Was Ability To Run Early Man's Achilles Heel?:
The earliest humans almost certainly walked upright on two legs but may have struggled to run at even half the speed of modern man, new research suggests.
Tasmanian Tiger No Match For Dingo:
The wily dingo out-competed the much larger marsupial thylacine by being better built anatomically to resist the "mechanical stresses" associated with killing large prey, say Australian scientists.
A Dog In The Hand Scares Birds In The Bush:
New research showing that dog-walking in bushland significantly reduces bird diversity and abundance will lend support to bans against the practice in sensitive bushland and conservation areas.
Neuronal Conduction Of Excitation Without Action Potentials Based On Ceramide Production:
Researchers have succeeded in demonstrating that a neuronal network in mammals can work perfectly with a mode of conduction of excitation that is independent of action potentials. This new mechanism involves molecules known to play a role in numerous mechanisms of cell functioning, but not hitherto in conduction of excitation. To elucidate this mechanism, the teams have used a model of integrated physiology on an in vitro preparation in the mammal. This study has been performed using neuropharmacological and biochemical techniques.
Chocolate Is The Most Widely Craved Food, But Is It Really Addictive?:
Chocolate is the most widely and frequently craved food. People readily admit to being 'addicted to chocolate' or willingly label themselves as 'chocoholics'. A popular explanation for this is that chocolate contains mood-enhancing (psychoactive) ingredients that give it special appeal.
Nearly 30 years after Nobel laureate Linus Pauling famously and controversially suggested that vitamin C supplements can prevent cancer, a team of Johns Hopkins scientists have shown that in mice at least, vitamin C - and potentially other antioxidants - can indeed inhibit the growth of some tumors ¯ just not in the manner suggested by years of investigation.
Molecular Probe 'Paints' Cancer Cells In Living Animals, Researchers Find:
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a molecular probe that sets aglow tumor cells within living animals. Their goal is to use the probe to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other diseases.
Efforts To Save Greenback Cutthroat Trout Snagged: Wrong Fish Restocked For Decades:
A new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder indicates biologists trying to save Colorado's native greenback cutthroat trout from extinction over the past several decades through hatchery propagation and restocking efforts have, in most cases, inadvertently restored the wrong fish.
Gray Whales A Fraction Of Historic Levels, Genetic Research Shows:
Gray whales in the Pacific Ocean, long thought to have fully recovered from whaling, were once three to five times as plentiful as they are now, according to a new article.
Why Genes Of One Parent Are Expressed Over Genes Of The Other: New Ideas In Genomic Imprinting:
How we come to express the genes of one parent over the other is now better understood through studying the platypus and marsupial wallaby -- and it doesn't seem to have originated in association with sex chromosomes.
Wild Male Chimpanzees Use Stolen Food To Win Over The Opposite Sex:
They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach and the same could be said for female chimpanzees. Researchers studying wild chimps in West Africa have discovered that males pinch desirable fruits from local farms and orchards as a means of attracting female mates.
Prehistoric Reptiles From Russia Possessed The First Modern Ears:
The discovery of the first anatomically modern ear in a group of 260 million-year-old fossil reptiles significantly pushes back the date of the origin of an advanced sense of hearing, and suggests the first known adaptations to living in the dark.
Biological Invasions Can Begin With Just One Insect:
A new study by York University biologists Amro Zayed and Laurence Packer has shown that a lone insect can initiate a biological invasion.
Student Proves Giant Whorled Sunflower's Extreme Rarity:
For several months last spring, the Vanderbilt greenhouse held more individual plants of a rare species of native sunflower than are known to exist in the wild. This unusual bounty was the result of research being conducted by Jennifer Ellis, a doctoral student in the biological sciences department.
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