Latest science news in Biology & Nature
Inland Ants Often Prefer Salt Over Sugar, Implying Salt May Be A Limitation On Their Activity
Mammals are limited by the availability of salt, and now researchers have shown that ants are too. In experiments in North, Central and South American, researchers have shown that plant-eating...
Dams Don't Make A Difference: Similar Survival Rates For Pacific Salmon In Fraser And Columbia Rivers
Canadian and US researchers have made a surprising discovery that some endangered Pacific salmon stocks are surviving in rivers with hydroelectric dams as well as or better than in rivers...
Congo crisis threatens mountain gorillas
The ongoing conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has recently intensified and more than half of the world's remaining mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park are without security...
In mice, anxiety is linked to immune system
In the first study ever to genetically link the immune system to normal behavior, scientists at Rockefeller and Columbia universities show that mast cells, known as the pharmacologic bombshells of...
Penn researchers find key to Sonic hedgehog control of brain development
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers have discovered how the expression of the Sonic hedgehog gene is regulated during brain development and how mutations that alter this process cause...
New cell division mechanism discovered
A novel cell division mechanism has been discovered in a microorganism that thrives in hot acid. The finding may also result in insights into key processes in human cells, and...
Pervasive Network Discovered Driving Protein Production And Placement In Cells
Researchers have uncovered what appears to be an extensive, but until now barely noticed, network of regulatory interactions that influence what proteins are made inside a cell, and when and...
Cosmic Log: Invasion of the brain snatchers
Science editor Alan Boyle’s blog: Parasites may seem merely icky, but some of them have the Halloweenish capacity to take over your brain.
ANIMAL PHOTOS WEEKLY: Rare Leopard, Tiger Cub, More
A Chihuahua wins a canine costume contest, a tiger cub stalks a pumpkin, and more in our weekly update of animal photos.
Brain stimulation improves dexterity
Applying electrical stimulation to the scalp and the underlying motor regions of the brain could make you more skilled at delicate tasks. Research published today in the open access journal...
The role of the slave trade in the evolution of American wild rice species
Rice is the world's foremost cereal crop as a human food source. Today's cultivated varieties derive from the species Oryza sativa and Oryza glaberrina, domesticated respectively in Asia and West...
Virtual Screening Leads To Real Progress In Drug Design
Around 150 thousand people per year get the parasitic disease African sleeping sickness, but the only medicines to treat it are either difficult to administer, expensive, or toxic. Now a...
Thoreau Is Rediscovered as a Climatologist
Scientists are using notes from Henry David Thoreau to discern patterns of plant abundance in New England and to link those patterns to changing climate.
African auctions put elephant tusk controversy on the block
The first legal sale of elephant tusks in a decade is being held in Namibia on Tuesday, with nine tonnes of ivory to be auctioned off under the UN's watchful...
Scientist warns of 'digital dark age'
CHAMPAIGN, Ill., Oct. 28 (UPI) -- A U.S. professor says an unintended result of our rapidly digitizing world is the potential of a "digital dark age" where information...
Migratory birds may carry bird flu virus
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. and Japanese scientists say they've found genetic evidence that wild migratory birds may carry the avian influenza virus between Asia and North...
Roads bring death and fear to forest elephants
Why did the elephant cross the road? It didn't according to a new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Save the Elephants that says endangered forest elephants are...
New deal to rescue Borneo orangutans in Malaysia
(AP) -- Conservationists said Tuesday they were planning a big push to protect Borneo's orangutans, pygmy elephants and other endangered wildlife by purchasing land from palm oil producers to...
MIT Funds Collaborative Neuroscience Projects
MIT is developing new technologies for neuroscience research in projects aimed at accelerating basic research and developing new therapeutic approaches for brain disorders.
Machine counts viruses in minutes
New Zealand scientists have developed a portable machine that sucks up and counts the number of viruses that a sample in minutes.
Island DNA tested for Libya link
ROME, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Libya's Moammar Gadhafi requested DNA tests to determine if residents of Italy's Tremiti Islands are of Libyan descent, Tremiti's mayor said.
VIDEO: Vampire Moths Discovered
Just in time for Halloween, bloodsucking moths have been found in Siberia—evidence of evolution at work, scientists say.
VIDEO: Bear Orphans Released
Poaching of female brown bears leaves thousands of cubs orphaned in Russia each year. Now two human-raised orphans have been returned to the wild.
Salmon study sparks row over dams
Results dismissing link to fish mortality are called into question.
Robotic Ants Building Homes On Mars?
Recent discoveries of water and Earth-like soil on Mars have set imaginations running wild that human beings may one day colonize the Red Planet. However, the first inhabitants might not...
Microbiology has much to offer climate change science
Rising temperatures, which promote algal blooms and the spread of pathogens, are setting a new agenda for microbiologists, says Bernard Dixon.
Special brain signal used in visual reflex
LA JOLLA, Calif., Oct. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've found the nervous system uses a specific type of signal to produce stable retinal images despite...
How we see objects in depth: The brain's code for 3-D structure
A team of Johns Hopkins University neuroscientists has discovered patterns of brain activity that may underlie our remarkable ability to see and understand the three-dimensional structure of objects.