Science News
clock | February 16, 2008Dung Happens And Helps Scientists: Scoop On Poop And Climate Change:
When scientists around the world think of dung, they think of Jim Mead. Mead, a researcher at Northern Arizona University, is one of the world's foremost authorities on animal dung, and he's got the poop to prove it.
Neanderthals Moved From Place To Place, Tooth Analysis Shows:
A 40,000-year-old tooth has provided scientists with the first direct evidence that Neanderthals moved from place to place during their lifetimes. In a collaborative project involving researchers from the Germany, the United Kingdom, and Greece,…
clock | February 15, 2008Singing In The Rainforest: Public Vs. Private Signaling By A Tropical Rainforest Bird:
According to the Chinese proverb, a bird sings because it has a song, not because it has an answer. A team of French and Brazilian researchers, however, may have the answer as to how the song of Brazilian white-browed warbler has become so well-adapted to the acoustic properties of the rainforest environment.
New Meat-eating Dinosaur Duo From Sahara Ate Like Hyenas, Sharks:
Two new 110 million-year-old dinosaurs unearthed in the Sahara Desert highlight the unusual meat-eaters that prowled southern…
clock | February 13, 2008Thousands Of Humans Inhabited New World's Doorstep For 20,000 Years:
The human journey from Asia to the New World was interrupted by a 20,000 -year layover in Beringia, a once-habitable region that today lies submerged under the icy waters of the Bering Strait. Furthermore, the New World was colonized by approximately 1,000 to 5,000 people - a substantially higher number than the 100 or fewer individuals of previous estimates.
New Technique Makes Tissues Transparent:
If humans had see-through skin like a jellyfish, spotting disease like cancer would be a snap: Just look, and see a tumor form…
clock | February 12, 2008There are 43 new articles in PLoS ONE this week, and these I find most interesting at first glance - you look around, comment, rate, annotate, send tracbacks....
A Three-Stage Colonization Model for the Peopling of the Americas:
We evaluate the process by which the Americas were originally colonized and propose a three-stage model that integrates current genetic, archaeological, geological, and paleoecological data. Specifically, we analyze mitochondrial and nuclear genetic data by using complementary coalescent models of demographic history and incorporating non-genetic data to enhance the…
clock | February 11, 2008The Evolution of Norovirus, the 'Gastric Flu' and Mechanisms of GII.4 Norovirus Persistence in Human Populations:
Noroviruses are the leading cause of viral acute gastroenteritis in humans, noted for causing epidemic outbreaks in communities, the military, cruise ships, hospitals, and assisted living communities. The evolutionary mechanisms governing the persistence and emergence of new norovirus strains in human populations are unknown. Primarily organized by sequence homology into two major human genogroups defined by multiple genoclusters, the majority of norovirus outbreaks are caused by…
clock | February 11, 2008Fast Learning Bumblebees Reap Greater Nectar Rewards:
The speed with which bees learn affects their ability to collect food from flowers, according to a new study from Queen Mary, University of London. As nectar levels in flowers change from minute-to-minute, faster learning bees are more likely to keep track of which blooms are most rewarding, and thrive as a result.
Living On 'The Red Edge': Rare Form Of Chlorophyll Discovered In Newly Sequenced Bacterium:
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and Arizona State University have sequenced the genome of a rare bacterium that…
clock | February 9, 2008Birds, Bats And Insects Hold Secrets For Aerospace Engineers:
Natural flyers like birds, bats and insects outperform man-made aircraft in aerobatics and efficiency. University of Michigan engineers are studying these animals as a step toward designing flapping-wing planes with wingspans smaller than a deck of playing cards.
Intersex Fish Linked To Population And Agriculture In Potomac River Watershed:
For several years, scientists have been working to determine why so many male smallmouth bass in the Potomac River basin have immature female egg cells in their testes - a form of intersex. They…
clock | February 7, 2008Transparent Adult Zebra Fish Will Make Human Biology Even Clearer:
Zebrafish are genetically similar to humans and are good models for human biology and disease. Now, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have created a zebrafish that is transparent throughout its life. The new fish allows scientists to directly view its internal organs, and observe processes like tumor metastasis and blood production after bone-marrow transplant in a living organism.
Oldest Horseshoe Crab Fossil Found, 100 Million Years Old:
Few modern animals are as deserving of the title "living fossil" as the lowly…
clock | February 7, 2008There are some interesting articles published in PLoS Genetics, Computational Biology, Pathogens and Neglected Tropical Diseases and these got my attention at the first glance - you look around for stuff you may be interested in:
Comparing Patterns of Natural Selection across Species Using Selective Signatures:
Natural selection promotes the survival of the fittest individuals within a species. Over many generations, this may result in the maintenance of ancestral traits (conservation through purifying selection), or the emergence of newly beneficial traits (adaptation through positive…
clock | February 6, 2008Gene Variants May Help To Distribute The Work Of Evolution Between Men And Women:
Scientists from deCODE genetics have discovered two common, single-letter variants in the sequence of the human genome (SNPs) that regulate one of the principle motors of evolution.
