http://www.biology-blog.com/ New article alert from biology-blog.com, the place for biology information. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:43:19 GMT en-us http://www.biology-blog.com/images/blogs/tiger-thumb-589910.jpg http://www.biology-blog.com/ 90 99 http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/with-a-beam-of-light.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/with-a-beam-of-light.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:43:19 GMT In an advance with overtones of Star Trek phasers and other sci-fi ray guns, scientists in Canada are reporting development of an internal on-off "switch" that paralyzes animals when exposed to a beam of ultraviolet light. The animals stay paralyzed even when the light is turned off. When exposed to ordinary light, the animals become unparalyzed and wake up. Their study appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS). It reports the first demonstration of such a light-activated switch in animals........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/how-crops-survive-drought.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/how-crops-survive-drought.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:43:19 GMT Breakthrough research done earlier this year by a plant cell biologist at the University of California, Riverside has greatly accelerated scientists' knowledge on how plants and crops can survive difficult environmental conditions such as drought. Working on abscisic acid (ABA), a stress hormone produced naturally by plants, Sean Cutler's laboratory showed in April 2009 how ABA helps plants survive by inhibiting their growth in times when water is unavailable research that has important agricultural implications........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/evolution-of-highly-toxic-box-jellyfish.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/evolution-of-highly-toxic-box-jellyfish.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:43:19 GMT With thousands of stinging cells that can emit deadly venom from tentacles that can reach ten feet in length, the 50 or so species of box jellyfish have long been of interest to researchers and to the public. Yet little has been known about the evolution of this early branch in the animal tree of life........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/right-handed-chimpanzees-origin-of-human-language.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/right-handed-chimpanzees-origin-of-human-language.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:43:19 GMT Most of the linguistic functions in humans are controlled by the left cerebral hemisphere. A study of captive chimpanzees at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center (Atlanta, Georgia), published in the January 2010 issue of Elsevier's Cortex, suggests that this "hemispheric lateralization" for language may have its evolutionary roots in the gestural communication of our common ancestors. A great majority of the chimpanzees in the study showed a significant bias towards right-handed gestures when communicating, which may reflect a similar dominance of the left hemisphere for communication in chimpanzees as that seen for language functions in humans........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/new-atlas-by-tracking-penguins.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/new-atlas-by-tracking-penguins.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:43:19 GMT Recording hundreds of thousands of individual uplinks from satellite transmitters fitted on penguins, albatrosses, sea lions, and other marine animals, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and BirdLife International have released the first-ever atlas of the Patagonian Sea a globally important but poorly understood South American marine ecosystem........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/plants-prefer-their-kin.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/plants-prefer-their-kin.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:43:19 GMT Plants don't mind sharing space with their kin but when they're potted with strangers of the same species they start invigorating their leaves, a study by McMaster University reveals. The research, which appears in the current issue of the American Journal of Botany, suggests non-kin plants will not only compete underground for soil nutrients, but will attempt to muscle out the competition above ground in the ongoing struggle for light........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/give-life-to-coral-reefs.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/give-life-to-coral-reefs.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:43:19 GMT Coral reefs support some of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, yet they thrive in a marine desert. So how do reefs sustain their thriving populations? Marine biologist Fleur Van Duyl from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research is fascinated by the energy budgets that support coral reefs in this impoverished environment. As per van Duyl's former student, Jasper De Goeij, Halisarca caerulea sponges grow in the deep dark cavities beneath reefs, and 90% of their diet is composed of dissolved organic carbon, which is inedible for most other reef residents. But when De Goeij measured the amount of carbon that the brightly coloured sponges consumed he observed that they consume half of their own weight each day, yet they never grew. What were the sponges doing with the carbon? Were the sponges really consuming that much carbon, or was there a problem with De Goeij's measurements? He had to find out where the carbon was going to back up his measurements and publishes his discovery that sponges have one of the fastest cell division rates ever measured, and instead of growing they discard the cells. Essentially, the sponges recycle carbon that would otherwise be lost to the reef. De Goeij publishes his discovery on November 13 2009 in The Journal of Experimental Biology at http://jeb.biologists.org........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/first-aquarium-to-breed-dwarf-cuttlefish.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/first-aquarium-to-breed-dwarf-cuttlefish.