Wiggling and waggling: Study sheds light on amazing bee brain

Wiggling and waggling: Study sheds light on amazing bee brain

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (9) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Their brains are tiny - about the size of sesame seeds - and yet the behaviour of the humble honey bee is so advanced it has scientists scratching their heads in disbelief.


Soap opera in the marsh: Coots foil nest invaders, reject impostors

Soap opera in the marsh: Coots foil nest invaders, reject impostors

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 16, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The American coot is a drab, seemingly unremarkable marsh bird common throughout North America. But its reproductive life is full of deception and violence.


Seeing how evolutionary mechanisms yield biological diversity

Biology / Evolution

created 5 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

An international team of scientists has discovered how changes in both gene expression and gene sequence led to the diversity of visual systems in African cichlid fish.


Sniffing out clues to dogs' compulsive behavior

Sniffing out clues to dogs' compulsive behavior

Biology / Biotechnology

created 6 hours ago | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- At first glance, a dog chasing its tail seems a harmless, if fruitless, pursuit. But for many dogs and their owners, the habit has a dark side, one that means endless hours and energy spent ...


Study sheds light on microscopic flower petal ridges

Study sheds light on microscopic flower petal ridges

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 7 hours ago | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Microscopic ridges contouring the surface of flower petals might play a role in flashing that come-hither look pollinating insects can't resist. Michigan State University scientists and colleagues ...


Mystery solved: Scientists now know how smallpox kills

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created 9 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0

A team of researchers working in a high containment laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA, have solved a fundamental mystery about smallpox that has puzzled scientists long after the ...


Fungal footage fosters foresight into plant, animal disease

Meddling in mosquitoes' sex lives could help stop the spread of malaria, says study

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 17 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Stopping male mosquitoes from sealing their sperm inside females with a 'mating plug' could prevent mosquitoes from reproducing, and offer a potential new way to combat malaria, say scientists ...


Fungal footage fosters foresight into plant, animal disease (w/ Video)

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 18 hours ago | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Mold and mildew may be doomed. Researchers are closer to understanding how these and other fungi grow. "Fungi have a big impact on our dinner plate," said Dr. Brian Shaw, Texas AgriLife Research plant pathologist. "We tend ...


The past matters to plants

The past matters to plants

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- It's commonly known that plants interact with each other on an everyday basis: they shade each other out or take up nutrients from the soil before neighboring plants can get them. Now, researchers ...


Scientists take a step towards uncovering the histone code

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 20, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 1

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have determined the structures of two enzymes that customize histones, the spool-like proteins around which DNA coils inside the cell.


How the daisy got its spots… and why

How the daisy got its spots... and why

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 18, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Dark spots on flower petals are common across many angiosperm plant families and occur on flowers such as some lilies, orchids, and daisies. Much research has been done on the physiological and behavioral ...


Taming the flu: Researchers create map of interactions between flu virus and its human host

Taming the flu: Researchers create map of interactions between flu virus and its human host

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 18, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- There is no lack of worry this season over the flu, both the seasonal and H1N1 varieties, but there is a critical lack of understanding of the viruses that cause these illnesses. For years, ...


Scientists get to the root of ancient case of sour grapes

Scientists get to the root of ancient case of sour grapes

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 18, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists in Cambridge have discovered that a lowly grape variety grown by peasants - but despised by noblemen - during the Middle Ages was the mother of many of today’s greatest grape varieties, ...


fruit fly

The how and why of freezing the common fruit fly

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 18, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Using a microscope the size of a football field, researchers from The University of Western Ontario are studying why some insects can survive freezing, while others cannot.


New research explains orchids' sexual trickery

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

A new study reveals the reason why orchids use sexual trickery to lure insect pollinators. The study, published in the January issue of The American Naturalist, finds that sexual deception in orchids leads to a more effici ...