Latest science news in Biology & Nature
Gooda, Gouda! Solving The 800-year-old Secret Of A Big Cheese
Almost 800 years after farmers in the village of Gouda in Holland first brought a creamy new cheese to market, scientists in Germany say they have cracked the secret of...
Live Fast, Die Young? Maybe Not
The theory that a higher metabolism means a shorter lifespan may have reached the end of its own life. A new study found that mice with increased metabolism live just...
Chimp's stone throwing at zoo visitors was 'premeditated'
Researchers have found what they say is some of the first unambiguous evidence that an animal other than humans can make spontaneous plans for future events. The report in the...
Show me your DNA and I'll tell you your eye color
More and more information is being gathered about how human genes influence medically relevant traits, such as the propensity to develop a certain disease. The ultimate goal is to predict...
Caltech biologists find optimistic worms are ready for rapid recovery
For the tiny soil-dwelling nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, life is usually a situation of feast or famine. Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have found that this worm...
Developing fruit fly embryo is capable of genetic corrections
Animals have an astonishing ability to develop reliably, in spite of variable conditions during embryogenesis. New research, published in parallel this week in PLoS Biology and PLoS Computational Biology,...
Cases: Time Is a Trickster When Cancer Runs the Clock
Once cancer has invaded and set the new pace for your life, you'd be hard pressed to try and change it.
Tools That Leave Wildlife Unbothered Widen Research Horizons
There are a host of new methods that researchers are using to study animals in the wild without ever coming in contact with them.
Genetic Tests May Reveal Source of Mystery Tumors
Tests to find the source of "mystery tumors" may help doctor's treat them most effectively.
Tiny brain region better part of valor
Mice lose their fear of territorial rivals when a tiny piece of their brain is neutralized, a new study reports.
Researchers probe mechanisms of infection
A newly discovered receptor in a strain of Escherichia coli might help explain why people often get sicker when they're stressed. Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Centre are the first...
New insights on heart's 'fight or flight' response to stress
Even for those without a heart condition, it's a peculiar feeling when your heart "races" in response to stress. That pacing change happens in part because of how the enzyme...
Researchers Study Cave's 'Breathing' for Better Climate Clues
(PhysOrg.com) -- A University of Arkansas researcher studying the way caves "breathe" is providing new insights into the process by which scientists study paleoclimates.
Housing shortage alters reproductive behaviour in blue tits
(PhysOrg.com) -- Increased competition for rare breeding sites causes female blue tits to invest more time in their current brood, to spend more time feeding their offspring and also to...
Want to Count Wild Tigers? Go to YouTube
The Wildlife Conservation Society`s India Program (WCS - India) has released a unique training video on YouTube that showcases the latest scientific methods for estimating the numbers of wild tigers...
Transport behavior of E. coli varies depending on manure source
Escherichia coli is a commonly used indicator organism for detecting the presence of fecal contamination in drinking water supplies. The importance of E. coli as an indicator organism has led...
It's In His Smell: Female Moths Can Discern Male's Ancestry, Age And Possibly Reproductive Fitness From His Smell
A female moth selects a mate based on the scent of his pheromones. An analysis of the pheromones used by the European corn borer shows that females can discern a...
British Butterfly Reveals Role Of Habitat For Species Responding To Climate Change
A new study shows it is possible to predict how fast a population will spread and reveals the importance of habitat conservation in helping threatened species survive environmental change. The...
Non-invasive brain mapping project created
HOUSTON, March 9 (UPI) -- U.S. and Japanese scientists say they will work together to help develop a non-invasive, revolutionary brain-mapping device.
How increased UV exposure impacts plants
Madison, WI, March 6, 2009 -- As the first plant life to emerge from the water and develop on dry earth, bryophytes offer a unique opportunity for researchers to understand...
Novel Electric Signals In Plants Induced By Wounding Plant
Scientists have discovered a new form of electrical signaling in different plant species. This electrical signal -- called "system potential" -- is induced by wounding of the plant tissue and...
Discovering The Secret Code Behind Photosynthesis
Scientists have discovered that an ancient system of communication found in primitive bacteria, may also explain how plants and algae control the process of photosynthesis.
Not So Sweet: Over-consumption Of Sugar Linked To Aging
Biochemists discovered to their surprise that if they removed the gene for a glucose sensor from yeast cells, they lived just as long as those living on a glucose-restricted diet....
Teenage boys who eat fish at least once a week achieve higher intelligence scores
Fifteen-year-old males who ate fish at least once a week displayed higher cognitive skills at the age of 18 than those who it ate it less frequently, according to a...
Turn back, wayward axon
To a growing axon, the protein RGMa is a "Wrong Way" sign, alerting it to head in another direction. As Hata et al. demonstrate in the March 9, 2009 issue...
Future journos boycott paper
Newspapers could become extinct unless they conquer the online environment, according to a survey of next generation journalists.
Fat corals survive longer
Corals that are well fed will survive rising ocean temperatures and bleaching better than those that are malnourished, researchers have found.