Latest science news in Biology & Nature
AUDIO: New cockroach species jumps out South African scientists
A cockroach that can leap 50 body lengths in a single bound has been discovered in South Africa.
Addressing pain and disease on the fly: How fruit flies can teach us about curing chronic pain and halting mosquito-borne diseases
Studies of a protein that fruit flies use to sense heat and chemicals may someday provide solutions to human pain and the control of disease-spreading mosquitoes. Researchers have discovered how...
Young Australians lack good quality fruit and vegetable knowledge
A new survey of young Australians has found one in two don't know how many servings of fruit and vegetables to eat in a day, and even fewer know the...
Fish pick 'hot' pals to avoid harassment
Guppies choose their friends wisely, new research suggests. When under threat of sexual harassment from aggressive male fish, female Trinidadian guppies pair with "attractive" females to avoid unwanted male attention.
Tokyo 'not doing enough' for Fukushima: Greenpeace
Fukushima's residents are being left to their fate and not enough is being done to protect them against radiation nine months after Japan's tsunami, environment group Greenpeace said Wednesday.
Lipid-modifying enzyme: New target for pan-viral therapeutics
Three different disease-causing viruses -- poliovirus, coxsackievirus, and hepatitis C -- rely on their unwilling host for the membrane platforms enriched in a specific lipid, phosphatidylinositol 4...
The big picture: Long-term imaging reveals intriguing patterns of human brain maturation
Neuroimaging has provided fascinating insight into the dynamic nature of human brain maturation. However, most studies of developmental changes in brain anatomy have considered individual locations in relative isolation from...
Geneticists help show bitter taste perception is not just about flavors
Long the bane of picky eaters everywhere, broccoli's taste is not just a matter of having a cultured palate; Some people can easily taste a bitter compound in the vegetable...
'Alien' eggs benefit mockingbirds
(PhysOrg.com) -- Mockingbirds rarely remove the alien eggs parasitic cowbirds lay in their nests because keeping them dilutes the risk of their own eggs being attacked.
Triton resource helps 'track' how kinesin molecules move
Researchers at UC San Diegos Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, in collaboration with several universities in the U.S., United Kingdom, and Poland, have developed a new picture of how kinesin...
Researcher explains how Santa delivers presents in one night
Dont believe in Santa Claus? Magic, you say? In fact, science and technology explain how Santa is able to deliver toys to good girls and boys around the world in...
Waging the war against salmonella ... One molecule at a time
Salmonella is the enemy and UConn researchers in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources may have discovered a way to defeat it one molecule at a time.
Tsunami fund 'used for whaling'
Animal rights activists say Japan is using funds from a tsunami recovery fund to subsidise its controversial whaling operations.
Palm planters blamed for decline of Borneo monkey
Expanding palm-oil plantations in Malaysian Borneo are rapidly eating into the habitat of the rare proboscis monkey and causing its numbers to decline sharply, officials warned Wednesday.
Supercomputer reveals new details behind drug-processing protein model
Supercomputer simulations are giving scientists unprecedented access to a key class of proteins involved in drug detoxification.
VIDEO: Butterfly numbers 'still falling'
Almost three quarters of UK butterfly species have declined in abundance over the past decade.
Prolonged outage generates rage toward Edison
One Pasadena man is charged with making threats as 6,100 customers remain without power. Accused of a slow response, utility says crews are working around the clock.Of the 6,100 Edison...
Paul Doty, 91, Biochemist and Arms Control Advocate, Dies
Dr. Doty was one of the scientists who worked out how to take apart and reassemble DNA, a discovery that became a foundation of modern molecular biology.
Good or bad: Surprises drive learning in same neural circuits
Primates learn from feedback that surprises them, and in a recent investigation of how that happens, neurosurgeons have learned something new. The insight they gleaned from examining the response of...
'Gold standard' stem cells made in Britain
LONDON, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- British scientists say they've created stem cells of a "gold standard" quality that could lead to a new wave of treatments for degenerative diseases.
ScienceShot: Insect Invader Rubs Shoulders With Ants
Silverfish coats itself in ant smell to avoid detection
The power to help, hurt and confuse: Direct-to-consumer whole genome testing
The era of widely available next generation personal genomic testing has arrived and with it the ability to quickly and relatively affordably learn the sequence of your entire genome. This...
Nature online: December 4, 2011
Nature online: December 4, 2011 Open Structure of the Ca(2+) Gating Ring in the High-conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) Channel Peng Yuan, Manuel D. Leonetti, Yichun Hsiung and Roderick MacKinnon Here we...
Researchers reveal SBP8a configurations
A new study has shown previously unseen details of an anthrax bacteriophage a virus that infects anthrax bacteria revealing for the first time how it infects its host,...
A Dead Sea Microbe's Fluorescent Protein Sheds Light on Brain Activity
Hippocampal neuron (63X) Courtesy Nikon Small World Photo Micrography Competition: Photographed by Dr. Carlo Sala A fluorescent protein derived from a Dead Sea microbe could be a novel way to track electrical signals...
With mutation, you can have your cream and eat it, too
People who carry a malfunctioning copy of a particular gene are especially good at clearing fat from their systems. The report in the December Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication,...
Sandeels with a full stomach swim for a longer time
Researchers have shed light on the peculiar behavior of the commercially and ecologically valuable sandeel.
Aging human bodies and aging human oocytes run on different clocks
Reproductive and somatic aging use different molecular mechanisms that show little overlap between the types of genes required to keep oocytes healthy and the genes that generally extend life span,...