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Snakes Vault Past Toxic Newts In Evolutionary Arms Race:

Snakes don't eat fugu, the seafood delicacy prepared from blowfish meat and famed for its poisonous potential. However, should a common garter snake wander into a sushi restaurant, it could fearlessly order a fugu dinner.

Bipolar Disorder: Manic Mouse Made With One Gene Missing:

Bipolar Disorder (BPD or manic-depressive illness) is one of the most serious of all mental disorders, affecting millions of individuals worldwide. Affected individuals alternate between states of deep depression and mania. While depression is characterized by persistent and long-term sadness or despair, mania is a mental state characterized by great excitement, flight of ideas, a decreased need for sleep, and, sometimes, uncontrollable behavior, hallucinations, or delusions. BPD likely arises from the complex interaction of multiple genes and environmental factors. Unlike some brain diseases, no single gene has been implicated in BPD.

Domestication Of The Donkey May Have Taken A Long Time:

An international group of researchers has found evidence for the earliest transport use of the donkey and the early phases of donkey domestication, suggesting the process of domestication may have been slower and less linear than previously thought.

Cooperation Between Figs, Wasps And Parasites Proves Three Is Not Always A Crowd:

Scientists Simon Segar, James Cook, Derek Dunn, and colleagues at the University of Reading have found that during mutualism, a cooperative relationship between two different species, a third parasitic species may help to keep the relationship stable. During mutualism, both species benefit. However, the long-term relationship between them can be threatened by individuals who take too much advantage of the relationship in the short-term for their own benefit.

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Sand Dollar Larvae Use Cloning To 'Make Change,' Confound Predators:

Nature is full of examples of creatures that try to look as big as possible in an effort to scare away potential predators. But to avoid being eaten alive the larvae of sand dollars appear to have a different strategy, in a way exchanging a dollar for a couple of dimes.

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Dynamic Visualization Made Of Simplest Circadian Clock:

Scientists have acquired a more dynamic picture of events that underlie the functions of a bacterial biological clock. New research shows how the simplest organism known to have a circadian clock keeps time and may enhance our understanding of how other organisms establish and govern chronological rhythms.