American Carnivores Evolved To Avoid Each Other, New Study Suggests:
How do the many carnivorous animals of the Americas avoid competing for the same lunch, or becoming each other's meal? A possible answer comes from a new study by a pair of researchers at the University of California, Davis. Their large-scale analysis shows that it's not just chance that's at play, but avoidance strategies themselves that have been a driving force in the evolution of many carnivores, influencing such factors as whether species are active daytime or nighttime, whether they inhabit forests or grasslands, or live in trees or on the ground.
Key Events In Evolutionary History Revealed In Protein Structure Study:
A new study of proteins, the molecular machines that drive all life, also sheds light on the history of living organisms. The study, in the journal Structure, reveals that after eons of gradual evolution, proteins suddenly experienced a "big bang" of innovation. The active regions of many proteins, called domains, combined with each other or split apart to produce a host of structures that had never been seen before. This explosion of new forms coincided with the rapidly increasing diversity of the three superkingdoms of life (bacteria; the microbes known as archaea; and eucarya, the group that includes animals, plants, fungi and many other organisms).
Genetic Study Finds Treasure Trove Of New Lizards:
University of Adelaide research has discovered that there are many more species of Australian lizards than previously thought, raising new questions about conservation and management of Australia's native reptiles.
Amazonian Amphibian Diversity Traced To Andes:
Colorful poison frogs in the Amazon owe their great diversity to ancestors that leapt into the region from the Andes Mountains several times during the last 10 million years, a new study from The University of Texas at Austin suggests.
New Fish Discovered In Antarctic Ocean:
The new species of Antarctic fish, Gosztonyia antarctica, has been discovered at a depth of 650 metres in the Bellingshausen Sea in the Antarctic Ocean, an area which has not been studied since 1904 and where the fauna is "completely" unknown. Jesus Matallanas, the Spanish researcher responsible for the find, collected four specimens of the new species during Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) campaigns in the southern hemisphere summers of 2003 and 2006.
Live Evolution Witnessed In Controlled Environment Of Microbial Predator And Prey:
Observing the mechanisms of evolution in order to understand how a species adapts to another under different ecological conditions was the goal of researchers at the Laboratoire Ecologie et Evolution at CNRS, Université Pierre et Marie Curie and the Ãcole Normale Superieure. They studied two bacteria -- a predator and a prey -- over 300 generations in a controlled environment.
Popular Kids Earn More When They Grow Up:
Being popular with your peers at school could mean you earn more as an adult. That's according to new research by a team at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER).
Students Benefit From Depth, Rather Than Breadth, In High School Science Courses:
A recent study reports that high school students who study fewer science topics, but study them in greater depth, have an advantage in college science classes over their peers who study more topics and spend less time on each.
What's In A Name? Perhaps More (or Less) Money:
Before employers have a chance to judge job applicants on their merits, they may have already judged them on the sound of their names. According to a study published in the Journal of Labor Economics, immigrants to Sweden earn more money after they change their foreign-sounding names.
Young Women May Be Drinking Heavily To Get Attention Of Opposite Sex, But Men Not Impressed:
College women may be drinking to excess to impress their male counterparts on campuses across the country, but a new study suggests most college men are not looking for a woman to match them drink for drink.
Why Some People Don't Heed Tornado And Other Severe Weather Warnings:
NOAA's National Weather Service has issued a report that analyzes forecasting performance and public response during the second deadliest tornado outbreak in U.S. history. The report, Service Assessment of the Super Tuesday Tornado Outbreak of February 5-6, 2008, also addresses a key area of concern: why some people take cover while others ride out severe weather.
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