Fair Play in ChimpanzeesIn the ultimatum game - which was developed by another German, Werner Güth, now at the Max Planck Institute for Economics in Jena - one person, the proposer, is given money by an experimenter. That proposer can then divide the "manna from heaven" with a second person, the responder. The responder is not powerless - if he accepts the division, both people take home the offered amounts. But if he rejects it, both get nothing. The fear of having........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 10/8/2007 11:15:06 AM)
Crocodile Tears Are RealWhen someone feigns sadness they "cry crocodile tears," a phrase that comes from an old myth that the animals cry while eating.
Now, a University of Florida researcher has concluded that crocodiles really do bawl while banqueting - but for physiological reasons rather than rascally reptilian remorse.
UF zoologist Kent Vliet observed and videotaped four captive caimans and three alligators, both close relatives of the crocodile, while........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 10/4/2007 5:10:32 AM)
Thumb-size microsystem enables cell cultureIntegrating silicon microchip technology with a network of tiny fluid channels, some thinner than a human hair, scientists at The Johns Hopkins University have developed a thumb-size micro-incubator to culture living cells for lab tests.
In a recent edition of the journal IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems, the Johns Hopkins scientists reported that they had successfully used the micro-incubator to culture baby hamster........Go to the Biology-blog (Added on 10/2/2007 9:53:22 PM)
Bringing the best in biological research to the worldAn other great example of web-based education. The American Society for Cell Biology has launched a unique project and they feature seminars through the web (so-called webinars). You can download iBioSeminars in QuickTime, mp4, iPodVideo or Powerpoint formats........Go to the Biology-blog (Added on 10/2/2007 8:30:40 PM)
Amazon Forest Unexpectedly Resilient to DroughtThe extensive forests of South America's Amazon are turning out to be tougher than expected when it comes to withstanding the onslaughts of a changing climate. A team of U.S. and Brazilian scientists using the insightful eyes of two NASA satellites has shown that one of the worst droughts in decades could not stop the undisturbed regions of the Amazon forest from "greening up".
The Amazon drought of 2005 reached its peak just as the region's........Go to the Plant-science-blog (Added on 10/1/2007 10:08:34 PM)
Cercidiphyllum japonicumThank you again to Douglas Justice for both today's photograph and accompanying written entry. – Daniel
This year the katsuras are colouring well. Cercidiphyllum japonicum is not well known for autumn finery in Vancouver, I suppose because our typical dry summer weather usually causes much early leaf drop. Either that, or when plants are shaded, the rich green colour slowly drains out of the leaves until they're an insipid, anonymous........Go to the Plant-science-blog (Added on 10/1/2007 9:39:34 PM)
Brain Folding In Higher MammalsEngineers at Washington University in St. Louis are finding common ground between the shaping of the brain and the heart during embryonic development.
Larry A.Taber, Ph.D., the Dennis and Barbara Kessler Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Phillip Bayly, Ph.D., Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering, are examining mechanical and developmental processes that occur in the folding of the brain's surface, or cortex, which gives the........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 10/1/2007 9:30:05 PM)
Wasp altruism evolved from maternal behaviorScientists at the University of Illinois have used an innovative approach to reveal the molecular basis of altruistic behavior in wasps. The research team focused on the expression of behavior-related genes in Polistes metricus paper wasps, a species for which little genetic data was available when the study was begun. Their findings appear today online in Science Express.
Like honey bee workers, wasp workers give up their reproductive........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/27/2007 9:23:29 PM)
Nutrient Pollution Drives Frog DeformitiesHigh levels of nutrients used in farming and ranching activities fuel parasite infections that have caused highly publicized frog deformities in ponds and lakes across North America, as per a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The study showed increased levels of nitrogen and phosphorus cause sharp hikes in the abundance and reproduction of a snail species that hosts microscopic parasites known as trematodes, said Pieter........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/26/2007 8:10:57 PM)
Hybrid Salamanders Contradict Common WisdomA new UC Davis study not only has important findings for the future of California tiger salamanders, but also contradicts prevailing scientific thought about what happens when animal species interbreed.
The study, by former UC Davis doctoral student Benjamin Fitzpatrick (now on the faculty of University of Tennessee, Knoxville) and professor Bradley Shaffer, was published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/26/2007 8:04:49 PM)
Keeping a Diverse PlanetVariation in plants and animals gives us a rich and robust assemblage of foods, medicines, industrial materials and recreation activities. But human activities are eliminating biological diversity at an unprecedented rate.
