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My picks from ScienceDaily

By clock on August 24, 2008.

Foul Owls Use Feces To Show They Are In Fine Feather:

Some years ago, within the Department of Conservation Biology of the Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientÃficas; Seville, Spain), a recently established group (colloquially named the Night Ecology Group) started to explore the possibility of visual communication in crepuscular and nocturnal birds.

Exploding Chromosomes Fuel Research About Evolution Of Genetic Storage:

Human cells somehow squeeze two meters of double-stranded DNA into the space of a typical chromosome, a package 10,000 times smaller than the volume of genetic material it contains.

Fish Cancer Gene Linked To Pigment Pattern That Attracts Mates:

Though skin cancer is deadly to male fish, it also has one perk: The black melanoma splotches arise from attractive natural markings that lure female mates. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week shows that the melanoma gene can be conserved in swordtail fish because of its beneficial role in sexual selection.

Addiction Treatment Proves Successful In Animal Weight Loss Study:

Vigabatrin, a medication proposed as a potential treatment for drug addiction by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, also leads to rapid weight loss and reduced food intake according to a new animal study from the same research group.

Insomnia: Changing Your Bedtime Habits Could Help:

Many people sleep better when they are on holiday and wish that they could sleep as well all the time. But according to the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), it is not only being free of daily worries that can make a difference to sleep. Good bedtime habits can help people to sleep well all year round. Medication provides short-term relief at best.

Snacks In Small Packages May Lead To Overeating:

Tempting treats are being offered in small package sizes these days, presumably to help consumers reduce portion sizes. Yet new research found that people actually consume more high-calorie snacks when they are in small packages than large ones. And smaller packages make people more likely to give in to temptation in the first place.

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With Skate Eyes, Scientists Peer Into Human Disease: Paradoxically, the photoreceptor cells in our retinas release more of their neurotransmitter, glutamate, in the dark, when there is nothing to see, than they do in the light. This is doubly surprising since although glutamate is a major signaling…
May two-toed sloths climb into your latrine and eat your faeces and urine, because that's the sort of thing they do
I really like sloths, but one of their recently discovered habits might make me like them a little bit less... As recently reported by Eckhard Heymann and colleagues, Linnaeus's two-toed sloths Choloepus didactylus at the Estación Biológica Quebrada Blanco in north-eastern Peru have developed…
Gorging ourselves on diet drinks?
Researchers at Purdue University's Ingestive Behavior Research Center fed two groups of otherwise similar rats yogurt with Sweet 'N Low (an artificial sweetener containing saccharin) or yogurt sweetened with glucose ( "A Role for Sweet Taste: Calorie Predictive Relations in Energy Regulation by…
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No Sponge In Human Family Tree: Sponges Descended From Unique Ancestor: Since the days of Charles Darwin, researchers are interested in reconstructing the "Tree of Life", and in understanding the development of animal and plant species during their evolutionary history. In the case of vertebrates…