AMHERST, Mass – Exercise researchers have long wondered why two people following the same exercise program can get different results, one losing weight and the other not, for example. This is one of the questions to be explored by Patty Freedson, chair of the department of kinesiology and leader of a research team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who recently received a two-year, $985,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health.

AMHERST, Mass. – Nutrition scientists led by Young-Cheul Kim at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified the molecular pathway that allows foods rich in soy bioactive compounds called isoflavones to lower diabetes and heart disease risk. Eating soy foods has been shown to lower cholesterol, decrease blood glucose levels and improve glucose tolerance in people with diabetes.

AMHERST, Mass. –The reason some female hoofed animals have horns while others do not has long puzzled evolutionary biologists, even the great Charles Darwin. But now a survey of 117 bovid species led by Ted Stankowich, professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, suggests an answer: Females that can’t readily hide in protective cover and those who must defend a feeding territory are more likely to have horns than those who live in protective habitat or don’t defend a territory.

AMHERST, Mass. – A new reconstruction of Arctic climate compiled from temperature indicators over the past 2,000 years shows persuasive evidence that until about 1950, the Arctic had been naturally cooling over the previous 1,900 years. This trend reversed about 50 years ago, according to a research team that includes Raymond Bradley, director of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Climate System Research Center.