A new UC Davis study offers clues to how these losses relate to one another -- information that is essential as researchers and land managers strive to protect the remaining natural variation.
Sharon Strauss, a........Go to the Biology-blog (Added on 9/26/2007 8:01:31 PM)
How The Zebrafish Gets His StripeResearchers have discovered how the zebrafish (Danio rerio) develops one of its four stripes of pigment cells.
Their findings add to the growing list of tasks carried out by an important molecule that is involved in the arrangement of everything from nerve cells to reproductive cells in the developing embryo.
The research focused on a particular zebrafish mutant known as choker, which is distinctive because one of the four stripes running........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/25/2007 9:58:19 PM)
City birds better than rural species in coping Birds that hang out in large urban areas seem to have a marked advantage over their rural cousins they are adaptable enough to survive in a much larger range of conditions.
In fact, new research from the University of Washington suggests that the adaptability of a number of urban bird species means they don't just survive but actually thrive in what might be considered to be a very challenging environment.
"The urban habitat is........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/25/2007 9:12:31 PM)
Sunburn for us protecton for crayfishThe production of melanin gives us sunburns, but it also helps invertebrate animals to encapsulate attacking fungi and parasites. Uppsala University researchers, in collaboration with Korean and Thai colleagues, can now show that melanin also protects against bacterial infections, at least in crayfish. The study is reported in the latest Net edition of Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The production of melanin is an important protective........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/24/2007 9:56:25 PM)
Amazon forest shows unexpected resiliencyDrought-stricken regions of the Amazon forest grew especially vigorously during the 2005 drought, as per new research.
The counterintuitive finding contradicts a prominent global climate model that predicts the Amazon forest would begin to "brown down" after just a month of drought and eventually collapse as the drought progressed.
Instead of hunkering down during a drought as you might expect, the forest responded positively to drought,........Go to the Plant-science-blog (Added on 9/23/2007 11:21:20 AM)
New Strategy To Create Genetically Modified AnimalsScientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have demonstrated the potential of a new strategy for genetic modification of large animals. The method employs a harmless gene treatment virus that transfers a genetic modification to male reproductive cells, which is then passed naturally on to offspring.
Ina Dobrinski, associate professor and director of the Center for Animal Transgenesis and Germ Cell Research at........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/21/2007 6:39:48 AM)
Bats add their voice to the FOXP2 storyWhen it comes to the FOXP2 gene, humans have had most to shout about. Discoveries that mutations in this gene lead to speech defects and that the gene underwent changes around the time language evolved both implicate FOXP2 in the evolution of human language. More recently, patterns of gene expression in birds, humans and rodents have suggested a wider role in the production of vocalisations. Yet numerous reports have established that FOXP2........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/18/2007 10:10:00 PM)
More Viable Offspring If They Can Choose Their Best MateWhen it comes to picking a mate, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young had an answer: If you cant be with the one you love, love the one youre with. As it turns out, that may be a cardinal rule in the animal kingdom, too.
New research that crosses several species boundaries shows that when animals must choose less-than-preferred (to them) mates, females and males apparently have ways to compensate that increase the chance their offspring will........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/18/2007 10:08:05 PM)
Yam bean a nearly forgotten cropThe Yam bean originated where the Andes meet the Amazon and is locally grown in South and Central America, South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific. It is produced in three species which are called the Amazonian, Mexican and Andean. Interbreeding of the bean has resulted in fertile and stable hybrids. This gives it potential to be reclassified as a single species, provide high quality food production and offer a sustainable cropping system that........Go to the Plant-science-blog (Added on 9/17/2007 5:15:36 AM)
Effort to 'barcode' world's speciesSmithsonian scientists are among the leaders in a worldwide effort to revolutionize the way researchers identify species in the laboratory and in the field with a technique called DNA barcoding. Similar to the barcode that identifies an item at the grocery store, a DNA barcode is used to identify and distinguish biological species.
This month, researchers are gathering in Taiwan for the Second International Barcode of Life Conference (Sept.........Go to the Biology-blog (Added on 9/17/2007 5:00:47 AM)
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Genes from the father forms new speciesThe two closely related bird species, the collared flycatcher and the pied flycatcher, can reproduce with each other, but the females are more strongly attracted to a male of their own species. This has been shown by an international research team directed by Anna Qvarnstrm at Uppsala University in todays Net edition of Science. They demonstrate that the gene for this sexual preference is found on the sex chromosome that is inherited from the........Go to the Biology-blog (Added on 10/8/2007 11:12:09 AM)
Fungus genome yielding answersWhy a pathogen is a pathogen may be answered as researchers study the recently mapped genetic makeup of a fungus that spawns the worst cereal grains disease known and also can produce toxins potentially fatal to people and livestock.
