Science News
clock | April 10, 2009DNA From Old Insects: No Need To Destroy The Specimen:
Ancient DNA can now be retrieved from various insect remains without destruction of the specimens.
Rhythmic Genomics: The Yeast Metronome And The Walk Of Life:
New genome sequence information from the humble baker's yeast has revealed surprising variation in a set of genes that can be thought of as nature's oldest clock. In a paper published in Genome Research scientists show how ribosomal RNA genes that are essential to all Earth's organisms provide insight into how genomes maintain their integrity on their evolutionary journey.
Chronic…
clock | April 9, 2009Last night was Seder night and today we had the outage, so I know this is coming late. Still, there are 26 new articles published last night and 5 new articles tonight in PLoS ONE. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. You can now also easily place articles on various social services (CiteULike, Connotea, Stumbleupon, Facebook and Digg) with just one click. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
Uncovering the Genetic Landscape for Multiple Sleep-Wake Traits:
Despite decades…
clock | April 9, 2009
The Secret To Chimp Strength:
February's brutal chimpanzee attack, during which a pet chimp inflicted devastating injuries on a Connecticut woman, was a stark reminder that chimps are much stronger than humans--as much as four-times stronger, some researchers believe. But what is it that makes our closest primate cousins so much stronger than we are? One possible explanation is that great apes simply have more powerful muscles.
New Link Between The Evolution Of Complex Life Forms On Earth And Nickel And Methane Gas:
The Earth's original atmosphere held very little oxygen. This began to…
clock | April 8, 2009Brine-Loving Microbes Reveal Secrets To Success In Chemically Extreme Environments:
Scientists have completed the first study of microbes that live within the plumbing of deep-sea mud volcanoes in the Gulf of Mexico, where conditions may resemble those in extraterrestrial environments and early Earth. The study, which was partially funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), was conducted in an area where clusters of seafloor vents spew mud, oil, brine and gases that support food chains independently of the Sun.
Women May Be Sniffing Out Biologically-relevant Information From Underarm…
clock | April 7, 2009There are 26 awesome new articles in PLoS ONE today. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers.
If you are reluctant to post ratings, notes and comments, perhaps you should read this first.
You can now also easily place articles on various social services (CiteULike, Connotea, Stumbleupon, Facebook and Digg) with just one click. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
The Dusk Chorus from an Owl Perspective: Eagle Owls Vocalize When Their White Throat Badge Contrasts Most:
An…
clock | April 7, 2009Lifeless Cells Ensure Sharp Vision:
Seemingly dead cells perform a surprising task in the lens of a fish eye. Every morning and evening they change the lens's capacity to refract light in order to enhance color perception during the day and night vision when it's dark. This is shown in new research from Lund University in Sweden.
Lice Genomes Uniquely Fragmented: How Did It Evolve?:
Parents and school nurses take note. Lice are a familiar nuisance around the world and vectors of serious diseases, such as epidemic typhus, in developing regions. New research indicates that lice may actually…
clock | April 6, 2009It's Monday night, so let's see what just got published in PLoS Biology, PLoS Medicine, PLoS ONE and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases:
Cryptochrome Mediates Light-Dependent Magnetosensitivity of Drosophila's Circadian Clock:
Magnetic fields influence endogenous clocks controlling the sleep-wake cycle of animals, but the underyling mechanisms are unclear. Birds that can do magnetic compass orientation also depend on light, and the blue-light photopigment cryptochrome was proposed to act as a navigational magnetosensor. Here we tested the role of cryptochrome as a light-dependent magnetosensor…
clock | April 6, 2009Babies Born To Women With Anxiety Or Depression Are More Likely To Sleep Poorly:
A study in the April 1 issue of the journal SLEEP suggests that babies are more likely to have night wakings at both 6 months and 12 months of age if they are born to women who suffered from anxiety or depression prior to the pregnancy.
Bird Feathers Produce Color Through Structure Similar To Beer Foam:
Some of the brightest colors in nature are created by tiny nanostructures with a structure similar to beer foam or a sponge, according to Yale University researchers.
Straw Bale House Survives Violent Shaking At…
clock | April 4, 2009
No Sponge In Human Family Tree: Sponges Descended From Unique Ancestor:
Since the days of Charles Darwin, researchers are interested in reconstructing the "Tree of Life", and in understanding the development of animal and plant species during their evolutionary history. In the case of vertebrates, this research has already come quite a long way. But there is still much debate about the relationships between the animal groups that made their apparation very early in evolutionary history, probably in the late Precambrian, some 650 to 540 million years ago.
Beverage Consumption A Bigger Factor…
clock | April 3, 2009So, let's see what's new in PLoS Genetics, PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Pathogens and PLoS ONE this week. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
Harmonics of Circadian Gene Transcription in Mammals:
Circadian rhythms confer adaptive advantages by allowing organisms to anticipate daily changes in their environment. Over the last few years, many groups have used microarray technology to systematically identify genes under circadian…
clock | April 3, 2009
Sleep May Help Clear Brain For New Learning:
A new theory about sleep's benefits for the brain gets a boost from fruit flies in the journal Science. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found evidence that sleep, already recognized as a promoter of long-term memories, also helps clear room in the brain for new learning.
