Despite Their Heft, Many Dinosaurs Had Surprisingly Tiny Genomes:
They might be giants, but many dinosaurs apparently had genomes no larger than that of a modern hummingbird. So say scientists who've linked bone cell and genome size among living species and then used that new understanding to gauge the genome sizes of 31 species of extinct dinosaurs and birds, whose bone cells can be measured from the fossil record.
Human Pubic Lice Acquired From Gorillas Gives Evolutionary Clues:
Humans acquired pubic lice from gorillas several million years ago, but this seemingly seedy connection does not mean that monkey business went on with the great apes, a new University of Florida study finds.
New Study Rewrites Evolutionary History Of Vespid Wasps:
Scientists at the University of Illinois have conducted a genetic analysis of vespid wasps that revises the vespid family tree and challenges long-held views about how the wasps' social behaviors evolved. In the study, published in the Feb. 21 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers found genetic evidence that eusociality (the reproductive specialization seen in some insects and other animals) evolved independently in two groups of vespid wasps.
Female Chimps Keep The Bullies At Bay:
Female chimpanzees may have found a fool-proof way to ensure they mate with only the highest ranking males, namely those with important social and physical characteristics that their offspring may inherit, according to a new study1 by Akiko Matsumoto-Oda from the Department of Welfare and Culture at Okinawa University in Japan. Female chimpanzees do not synchronize their reproductive activities which reduces the opportunities for less-desirable males to coerce them into mating. The findings have just been published online in Springer's journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
New Compound Blocks Alcoholism in Animals:
A study of alcohol-dependent animals shows that a newly discovered compound that blocks chemical signals active during the brain's response to stress effectively stops excessive drinking and prevents relapse.
How Do Marine Turtles Return To The Same Beach To Lay Their Eggs?:
Marine turtles almost always return to the same beach to lay their eggs. The egg-laying sites are often far from the feeding areas and the females cross several hundred kilometers of ocean with no visual landmarks. How do they manage to return to the same spot?
World Zoos And Aquariums Develop Plan To Respond To The Extinction Of Frogs:
Amphibians are facing great threats. About one third of the 6000 frog, toad, salamander and newt species are threatened with extinction, more than 120 species have likely become extinct since 1980, and 435 species have declined into a category of greater threat during that time.
Indian Warbler 'Lost' For 139 Years Makes Spectacular Return:
Ornithologists across the world are celebrating with the news that a wetland bird that has eluded scientists ever since its discovery in India in 1867 has been refound. Twice. The Large-billed Reed-warbler is the world's least known bird. A single bird was collected in the Sutlej Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India, in 1867, but many had questioned whether it was indeed represented a true species and wasn't just an aberrant individual of a common species.
Until now, mutations of the LH hormone receptor were the only explanation known for sexual precocity in boys. A team at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (IGBMC, CNRS / Inserm / Université Louis Pasteur de Strasbourg), in collaboration with researchers at the University of Dallas and the University of Louvain, has just identified a key regulator of male fertility, the SHP protein, bringing to light the major role it plays in controlling the synthesis of testosterone and in differentiation of germ cells in mouse testes.
Early Sex May Lead Teens To Delinquency, Study Shows:
A national study of more than 7,000 youth found that adolescents who had sex early showed a 20 percent increase in delinquent acts one year later compared to those whose first sexual experience occurred at the average age for their school.
Why Children Love Their Security Blankets:
Every parent of a young child knows how emotionally attached children can become to a soft toy or blanket that they sleep with every night. New research, published today in the international journal Cognition, suggests that this might be because children think the toy or blanket has a unique property or 'essence'. To support this theory, Professor Bruce Hood from the University of Bristol and his colleague Dr Paul Bloom of Yale University, USA, showed that 3-6 year-old children have a preference for their cherished items over apparently identical duplicates.
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