The fungus, which is particularly destructive to wheat and barley, has resulted in an estimated $10 billion in damage to U.S. crops over the past 10 years. The researchers who sequenced the fungus' genes said........Go to the Biology-blog (Added on 10/8/2007 11:10:21 AM)
Animal MemeI've been tagged by Anne-Marie at Pondering Pikaia. She has a very cool German Shepard and writes an excellent blog.An interesting animal I had:This is difficult because there is no shortage of candidates: Madagascan Giant Hissing Cockroaches, Praying Manti, Praying Manti, tarantulas, frogs, lizards, rodents etc. I suppose for sheer strangeness, however, my Praying Mantiwould take the prize. To forestall the inevitable questions, I fed it........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 10/3/2007 5:40:13 AM)
How 'Mother of Thousands' Makes PlantletsNew research shows how the houseplant "mother of thousands" (Kalanchoe diagremontiana) makes the tiny plantlets that drop from the edges of its leaves. Having lost the ability to make viable seeds, the plant has shifted some of the processes that make seeds to the leaves, said Neelima Sinha, professor of plant biology at UC Davis.
A number of plants reproduce by throwing out long shoots or runners that can grow into new plants. But mother of........Go to the Plant-science-blog (Added on 10/2/2007 9:49:12 PM)
Three-way mating game of North American lizardAn intricate three-way mating struggle first observed in a species of North American lizard has been discovered in a distant relative, the European common lizard. The two species are separated by 5,000 miles and 175 million years of evolution, yet they share behavioral and reproductive details right down to the gaudy colors of the males, as per new research reported in the recent issue of American Naturalist and now available online.
The........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 10/1/2007 10:13:47 PM)
Genetic differences in clover make one type toxicThat clover necklace you make for your child could well be a ring of poison.
Thats because some clovers have evolved genes that help the plant produce cyanide to protect itself against little herbivores, such as snails, slugs and voles, that eat clover. Other clover plants that do not make cyanide are found in climates with colder temperatures. So, in picking your poison, er, clover, ecology and geography play important roles.
A plant........Go to the Plant-science-blog (Added on 10/1/2007 9:54:35 PM)
New Species Found In VietnamWorld Wildlife Fund researchers have just announced the discovery of 11 new animal and plant species in a remote area in central Vietnam. They say this underscores the importance of conservation efforts in the ancient tropical forests of the region.
Within the ancient tropical forests of a region known as Vietnam's "Green Corridor," researchers found a snake, five orchids, and two butterflies as well as three other plants new to science and........Go to the Biology-blog (Added on 9/27/2007 9:40:24 PM)
DNA Extracted From Woolly Mammoth HairStephan C. Schuster and Webb Miller of Penn State, working with Thomas Gilbert from Copenhagen and a large international consortium, discovered that hair shafts provide an ideal source of ancient DNA -- a better source than bones and muscle for studying the genome sequences of extinct animals. Their research achievement, described in a paper would be reported in the journal Science on Sept. 28, includes the sequencing of entire mitochondrial........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/27/2007 9:37:41 PM)
Emphasizing the 'precision' in precision agricultureNew protocol and software developments are helping farmers put the precision back in precision agriculture by making it easier for growers to use previously ineffectual soil and environmental data to manage their crops.
Historically, gaps between scientists and producers, as well as lack of capacity to transform data into relevant decisions, have all contributed to data languishing on hard drives rather than being used to inform growing........Go to the Plant-science-blog (Added on 9/26/2007 8:17:15 PM)
Interbreeding Between Invasive and Native Salamander SpeciesInterbreeding between the California Tiger Salamander--which is a native, endangered species--and the invasive Barred Tiger Salamander has produced a swarm of hybrid salamanders that is more likely to survive than either parent species, as per a new study.
Found in Salinas, California, the swarm of hybridized salamanders may comprise the first population of sustainable hybrids created by an interbreeding involving an endangered species, and........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/26/2007 8:09:04 PM)
Working to save microscopic threatened speciesThe Smithsonians National Zoo recently acquired 12,000 new animalsmicroscopic Elkhorn coral larvae harvested by National Zoo researchers in Puerto Ricoas part of an international collaborative program to raise the threatened species. National Zoo researchers hope to one day return the animals, once they are grown, to their wild ocean habitat.