Mollusks Taste Memories To Build Shells:
University of California, Berkeley, graduate student Alistair Boettiger has amassed a beautiful collection of seashells, but not by combing the beach. He created them in his computer. He and George Oster…
clock | April 2, 2009
Mother's Criticism Causes Distinctive Neural Activity Among Formerly Depressed:
Formerly depressed women show patterns of brain activity when they are criticized by their mothers that are distinctly different from the patterns shown by never depressed controls, according to a new study from Harvard University. The participants reported being completely well and fully recovered, yet their neural activity resembled that which has been observed in depressed individuals in other studies.
Police With Higher Multitasking Abilities Less Likely To Shoot Unarmed Persons:
In the midst of life-…
clock | April 1, 2009Genetic Basis For Migration In Monarch Butterflies Uncovered:
Scientists studying Eastern North American monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) have uncovered a suite of genes that may be involved in driving the butterflies to migrate towards Mexico for the winter. Their research describes 40 genes that are linked to the butterflies' compulsion to orientate themselves by an internal 'sun compass' and begin the 4000km journey southwards.
Steven Reppert led a team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School who performed behavioral and genetic analyses on summer and…
clock | March 31, 2009You really need to go to a PLoS ONE paper and take a look - we have done some nifty home remodeling ;-)
What is really new and important is that there are all sorts of article-level metrics on each paper. The same goes for all the other TOPAZ-based PLoS journals (i.e., all but PLoS Biology - you may have noticed that PLoS Medicine has migrated onto TOPAZ as well).
Mark Patterson explains what and why. Pete Binfield gives you a new house tour. And Richard Cave gives the information for those interested in the technical side of the changes.
Please take a look and give us feedback at any of…
clock | March 31, 2009Month Of Conception Linked To Birth Defects In United States:
A study published in the April 2009 issue of the medical journal Acta Pædiatrica is the first to report that birth defect rates in the United States were highest for women conceiving in the spring and summer.
Action Video Games Improve Vision, New Research Shows:
Video games that involve high levels of action, such as first-person-shooter games, increase a player's real-world vision, according to research in Nature Neuroscience March 29.
In The Age Of Facebook, Researcher Plumbs Shifting Online Relationships:
A University of…
clock | March 30, 2009Truth or Consequences? Engaging the 'Truth' of Evolution:
John is the only one of the four evangelists who recounts Jesus' (possibly apocryphal) statement to Pilate that he was in fact a king whose role was "to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice." Pilate is said to have replied to this, "What is truth?"
This is a question that Jerry Coyne never really engages in his excellent new book [1], which purports to explain why evolution is "true." This raises the question of who his intended audience is. But we'll get there in a minute. First, make no…
clock | March 30, 2009Optimal Running Speed Associated With Evolution Of Early Human Hunting Strategies:
Runners, listen up: If your body is telling you that your pace feels a little too fast or a little too slow, it may be right. A new study, published online March 18 in the Journal of Human Evolution, shows that the efficiency of human running varies with speed and that each individual has an optimal pace at which he or she can cover the greatest distance with the least effort.
Early Agriculture Left Traces In Animal Bones:
Unraveling the origins of agriculture in different regions around the globe has been a…
clock | March 29, 2009Missing Or Mutated 'Clock' Gene Linked To Vascular Disease:
The circadian clocks that set the rhythmic motion of our bodies for wakeful days and sleepy nights can also set us up for vascular disease when broken, Medical College of Georgia researchers say. Mice with mutated or missing "clock" genes are prone to thick, inflexible blood vessels with narrow passageways, unhealthy changes typically associated with risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure and cholesterol, according to research in this week's issue of Circulation.
Visual Learners Convert Words To Pictures In The Brain And…
clock | March 28, 2009Why Animals Migrate: New Understandings:
For the first time, MIT engineers and colleagues have observed the initiation of a mass gathering and subsequent migration of hundreds of millions of animals -- in this case, fish.
A Venomous Tale: How Lizards Can Shed Their Tail When Predators Attack:
University of Michigan ecologists and their colleagues have answered a question that has puzzled biologists for more than a century: What is the main factor that determines a lizard's ability to shed its tail when predators attack?
Hair Structures Of Blind Cavefish Inspire New Generation Of Sensors:
A…
clock | March 27, 2009Raising The Alarm About Chimpanzee Massacre In The Democratic Republic Of Congo:
Poachers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) threaten the existence of the largest remaining continuous population of chimpanzees in the world. This conclusion is drawn by Cleve Hicks, based on observations made during his 2007-2008 survey of towns, villages and forests in the Buta-Aketi region of the country.
Australia's Most Endangered Snake Might Need More Bush Burning:
Conserving Australia's most endangered snake might mean lighting more bush fires, ecologists have proposed. The last remaining…