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:43:19 GMT Anchored to an algae-covered rock in a 120-gallon tank at the California Academy of Sciences' Steinhart Aquarium, a cluster of inky-colored cuttlefish eggs is beginning to swellevidence of success for the Academy's new captive breeding program for dwarf cuttlefish, Sepia bandensis. The program, pioneered by Academy biologist Richard Ross, is the first of its kind in a U.S. aquarium, and offers the Academy and other institutions the opportunity to study and display a species that is both captivating andat 2-4 inches in lengthless resource-intensive to keep than its larger relatives. "By establishing a stable breeding population," Ross explains, "our hope is to make it easier for aquariums to showcase cuttlefish and their remarkable characteristics without impacting wild populations"........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/the-inner-realm-of-living-cells.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/the-inner-realm-of-living-cells.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:43:19 GMT Researchers in Washington, DC, are reporting development and successful tests of a new way for exploring the insides of living cells, the microscopic building blocks of all known plants and animals. They explode the cell while it is still living inside a plant or animal, vaporize its contents, and sniff. The study appears in online in ACS' journal Analytical Chemistry....... ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/gorilla-blood-pressure-reading.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/gorilla-blood-pressure-reading.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:43:19 GMT Zoo Atlanta recently became the first zoological institution in the world to obtain voluntary blood pressure readings from a gorilla. This groundbreaking stride was made possible by the Gorilla Tough Cuff, a blood pressure reading system devised through partnership with the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/eyeless-mouthless-worms-lurk-in-the-dark.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/eyeless-mouthless-worms-lurk-in-the-dark.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:43:19 GMT It sounds like a classic horror story-eyeless, mouthless worms lurk in the dark, settling onto dead animals and sending out green "roots" to devour their bones. In fact, such worms do exist in the deep sea. They were first discovered in 2002 by scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), who were using a robot submarine to explore Monterey Canyon. But that wasn't the end of the story. After "planting" several dead whales on the seafloor, a team of biologists recently announced that as a number of as 15 different species of boneworms may live in Monterey Bay alone........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/fig-wasps-travel-hundreds-of-miles.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/fig-wasps-travel-hundreds-of-miles.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:43:19 GMT They may only be 1.5mm in size, but the tiny wasps that pollinate fig trees can travel over 160km in less than 48 hours, as per research from researchers at the University of Leeds. The fig wasps are transporting pollen ten times further than previously recorded for any insect. The fig wasps travel these distances in search of trees to lay their eggs, which offers hope that trees pollinated by similar creatures have a good chance of surviving if they become isolated through deforestation........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/making-better-broccoli.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/making-better-broccoli.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:43:19 GMT Carotenoidsfat-soluble plant compounds found in some vegetablesare essential to the human diet and reportedly offer important health benefits to consumers. Plant carotenoids are the most important source of vitamin A in the human diet; the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, found in corn and leafy greens vegetable such as kale, broccoli, and spinach, are widely considered to be valuable antioxidants capable of protecting humans from chronic diseases including age-related macular degeneration, cancer, and cardiovascular disease........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/indoor-plants-to-fight-air-pollution.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/indoor-plants-to-fight-air-pollution.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:43:19 GMT Air quality in homes, offices, and other indoor spaces is becoming a major health concern, especially in developed countries where people often spend more than 90% of their time indoors. Surprisingly, indoor air has been reported to be as much as 12 times more polluted than outdoor air in some areas. Indoor air pollutants emanate from paints, varnishes, adhesives, furnishings, clothing, solvents, building materials, and even tap water. A long list of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs [including benzene, xylene, hexane, heptane, octane, decane, trichloroethylene (TCE), and methylene chloride], have been shown to cause illnesses in people who are exposed to the compounds in indoor spaces. Acute illnesses like asthma and nausea and chronic diseases including cancer, neurologic, reproductive, developmental, and respiratory disorders are all associated with exposure to VOCs. Harmful indoor pollutants represent a serious health problem that is responsible for more than 1.6 million deaths each year, as per a 2002 World Health Organization report........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/seeking-flower-variety.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/seeking-flower-variety.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:43:19 GMT Florists and other retailers who sell flowers and plants can now add another tool to their marketing kit. A recent study of "consumption values" may help them understand what influences consumers' choices in regard to floral purchases, and how to better design marketing efforts and purchase stock that can increase customers and sales........ ]]>