A Blog Around The Clock

Neanderthals Speak Again After 30,000 Years:

Dr. Robert McCarthy, an assistant professor of anthropology in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters at Florida Atlantic University, has reconstructed vocal tracts that simulate the sound of the Neanderthal voice.

Slowly-developing Primates Definitely Not Dim-witted:

Some primates have evolved big brains because their extra brainpower helps them live and reproduce longer, an advantage that outweighs the demands of extra years of growth and development they spend reaching adulthood, anthropologists from Duke University and the University of Zurich have concluded in a new study.

Researchers Identify New Class Of Photoreceptors, Pointing To New Ways Sights And Smells Are Regulated:

The identification of a new class of photoreceptors in the retina of fruit flies sheds light on the regulation of the pigments of the eye that confer color vision, researchers at New York University's Center for Developmental Genetics report in a new study appearing in the Public Library of Science's journal, PloS Biology. The findings, they write, may also have implications for the regulating of olfactory receptors, which are responsible for the detection of smells, because both types of receptors belong to the same protein family.

Low Grades, Bad Behavior? Siblings May Be To Blame, Study Say:

We all know the story of a man named Brady and the group that somehow formed a family. But if the iconic '70s sitcom about a "blended" family reflected reality, the Brady Bunch likely would have been dealing with much more than silly sibling squabbles. Here's the real story: On average, adolescents living with half- or stepsiblings have lower grades and more school-related behavior problems, and these problems may not improve over time, according to Florida State University Assistant Professor of Sociology Kathryn Harker Tillman.

Many Captive Tigers Are Of Purebred Ancestry; Finding Raises Their Conservation Value:

Tigers held in captivity around the world--including those in zoos, circuses, and private homes--may hold considerable conservation value for the rapidly dwindling wild populations around the world, according to a new report published online on April 17th in Current Biology. Using a new method for assessing the genetic ancestry of tigers, researchers discovered that many apparently "generic" tigers actually represent purebred subspecies and harbor genomic diversity no longer found in nature.

Mice Can Sense Oxygen Through Their Skin:

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have discovered that the skin of mice can sense low levels of oxygen and regulate the production of erythropoietin, or EPO, the hormone that stimulates our bodies to produce red blood cells and allows us to adapt to high-altitude, low-oxygen environments.