Latest science news in Biology & Nature
Losing the race: Illegal trade devastating Madagascar's radiated tortoise
Armed bands of poachers are illegally collecting Madagascar's radiated tortoise ( Astrochelys radiata ) by the truckload for the lucrative pet and meat trades, according to a report from the...
Diet of contaminated insects harms endangered carnivorous plants
Consumption of insects contaminated with a toxic metal may be a factor in the mysterious global decline of carnivorous plants. New research reveals how meals of contaminated insects have adverse...
Second plant pathway could improve nutrition, biofuel production
Scientists have defined a hidden second option plants have for making an essential amino acid that could be the first step in boosting plants' nutritional value and improving biofuel production...
Songbird's Genome Carries Speech Clues
Zebra Finch's Complex Mechanisms for Learning and Understanding Songs Offer Clues to Human Speech Acquisition and Disorders
Understanding night blindness and calcium
Congenital stationary night blindness, an inherited condition that affects one's ability to see in the dark, is caused by a mutation in a calcium channel protein that shuttles calcium into...
Coffee beans may become insecticides
CAMPINAS, Brazil, April 1 (UPI) -- Brazilian scientists say they've found unroasted coffee beans contain proteins that can kill insects -- a finding that may lead to new food...
Video: Saving the Monarchs
Deforestation is threatening the monarch population in Mexico. Without trees, millions of butterflies can freeze to death during the winter months. Seth Doane reports.
Only some like it hot
As anyone who has suffered from a cold or flu knows, a high temperature is an unpleasant but important side effect of the body's immune reaction when fighting off pathogens....
NYU scientists find therapeutic target to stop cancer metastases
Scientists have uncovered what could be a very important clue in answering one of the most perplexing questions about cancer: why does it spread to the liver more than any...
Census data aid disease simulation studies
Did you know that filling out your census card will help computer scientists model how diseases spread in the United States?...
Fabled 'vegetable lamb' plant contains potential treatment for osteoporosis
The "vegetable lamb" plant -- once believed to bear fruit that ripened into a living baby sheep -- produces substances that show promise in laboratory experiments as new treatments for...
Cuckoo's copying an evolutionary curiosity
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study of brood parasitism in birds has shown that the nest-poaching New Zealand shining cuckoo's ability to mimic its grey warbler host is an evolutionary curiosity.
Developing blanket protection from wildfires
Case Western Reserve University and NASA researchers are looking for the right material, the right design, the right thickness and the right weight for a new fire-resistant blanket. To protect...
Promising agent for Nipah virus could tackle other diseases
A compound that disrupts the newly emerging Nipah virus has been found to do the same to several other dangerous viruses.
Gene flaw found in induced stem cells
Key difference between reprogrammed adult mouse cells and embryonic stem cells discovered.
Nemo lives amongst poisonous tentacles
Clownfish live within sea anemone's poisonous tentacles, which keep would-be predators at bay, including morays, scorpionfishes and snappers. Sea anemone - Health - Animal - Conditions...
Only some like it hot: How birds from different populations react to infections
With the help of new radiotelemetry technology, researchers from the University of Princeton and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell have now succeeded, for the first time, in...
Bursting the genomics bubble
The Human Genome Project attracted investment beyond what a rational analysis would have predicted. There are pros and cons to that, says Philip Ball.
California Rethinks Its Fight Against Moth Invader
After 3 years of developing a $89.5 million program to eradicate the invasive light...
New 'mouse models' give insight to gene mutation that is potential cause of Parkinson's disease
Using new one-of-a-kind "mouse models" that promise to have a significant impact on future Parkinson's disease research, researchers are discovering how mutations in a gene called LRRK2 may cause inherited...
An attractive method for bacteria detection
Magnetic particles have been used to directly detect the pathogenic Streptococcus suis bacterium for the first time
Vaccines, The Modern "Olive Branch"?
Earlier this March, Science featured an interesting editorial by Peter Hotez of George Washington University and the Sabin Vaccine Institute. read more
Bees See Color 3 Times Faster Than Humans
Bees have surprisingly fast color vision, about 3 to 4 times faster than that of humans, a new study says.
Africa Analysis: Science observatory faces obstacles
Is Equatorial Guinea up to hosting Africa's new science monitoring facility, and would national governments use it, asks Linda Nordling.
Delimiting Species without Nuclear Monophyly in Madagascar's Mouse Lemurs
Speciation begins when populations become genetically separated through a substantial reduction in gene flow, and it is at this point that a genetically cohesive set of populations attain the sole...
Pamela Anderson requests info on seal hunt spending
Actress Pamela Anderson is trying a new approach in her fight to stop Canada's seal hunt, hoping to enlist public support by appealing to taxpayers' wallets.
ScienceShot: Plate Tectonics Help Snakes Evolve
Blindsnakes split into new species as the continental land masses split
Evolving Sexual Tensions
Males and females are different, yet they evolve from the same set of genes - which is why it gets interesting.