Venomous Brown Widow Spiders Making Themselves Known In Louisiana:
A dangerous spider is making itself known to Louisiana residents. The brown widow spider is becoming more common, according to entomologists with the LSU AgCenter.
Bat Flight Generates Complex Aerodynamic Tracks:
Bats generate a measurably distinct aerodynamic footprint to achieve lift and maneuverability, quite unlike birds and contrary to many of the assumptions that aerodynamicists have used to model animal flight, according to University of Southern California aerospace engineer Geoffrey Spedding.
Could Carrots Be The Secret To A Long Life And Sex Appeal?:
Researchers at the Universities of Glasgow and Exeter have found that eating certain plant substances can slow down the rate of aging - and that females prefer mates that will be long-lived.
Brains Reflect Sex Differences:
When male primates tussle and females develop their social skills it leaves a permanent mark - on their brains. According to research published in the online open access journal BMC Biology, brain structures have developed due to different pressures on males and females to keep up with social or competitive demands.
Species Thrive When Sexual Dimorphism Broadens Their Niches:
Some Caribbean lizards' strong sexual dimorphism allows them to colonize much larger niches and habitats than they might otherwise occupy, allowing males and females to avoid competing with each other for resources and setting the stage for the population as a whole to thrive. The finding, reported this week in the journal Nature, suggests sex differences may have fueled the evolutionary flourishing of the Earth's wildly diverse fauna in a way not previously appreciated by scientists.
New Antifreeze Protein Gives Cold Shoulder To Its Natural Counterpart:
In another illustration of chemistry's knack for improving on Mother Nature, scientists in Canada and the United States are reporting that a synthetic version of a natural antifreeze protein -- with numerous potential applications -- is far superior to the natural product.
Life As A Dog Means Faster Mutations:
It may be hard to see that the Chinese crested dog is descended from the wolf, but it's easier to grasp that two poodles of different sizes are related. In her dissertation presented on May 3, Susanne Björnefeldt, at the Department of Evolution, Genomics, and Systematics at Uppsala University, shows that dogs of the same breed differ more genetically than was previously thought.
Old-Time Mosquito Remedy May Work Against Ticks, Too:
A granddad's wisdom, already helpful in the fight against mosquitoes, may also prove useful in battling disease-spreading ticks. Last year, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Oxford, Miss., isolated compounds from a plant called American beautyberry that enable its crushed leaves to repel mosquitoes.
Spotted And Snapped: First Photos Of Leopard With Young In Cambodia:
The first ever photographs of a wild leopard with young in Cambodia show that a pioneering project is helping to conserve wildlife and support local livelihoods there. The photographs were taken by the animals themselves when they triggered camera traps that had been set up by wildlife biologists working with local community rangers.
Plants Tag Insect Herbivores With An Alarm:
Rooted in place, plants can't run from herbivores--but they can fight back. Sensing attack, plants frequently generate toxins, emit volatile chemicals to attract the pest's natural enemies, or launch other defensive tactics. Now, for the first time, researchers reporting in the June 2007 issue of Plant Physiology have identified a specific class of small peptide elicitors, or plant defense signals, that help plants react to insect attack.
Opossum Genome Shows 'Junk' DNA Source Of Genetic Innovation:
A tiny opossum's genome has shed light on how evolution creates new creatures from old, showing that change primarily comes by finding new ways of turning existing genes on and off. The research, by an international consortium led by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, revises our understanding of genetic evolution. Scientists previously thought that evolution slowly changed the genes that create specific proteins. As the proteins changed, so did the creatures that owned them.
Survival Of The Rarest: Fruit Flies Shed Light On The Evolution Of Behavior:
Sometimes, it pays to be rare--think of a one-of-a-kind diamond, a unique Picasso or the switch-hitter on a baseball team. Now, new research suggests that being rare has biological benefits. Professor Marla Sokolowski, a biologist at the University of Toronto Mississauga who in the 1980s discovered that a single gene affects the foraging behaviour of fruit flies, has identified the benefit of rarity in populations of fruit flies with two different versions of the foraging gene. This gene is of particular interest because it is also found in many organisms, including humans.
Ever since the relationship between land area and number of species crystallized into a mathematical power function, islands and island archipelagoes have been thought of as biological destinations where species from large continents arrive and, over time, evolve into new species in geographic seclusion.
Scientists Explore Queen Bee Longevity:
The queen honey bee is genetically identical to the workers in her hive, but she lives 10 times longer and - unlike her sterile sisters - remains reproductively viable throughout life. A study from the University of Illinois sheds new light on the molecular mechanisms that account for this divergence. The research centers on the interplay of three factors known to have a role in reproduction, growth and/or longevity. The first, vitellogenin (Vg), is a yolk protein important to reproduction but which also has been found to contribute to longevity in worker bees. The second, juvenile hormone, contributes to growth and maturation. The third, an insulin-IGF-1 signaling pathway, regulates aging, fertility and other important biological processes in invertebrates and vertebrates.
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