth, while the remaining third are due to environmental factors and inherited genes.