Latest science news in Biology & Nature
Spiders Who Eat Together, Stay Together -- And Form Enormous Colony Sizes
The ability to work together and capture larger prey has allowed social spiders to stretch the laws of nature and reach enormous colony sizes, zoologists have found.
Human brains pay a price for being big
Metabolic changes responsible for the evolution of our unique cognitive abilities indicate that the brain may have been pushed to the limit of its capabilities. Research published today in BioMed...
Huge boost for lowland gorillas
A census of western lowland gorillas shows that populations are doing much better than expected.
Great white sharks: Awesome 1.8-ton bites
SYDNEY, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Australian scientists say they've determined the bite force of a great white shark can reach about 1.8 tons, 20 times greater than a...
Extinction Threatens Half of Primate Types, Study Says
Almost half of the world's 634 types of primates face extinction due to hunting and habitat loss, says a new report one expert calls "absolutely horrifying."
Alaska sues U.S. over polar bears' threatened-species status
The state of Alaska has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, in an attempt to overturn the listing of polar bears as a threatened species.
Human malaria jab tests nearing
Successful animal experiments have given the green light for trials of a new type of malaria vaccine in humans.
Evaluating ecosystem services
Environmental conservation efforts have traditionally focused on protecting individual species or natural resources. Scientists are discovering, however, that preserving the benefits that whole ecosystems provide to people is more economically...
Data Mining Detects Signs Of Lou Gehrig's Disease In Gene Carriers Long Before Symptoms Appear
Inspired by the use of microarray chips that look for gene combinations, psychologists are using "pattern array" software to spot movements in rats that might help them predict diseases such...
This Land: In the Hills of Nebraska, Change Is on the Horizon
In the agricultural town of Ainsworth, the newest crop is hard to miss: wind turbines, 36 of them, sprouting improbably from the hills beside ruminating cattle.
Key To Virulence Protein Entry Into Host Cells Discovered
Researchers from the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech have identified the region of a large family of virulence proteins in oomycete plant pathogens that enables the proteins to enter...
Scientists Targeted in California Fire Bombings
Animal-rights extremists suspected in attacks in Santa Cruz that forced one researcher's family from home and destroyed another researcher's car
VIDEO: "Ugliest Dolphin" Finally Filmed
Identified as a new species only in 2005, the bulbous-headed snub fin dolphin—called the world's ugliest—had never been filmed until now, according to an Australian TV production.
Lawsuit chips away at fish research
Court order may halt attempts to train sea bass.
Researchers introduce next generation tool for visualizing genomic data
Researchers are collecting vast amounts of diverse genomic data with ever-increasing speed, but effective ways to visualize these data in an integrated manner have lagged behind the ability to generate...
Process By Which All Blood Cells Originate Is Essentially The Same Throughout Mammal World
The architecture of haematopoiesis – which is the process by which all blood cells originate – is essentially the same throughout the mammal world, report scientists in the Proceedings of...
Perfectly Proportioned Legs Keep Water Striders Striding
The amazing water strider -- known for its ability to walk on water -- came within just a hair of sinking into evolutionary oblivion. Scientists are reporting that the insect's...
An open and shut case for palladium
A synthetic pore that lets sodium cross membranes is ‘a significant step towards tissue-mimetic materials,’ say UK scientists
Australian Bird Research Could Rewrite 'Ring Theory' Of Speciation
New research has uncovered how different populations of the bird crimson rosella are related to each other -- a discovery which has important implications for research into how climate change...
Typhoid sequence 'will aid control strategies'
Scientists have sequenced the genome of the typhoid-fever causing bacterium, which could revolutionise public health approaches.
New genome sequencing projects announced
WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute has announced its 2009 sequencing projects, including pine trees and duck weed.
Saving Our Bees: Implications of Habitat Loss
The undisputed queen of animal pollinators is the bee, whose daily flights aid in the reproduction of more than half of the world's flowering plants. In recent years, however, an...
Essay: My Literary Malady
The roll call of famous gout sufferers is long and distinguished. It includes Ben Franklin, Henry James and Karl Marx.
Invasive species bills stuck in Congress
(AP) -- Tiny foreign mussels assault drinking water sources in California and Nevada. A deadly fish virus spreads swiftly through the Great Lakes and beyond. Japanese shore crabs make...
Yeast's struggle to survive makes wine
Researchers have suggested that wine is produced as a result of yeast altering their environment to ensure they will outlive other microbes.
Cellular Symmetry: What Cues Tell A Cell To Divide At The Center
Cells are intrinsically artistic. When the right signals tell a cell to divide, it usually splits down the middle, resulting in two identical daughter cells. (Stem cells are the exception...
Plant Parasite 'Wiretaps' Host
A parasitic plant that sucks water and nutrients from its plant host also taps into its communications traffic, a new report finds. The research could lead to new ways to...
Australia bans exotic cat breed
Australia has banned imports of an exotic breed of cat, calling it an extreme risk to the country's native wildlife, a minister said Sunday.