In August, Zoo Reproductive Scientist Dr. Mary Hagedorn and Invertebrates Keeper Mike Henley........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/26/2007 7:53:20 PM)
How and why people respond differently to drugsWhile prescription medications work successfully to cure an ailment in some people, in others the same dose of the same drug can cause an adverse reaction or no response at all.
As per a research team led by Sean Cutler, an assistant professor of plant cell biology at UC Riverside, such variation in drug responses can be analyzed by studying much simpler organisms like plants.
The genetics behind variable drug responses is not peculiar........Go to the Plant-science-blog (Added on 9/26/2007 7:46:34 PM)
Spatial patterns in tropical forestsThe high biodiversity in tropical forests has both fascinated and puzzled ecologists for more than half a century. In the hopes of finding an answer to this puzzle, ecologists have turned their attention to the spatial patterns of such communities and mapped the location of each tree with a stem larger than a pencil in plots covering 25 to 52ha of tropical forest around the world. As per a research findings published in The American Naturalist........Go to the Plant-science-blog (Added on 9/25/2007 9:47:51 PM)
Dams and California salmonSpring-run Chinook salmon and other fish in the rivers of Californias Central Valley could be harmed by more water-storage dams, as per scientists at Duke University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The findings of a recent paper may serve as a cautionary tale to policymakers, researchers and resource managers currently embroiled in a debate about the construction of new dams in the region.
The paper, Directed........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/24/2007 10:06:29 PM)
Rare albino ratfish has eerie, silvery sheen A ghostly, mutant ratfish caught off Whidbey Island in Washington state is the only completely albino fish ever seen by both the curator of the University of Washington's 7.2 million-specimen fish collection and a fish and wildlife biologist with more than 20 years of sampling fish in Puget Sound.
"Ratfish commonly hang out in places with soft, muddy bottoms," says Jon Reum, the aquatic and fishery sciences doctoral student who found the........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/24/2007 9:46:55 PM)
Key to longer life (in flies) lies in just 14 brain cellsTwo years ago, Brown University scientists discovered something startling: Decrease the activity of the cancer-suppressing protein p53 and you can make fruit flies live significantly longer.
Now the same team reports an intriguing follow-up finding. The p53 protein, they found, may work its lifespan-extending magic in only 14 insulin-producing cells in the fly brain.
Its quite surprising, said Johannes Bauer, a postdoctoral research........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/21/2007 5:30:14 AM)
Tower Hill Botanical GardenLast week I drove up to Tower Hill Botanical Garden in Boylston, Mass., about an hour’s drive from Providence. Tower Hill is the home of the Worcester County Horticultural Society (that’s Wussta to all you non-New Englanders), a non-profit organization that is the third oldest horticultural society in the U.S
I took the above photo from just outside the visitors center. The lake near the center of the pic is Wachusett Reservoir,........Go to the Plant-science-blog (Added on 9/18/2007 10:36:42 PM)
Solving the snail biogeography puzzleThe answer to a mystery that long has puzzled biologists may lie in prehistoric Polynesians' penchant for pretty white shells, a research team headed by University of Michigan mollusk expert Diarmaid Ó Foighil has found.
The team's findings, published online Sept. 12 in the British biological research journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, have implications for conservation efforts aimed at rescuing nearly-extinct Tahitian tree snails.
........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/18/2007 8:03:21 PM)
Mycena interruptaBotany Photo of the Day will have brief written entries on weekends, holidays and my vacations from April through September. – Danie
Ken Beath, aka kjbeath@Flickr is the person to thank for today's photograph (original via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool). Do visit Ken's Australia photo galleries if you've the time! Thanks, Ken........Go to the Plant-science-blog (Added on 9/18/2007 6:53:57 AM)
Microinjection Of Zebrafish EmbryosFunded by an NSERC Idea to Innovations grant and an Ontario Early Researcher Award, Prof. Yu Suns group, the Advanced Micro and Nanosystems Laboratory (http://amnl.mie.utoronto.ca) at the University of Toronto (U of T) recently developed a microrobotic technology for automated microinjection of zebrafish embryos.
Based on computer vision and motion control, the automated microrobotic system is capable of immobilizing a large number of........Go to the Animal-science-blog (Added on 9/12/2007 8:23:57 PM)
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