My Picks From ScienceDaily

Some Like It Hot! Structure Of Receptor For Hot Chili Pepper And Pain Revealed:

You can now not only feel the spicy kick of a jalapeno pepper, you can also see it in full 3D, thanks to researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Early Life Exposure To Cats May Reduce Risk Of Childhood Allergies And Asthma Symptoms:

A study released by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, shows that cat ownership may have a protective effect against the development of asthma symptoms in young children at age five. The study, published by the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, found that children with cats in the home were more likely to have made allergy-related antibodies to cats. At three years of age, children who had made antibodies to cats early in life were more likely to have wheeze, a respiratory symptom associated with asthma. However, by age five, the same children who had grown up with a cat were then found to be less likely to have wheeze.

Kangaroos Threaten One Of Australia's Last Remaining Original Grasslands, And Endangered Animals:

Australian Department of Defence is currently culling hundreds of kangaroos on the outskirts of the capital Canberra that have produced heated discussions and hit international headlines. Australia's iconic animal has multiplied so much over recent years that Canberra now has three times as many kangaroos as inhabitants. The situation is particularly critical at two enclosed military sites on the outskirts of the city, which form an ideal refuge for the eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus).

Ancient Amphibian: Debate Over Origin Of Frogs And Salamanders Settled With Discovery Of Missing Link:

The description of an ancient amphibian that millions of years ago swam in quiet pools and caught mayflies on the surrounding land in Texas has set to rest one of the greatest current controversies in vertebrate evolution. The discovery was made by a research team led by scientists at the University of Calgary.

Unique Adaptive Evolution Found In Snake Proteins Provide New Insight Into Vertebrate Physiology:

Prior to the advent of large sequence datasets, it was assumed that innovation and divergence at the morphological and physiological level would be easily explained at the molecular level. Molecular explanations for physiological adaptations have, however, been rare. Pollock and colleagues now provide evidence that major macroevolutionary changes in snakes (e.g., physiological and metabolic adaptations and venom evolution) have been accompanied by massive functional redesign of core metabolic proteins.

New Family Of Gecko Discovered:

Researchers at the University of Minnesota's Bell Museum of Natural History and Pennsylvania's Villanova University have discovered a new family of gecko, the charismatic large-eyed lizard popularized by car insurance commercials.

Reproductive Plasticity Revealed: Neotropical Treefrog Can Choose To Lay Eggs In Water Or On Land:

When frogs reproduce, like all vertebrates, they either lay their eggs in water or on land -- with one exception, according to new research by a team of Boston University scientists who discovered a treefrog (Dendropsophus ebraccatus) in Panama that reproduces both ways. The neotropical frog makes a behavioral decision to lay egg masses aquatically in a pond or terrestrially on the overhanging plants above a pond, where the newly-hatched tadpoles simply fall into the water.

Invasion Of Gigantic Burmese Pythons In South Florida Appears To Be Rapidly Expanding:

The invasion of gigantic Burmese pythons in South Florida appears to be rapidly expanding, according to a new report from a University of Florida researcher who's been chasing the snakes since 2005.

How Can We Measure The Emotional States Of Animals?:

Rats housed in standard conditions show a stronger response to the loss of an expected food reward than those housed in enriched conditions, perhaps indicating a more negative emotional state, according to new research by scientists at Bristol University Veterinary School, published recently in Royal Society Biology Letters.

Lifestyle Evolution Of Wild Marine Bacteria: Free-floating Cells Share With Attached Relatives:

Marine bacteria in the wild organize into professions or lifestyle groups that partition many resources rather than competing for them, so that microbes with one lifestyle, such as free-floating cells, flourish in proximity with closely related microbes that may spend life attached to zooplankton or algae.

Multiple New Species Of Fruit Flies With Overlapping Niches Discovered:

Evidence of physically similar species hidden within plant tissues suggest that diversity of neotropical herbivorous insects may not simply be a function of plant architecture, but may also reflect the great age and area of the neotropics.

First Dinosaur Tracks Discovered On Arabian Peninsula:

Scientists have discovered the first dinosaur tracks on the Arabian Peninsula. They have discovered evidence of a large ornithopod dinosaur, as well as a herd of 11 sauropods walking along a Mesozoic coastal mudflat in what is now the Republic of Yemen.