Key 'Impact Hunters' Catalyze Hunting Among Male Chimpanzees:
While hunting among chimpanzees is a group effort, key males, known as "impact hunters" are highly influential within the group. They are more likely to initiate a hunt, and hunts rarely occur in their absence, according to a new study. The findings shed light on how and…
clock | February 5, 2008Tons of new stuff in PLoS ONE this week. Some titles that caught my eye:
Comparative Bacterial Proteomics: Analysis of the Core Genome Concept:
While comparative bacterial genomic studies commonly predict a set of genes indicative of common ancestry, experimental validation of the existence of this core genome requires extensive measurement and is typically not undertaken. Enabled by an extensive proteome database developed over six years, we have experimentally verified the expression of proteins predicted from genomic ortholog comparisons among 17 environmental and pathogenic bacteria.…
clock | February 4, 2008There's some cool new stuff in PLoS Biology and PLoS Medicine this week. Here are my picks and you look around and see what you are interested in....
The Evolutionary and Developmental Foundations of Mathematics:
Understanding the evolutionary precursors of human mathematical ability is a highly active area of research in psychology and biology with a rich and interesting history. At one time, numerical abilities, like language, tool use, and culture, were thought to be uniquely human. However, at the turn of the 20th century, scientists showed more interest in the numerical abilities of…
clock | February 4, 2008Anna's Hummingbird Chirps With Its Tail During Display Dives:
The beeps, chirps and whistles made by some hummingbirds and thought to be vocal are actually created by the birds' tail feathers, according to a study by two students at the University of California, Berkeley.
Why Don't Chimpanzees Like To Barter Food?:
For thousands of years, human beings have relied on commodity barter as an essential aspect of their lives. It is the behavior that allows specialized professions, as one individual gives up some of what he has reaped to exchange with another for something different. In this way,…
clock | February 3, 2008You Are What You Eat: Some Differences Between Humans And Chimpanzees Traced To Diet:
Using mice as models, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology traced some of the differences between humans and chimpanzees to differences in our diet.
Migrating Birds Detect Latitude And Longitude, But How Remains A Mystery:
Eurasian reed warblers captured during their spring migrations and released after being flown 1,000 kilometers to the east can correct their travel routes and head for their original destinations, researchers report.
Conspicuous Social Signaling Drives…
clock | February 3, 2008Daytime Nap Can Benefit A Person's Memory Performance:
A brief bout of non-REM sleep (45 minutes) obtained during a daytime nap clearly benefits a person's declarative memory performance, according to a new study.
People Had More Intense Dreams After Sept. 11, 2001, Sleep Research Shows:
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, changed our lives in a number of different ways, not only socially and politically, but also in the way in which we dream, according to a new study.
Election 2008: Sleep Deprivation A Tough Opponent For Presidential Candidates:
The field of presidential contenders…
clock | February 1, 2008New Species Of Giant Elephant-shrew Discovered:
When Francesco Rovero first saw the image captured by one of his automatic cameras in a remote Tanzanian forest, he knew he'd never seen anything quite like it. It was the size of a small dog, covered in orange and gray fur, and had a long snout like an elephant. Its markings and general appearance suggested it was a member of the elephant-shrew family, called a sengi in Swahili. Today, the Journal of Zoology reports that Rovero discovered a new species of giant elephant-shrew.
Anne-Marie has more.
Cats' Family Tree Rooted In Fertile Crescent,…
clock | January 30, 2008The Eyes Have It: Researchers Can Now Determine When A Human Was Born By Looking Into The Eyes Of The Dead:
Using the radiocarbon dating method and special proteins in the lens of the eye, researchers at the University of Copenhagen and Aarhus can now establish, with relatively high precision, when a person was born. This provides a useful tool for forensic scientists who can use it to establish the date of birth of an unidentified body and could also have further consequences for health science research.
Cats' Family Tree Rooted In Fertile Crescent, Study Confirms:
The Fertile Crescent of…
clock | January 29, 2008Today's crop of new articles published in PLoS ONE is an emebarassment of riches. It's hard to make just a couple of picks out of 39 papers, but I'll try to restrain myself and you go and look around for the rest of them....
Chimpanzee Autarky:
Economists believe that barter is the ultimate cause of social wealth--and even much of our human culture--yet little is known about the evolution and development of such behavior. It is useful to examine the circumstances under which other species will or will not barter to more fully understand the phenomenon. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are an…
clock | January 29, 2008Synthesis Of Natural Molecule Could Lead To Better Anti-cancer Drugs:
In early 2007, Northwestern University chemist Karl Scheidt's interest was piqued when marine chemist Amy Wright reported in the Journal of Natural Products that a new natural compound derived from an uncommon deep-sea sponge was extremely effective at inhibiting cancer cell growth.
Ants And Avalanches: Insects On Coffee Plants Follow Widespread Natural Tendency:
Ever since a forward-thinking trio of physicists identified the phenomenon known as self-organized criticality---a mechanism by which complexity arises in nature…
clock | January 29, 2008There is lots of cool new stuff in PLoS Biology this week. Take a look:
Conspicuous Chameleons is a synopsis/summary of this article:
Selection for Social Signalling Drives the Evolution of Chameleon Colour Change:
The ability to change colour has evolved in numerous vertebrate and invertebrate groups, the most well-known of which are chameleons and cephalopods (octopuses and their relatives). There is great variation among species, however, in the apparent capacity for colour change, ranging from limited changes in brightness to dramatic changes in hue. What drives the evolution of this…