Biology news

Amazon fungi found that eat polyurethane, even without oxygen

(PhysOrg.com) -- Until now polyurethane has been considered non-biodegradable, but a group of students from Yale University in the US has found fungi that will not only eat and digest it, they will do so even in the absence ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created 14 hours ago | popularity 4.9 / 5 (20) | comments 11 | with audio podcast report

Discovery of extremely long-lived proteins may provide insight into cell aging

One of the big mysteries in biology is why cells age. Now scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies report that they have discovered a weakness in a component of brain cells that may explain ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created 8 hours ago | popularity 4.9 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists snare 'superprawn' off New Zealand

Scientists have captured a "supergiant" crustacean in waters seven kilometres (4.5 miles) deep off New Zealand, measuring 10 times the normal size of related species.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 16 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 8

Collective action: Occupied genetic switches hold clues to cells' history

If you wanted to draw your family tree, you could start by searching for people who share your surname. Cells, of course, don't have surnames, but scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created 11 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Genetic information migrates from plant to plant

Plant scientists were confounded by the fact that the DNA extracted from the plants’ green chloroplasts sometimes showed the greatest similarities when related species grew in the same area. They tried ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created 14 hours ago | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast


Dry conditions spurred advanced photosynthesis

The need to conserve water played a vital role in driving plants to evolve a specialised form of photosynthesis, scientists have shown.

Biology / Evolution

created 14 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Parasites or not? Transposable elements in fruit flies

The problem of parasitism occurs at all levels right down to the DNA scale. Genomes may contain up to 80 percent "foreign" DNA but details of the mechanisms by which this enters the host genome and how hosts attempt to combat ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created 11 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Making the worms turn

To biophysicist Aravinthan Samuel, the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans provides a pathway to understanding the brain and nervous system, first of the worm, then of higher animals, and even, perhaps, of humans.

Biology / Biotechnology

created 14 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Big trees boost city life

(PhysOrg.com) -- New research from The Australian National University has revealed for the first time the role large trees play in sustaining biodiversity and bird life in urban environments.

Biology / Ecology

created 14 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Flower power: How to get ahead in advertising

Some plants go to extraordinary lengths to attract pollinators. A unique collaboration between plant scientists and physicists is revealing the full extent of botanical advertising.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 14 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Study of feeding behaviors points to challenges for native fish

(PhysOrg.com) -- A study detailing the feeding behaviors of four species of fish found in the Colorado River and its tributaries uncovered a few surprises and opened new insights to the challenges faced by ...

Biology / Ecology

created 14 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

UCI biologists turn up the heat on bacteria, discover mutation pattern

UCI biologists who spent a year growing 115 populations into 2,000 generations of E. coli at high heat discovered that the bacteria quickly adapted at the genetic level in two markedly different ways. The findings appear ...

Biology / Evolution

created 15 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Roundworm research reviewed in Science publication

There are 16,000 types of parasitic roundworms causing illnesses in humans and animals. Controlling their effects on health becomes more difficult as the medicines used to treat them become less effective. A University of ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created 15 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

A novel hypothesis for beetle diversification -- Loss of flight promotes beetle diversification

Professor Teiji Sota, Department of Zoology at Kyoto University, and his group demonstrated that loss of flight has been the major driving force for beetle diversification. This finding has been published ...

Biology / Ecology

created 14 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Sex-specific behaviors traced to hormone-controlled genes in the brain

Hormones shape our bodies, make us fertile, excite our most basic urges, and as scientists have known for years, they govern the behaviors that separate men from women. But how?

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Feb 02, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

More News

Male spiders of one species lose their genitals after sex to increase sperm count in females

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have known for some time that the male sex organ, called a palp, in orb-web spiders is often broken off during copulation with females; what hasn’t been so clear is why. ...

A battle of the vampires, 20 million years ago?

(PhysOrg.com) -- They are tiny, ugly, disease-carrying little blood-suckers that most people have never seen or heard of, but a new discovery in a one-of-a-kind fossil shows that “bat flies” have ...

Castaway lizards provide insight into elusive evolutionary process

A University of Rhode Island biologist who released lizards on tiny uninhabited islands in the Bahamas has shed light on the interaction between evolutionary processes that are seldom observed.

Scientists coax shy microorganisms to stand out in a crowd

The communities of marine microorganisms that make up half the biomass in the oceans and are responsible for half the photosynthesis the world over, mostly remain enigmatic. A few abundant groups have had ...

Rearranging the cell's skeleton: Small molecules at the cell's membrane enable cell movement

Cell biologists at Johns Hopkins have identified key steps in how certain molecules alter a cell's skeletal shape and drive the cell's movement.

Other News

Scientists chart high-precision map of Milky Way's magnetic fields

Whole exome sequencing identifies cause of metabolic disease

Hearing metaphors activates brain regions involved in sensory experience

Renowned physicist invents microscope that can peer at living brain cells

New kind of high-temperature photonic crystal could someday power everything from smartphones to spacecraft

Hackers intercept FBI, Scotland Yard call (Update)

Photovoltaic panels made from plant material could become a cheap alternative to traditional solar cells

Searching for a solid that flows like a liquid

Researchers weigh methods to more accurately measure genome sequencing

Coral growth in Western Australia found to be thriving in warmer water

New procedure repairs severed nerves in minutes, restoring limb use in days or weeks

Why two new studies represent important breakthrough in Alzheimer's disease research

Japanese entrepreneurs aim for Silicon Valley

Surface of Mars an unlikely place for life after 600 million year drought, say scientists

A 'natural' solution for transportation



Using plants to silence insect genes in a high-throughput manner

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Germany, are now using a procedure which brings forward ecological research on insects: They study gene functions in moth larvae by manipulating ...

Predicting system crashes in nature and society

The world can deliver sudden and nasty shocks. Economies can crash, fisheries can collapse, and climates can pass tipping points. Providing early warning of such changes currently requires the collection of enormous and often ...

Compromises between quantity and quality common in animals: do the same holds for plants, flowers?

Most creatures face compromises when they reproduce — the more energy they devote to having lots of babies, the less they can invest in each one. But do the same tradeoffs hold true for plants? Biologists ...

Treasure trove of wildlife found in Peru park

The Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Peru program announced today the discovery of 365 species previously undocumented in Bahuaja Sonene National Park (BSNP) in southeastern Peru.

Understanding how bacteria come back from the dead

Salmonella remains a serious cause of food poisoning in the UK and throughout the EU, in part due to its ability to thrive and quickly adapt to the different environments in which it can grow. New research involving a team ...


Scientists chart high-precision map of Milky Way's magnetic fields

Whole exome sequencing identifies cause of metabolic disease

Hearing metaphors activates brain regions involved in sensory experience

Renowned physicist invents microscope that can peer at living brain cells

New kind of high-temperature photonic crystal could someday power everything from smartphones to spacecraft

Hackers intercept FBI, Scotland Yard call (Update)

Photovoltaic panels made from plant material could become a cheap alternative to traditional solar cells

Searching for a solid that flows like a liquid

Researchers weigh methods to more accurately measure genome sequencing

Coral growth in Western Australia found to be thriving in warmer water

New procedure repairs severed nerves in minutes, restoring limb use in days or weeks

Why two new studies represent important breakthrough in Alzheimer's disease research

Japanese entrepreneurs aim for Silicon Valley

Surface of Mars an unlikely place for life after 600 million year drought, say scientists

A 'natural' solution for transportation

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