Latest science news in Biology & Nature
World heritage in danger - IUCN
The Danger List of World Heritage Sites needs radical change if is to remain an effective conservation tool, according to a report released today by IUCN...
PHOTO: Lynx Kittens Signal Success in Colorado
The discovery of ten lynx kittens marks the first time newborn lynx have been documented in Colorado since 2006, heartening biologists.
Why Do Subordinates In Many Animal Species Accept Social Position Without A Fight?
In many animal species stable hierarchies are routinely formed in which some individuals seem to slip naturally into their dominant role whereas others resign themselves to play the part of...
What makes a great footballer?
Scientists are studying footballing ability to gain insight into the role that skill plays in the physical performance of vertebrates. The results, to be presented at the Society for Experimental...
Garlic to the rescue for the conker tree
Gardeners are to use garlic to fight bleeding canker, the tree disease that threatens to wipe out Britain's horse chestnuts. More than 3,000 trees have already been felled since the disease, which
Map of elephant DNA reveals trail of ivory smugglers
Scientists have used a revolutionary genetic technique to pinpoint the area of Africa where smugglers are slaughtering elephants to feed the worldwide illegal ivory trade.
Burmese pythons studied in S. Carolina
AIKEN, S.C., June 28 (UPI) -- Ten Burmese pythons have been imported to South Carolina for a study to determine if the huge snakes can survive and thrive...
Fecal DNA Sampling Provides Extremely Accurate Estimates Of Tiger Populations
High-tech DNA fecal sampling will help save tigers. Researchers will be able to accurately count and assess tiger populations by identifying individual animals from the unique DNA signature found in...
Why A Low Calorie Diet Extends Lifespans: Critical Enzyme Pair Identified
Experiment after experiment confirms that a diet on the brink of starvation expands lifespan in mice and many other species. But the molecular mechanism that links nutrition and survival is...
Beetles Add New Dynamic to Forest Fire Control Efforts
More than 7 million acres of trees have been killed by the tiny insects, complicating experts’ efforts to reduce wildfires.
Xie Lab uncovers molecular machinery related to stem cell fate
The Stowers Institute's Xie Lab has revealed how the BAM protein affects germline stem cell differentiation and how it is involved in regulating the quality of stem cells through intercellular...
Corals stay close to home
The thought of coral reefs tends to conjure up images of tropical vacations, complete with snorkelling among tropical fish in crystal clear waters...
Researchers pinpoint a new enemy for tumour-suppressor p53
Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Centre have identified a protein that marks the tumour suppressor p53 for destruction, providing a potential new avenue for restoring...
Researchers see evidence of memory in the songbird brain
When a zebra finch hears a new song from a member of its own species, the experience changes gene expression in its brain in unexpected ways, researchers report. The sequential...
Melons Sweetened With DNA Sequence
People smell them, thump them and eyeball their shape. But ultimately, it's sweetness and a sense of healthy eating that lands a melon in a shopper's cart. Plant breeders now...
Platypus Helps Illuminate Ovarian Cancer
Researchers believe our oldest mammalian relative may help us to better understand ovarian cancer. DNA mapping of the platypus has uncovered an interesting relationship between their sex chromosomes and DNA...
Scientists study foes’ ways at Creation Museum
In one of the largest gatherings of critics since the Creation Museum in northern Kentucky opened two years ago, six dozen paleontologists in the area for a conference took a...
PICTURES: Hand Stencils Through Time
Scientists unravel the mysteries of handprints, a universal form of human expression spanning continents and millennia
Safer stem cells for therapy
When stem cell researchers in Japan and the United States announced in 2007 that they had developed long-sought methods to return fully developed adult human cells to an embryonic-like state,...
Major study links malaria mosquitoes to Amazon deforestation
(PhysOrg.com) -- In one of the most field-intensive efforts to explore the connection between malaria and tropical deforestation, a team led by Jonathan Patz, a specialist in the link between...
Sequencing effort to chart ants and their ecosystem
(PhysOrg.com) -- Nestled within the twisting fungus gardens of leaf-cutter ants exists a complex symbiotic web that has evolved over millions of years. Now, with the help of a major...
Field trials offer hope of conquering food toxin
Studies in maize show that benign strains of the fungus Aspergillus can outcompete toxic forms that contaminate African crops.
Researchers identify enzyme that makes survival molecule for key vision cells
Research lead by Dr. Nicolas Bazan, Boyd Professor and Director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, identifying an enzyme that makes neuroprotectin D1...
Jellyfish Robot Swims Like its Biological Counterpart
(PhysOrg.com) -- "Jellyfish are one of the most awesome marine animals, doing a spectacular and psychedelic dance in water," explain engineers Sung-Weon Yeom and Il-Kwon Oh from Chonnam National University...
Trio of signals converge to induce liver and pancreas cell development in the embryo
PHILADELPHIA - Understanding the molecular signals that guide early cells in the embryo to develop into different organs provides insight into ways that tissues regenerate and how stem cells can...
Freeze, Flipper: Put Down That Fish!
Fisherman Pull Guns, Throw Pipe Bombs At Dolphins Eager To Snatch Their Catch
Implant Bacteria, Beware: Researchers Create Nano-sized Assassins
Infected implants now have a foe. Researchers have created a nanoparticle that can penetrate a bacterial-produced film on prosthetics and kill the bacteria. The finding is the first time that...
Cellulose-hydrogen production from corn stalk biomass by anaerobic fermentation
Department of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, China-Research, has shown the enhanced cellulose-hydrogen production from bio-pretreated corn stalk by mixed culture in batch tests and a 5 L bioreactor, respectively.