http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A new University of Colorado at Boulder study shows the strongest evidence yet that noise pollution negatively influences bird populations, findings with implications for the fate of ecological communities situated amid growing urban clamor. http://www.physorg.com/news167571326.html Biology Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:35:51 EST news167571326 (PhysOrg.com) -- There she is again: the cute girl at the mall. Big eyes. Long legs. She smiles at you. You're about to make your move… but wait! What's she wearing? It's a letterman jacket, one clearly belonging to a hulking football player named "Steve." This girl is taken. Wisely, you move on. http://www.physorg.com/news166969409.html Biology Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:23:51 EST news166969409 (PhysOrg.com) -- Damaged nerve cells in a finger will regrow, but those in the spinal cord do not. Why the difference? Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology working with an international team of researchers can now explain two important details. Nerve cells in the spinal cord still have the ability to grow even many weeks after an injury. However, the regeneration is prevented by scar tissue created after the injury occurs. Now that they have this knowledge, scientists can search for ways to reduce the scar tissue and activate the relevant growth mechanisms. (Current Biology, June 2009) http://www.physorg.com/news166719838.html Medicine & Health Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:04:34 EST news166719838 Anyone who has ever had cats knows how difficult it can be to get them to do anything they don't already want to do. But it seems that the house cats themselves have had distinctly less trouble getting humans to do their bidding, according to a report published in the July 14th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. http://www.physorg.com/news166708958.html Biology Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:03:04 EST news166708958 (PhysOrg.com) -- Even parasite-eating fish recognise the benefits of good advertising, UQ research has found. http://www.physorg.com/news166346318.html Biology Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:20:00 EST news166346318 (PhysOrg.com) -- Plant roots provide the crops we eat with water, nutrients and anchorage. Understanding how roots grow and how hormones control that growth is crucial to improving crop yields, which will be necessary to address food security and produce better biofuels. http://www.physorg.com/news166107244.html Biology Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:10:01 EST news166107244 In primates including ourselves, the ability to register where others are looking is key in social circles. And, according to a new report published online on June 25th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, the way our brains process gaze-direction is much more sophisticated than a simple eyes-right versus eyes-left. http://www.physorg.com/news165152466.html Medicine & Health Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:20:04 EST news165152466 Using a "neurologger" specially designed to record the brain activity of pigeons in flight, researchers reporting online on June 25th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have gained new insight into what goes through the birds' minds as they fly over familiar terrain. The study is the first to simultaneously record electrical brain activity integrated with large-scale navigational movements of free-flying birds, according to the researchers. http://www.physorg.com/news165152728.html Biology Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:46:07 EST news165152728 Researchers have what they say is the first direct proof of a very old idea: that when we use a tool -even for just a few minutes -it changes the way our brain represents the size of our body. In other words, the tool becomes a part of what is known in psychology as our body schema, according to a report published in the June 23rd issue of Current Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news164892284.html Medicine & Health Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:25:00 EST news164892284 Like human infants, young apes are known to hoot and holler when you tickle them. But is it fair to say that those playful calls are really laughter? The answer to that question is yes, say researchers reporting online on June 4th in Current Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news163343088.html Biology Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:05:20 EST news163343088 (PhysOrg.com) -- New research shows that when two species of stickleback fish evolved and lost their pelvises and body armor, the changes were caused by different genes in each species. That surprised researchers, who expected the same genes would control the same changes in both related fish. http://www.physorg.com/news163342887.html Biology Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:01:59 EST news163342887 Whether baby lizards will turn out to be male or female is a more complicated question than scientists would have ever guessed, according to a new report published online on June 4th in Current Biology. The study shows that for at least one lizard species, egg size matters. http://www.physorg.com/news163342512.html Biology Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:56:04 EST news163342512 Researchers at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience (CMBN) at Rutgers University in Newark have identified the need to develop a new framework for understanding "perceptual stability" and how we see the world with their discovery that visual input obtained during eye movements is being processed by the brain but blocked from awareness. http://www.physorg.com/news163177022.html Medicine & Health Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:57:24 EST news163177022 (PhysOrg.com) -- By using ultrafast laser pulses to slice off pieces of chromosomes and observe how the chromosomes behave, biomedical engineers at the University of Michigan have gained pivotal insights into mitosis, the process of cell division. http://www.physorg.com/news162823156.html Biology Fri, 29 May 2009 13:39:58 EST news162823156 Portions of the brain that activate when people view pictures of objects compared to scrambled images can also be activated by touch alone, confirms a new report published online on May 28th in Current Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news162744208.html Medicine & Health Thu, 28 May 2009 15:44:06 EST news162744208 It is the concentration of a few signaling molecules that determines the fate of individual cells during the early development of organisms. In the renowned journal Current Biology, a team of molecular biologists led by Pia Aanstad of the University of Innsbruck reports that a variety of molecular mechanisms accounts for the interpretation of the concentration of the signaling molecule Hedgehog. http://www.physorg.com/news162215335.html Biology Fri, 22 May 2009 12:49:30 EST news162215335 Why is it that some birds sing such elaborate songs and others not so much? A new study published online on May 21st in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, says that climate patterns might be part of the answer. http://www.physorg.com/news162129618.html Biology Thu, 21 May 2009 13:00:51 EST news162129618 When bees collect nectar, how do they hold onto the flower? Cambridge University scientists have shown that it is down to small cone-shaped cells on the petals that act like 'velcro' on the bees' feet. http://www.physorg.com/news161527337.html Biology Thu, 14 May 2009 13:43:08 EST news161527337 Driving Miranda, a protein in fruit flies crucial to switch a stem cell's fate, is not as complex as biologists thought, according to University of Oregon biochemists. They've found that one enzyme (aPKC) stands alone and acts as a traffic cop that directs which roads daughter cells will take. http://www.physorg.com/news161519009.html Biology Thu, 14 May 2009 11:24:08 EST news161519009 A new study has revealed that mother birds can provide an early advantage to the chicks that they have sired with their non-social partner (known as extra-pair offspring). http://www.physorg.com/news161518898.html Biology Thu, 14 May 2009 11:22:19 EST news161518898 Researchers have discovered where basking sharks - the world's second largest fish - hide out for half of every year, according to a report published today in Current Biology. The discovery revises scientists' understanding of the iconic species and highlights just how little we still know about even the largest of marine animals, the researchers said. http://www.physorg.com/news160921814.html Biology Thu, 07 May 2009 13:30:52 EST news160921814 The notion that a decline in pollinators may threaten the human food supply - producing a situation that has been referred to as a "pollination crisis" - can be considered a myth, at least where honey bees are concerned, say researchers reporting online on May 7th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. First of all, most agricultural crop production does not depend on pollinators. On top of that, while honey bees may be dwindling in some parts of the world, the number of domesticated bees world-wide is actually on the rise, their new report shows. http://www.physorg.com/news160921641.html Biology Thu, 07 May 2009 13:27:55 EST news160921641 A new study published online on May 7th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, has found the source of silkworms' attraction to mulberry leaves, their primary food source. A jasmine-scented chemical emitted in small quantities by the leaves triggers a single, highly tuned olfactory receptor in the silkworms' antennae, they show. http://www.physorg.com/news160921154.html Biology Thu, 07 May 2009 13:20:44 EST news160921154 When female birds mate with males other than their social partners and have broods of mixed paternity, the offspring sired by these "extra-pair" fathers may often get a head start in life, according to a new report published online on April 30th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. The discovery adds fuel to the debate about why some female birds seek those extra mates in the first place. http://www.physorg.com/news160323379.html Biology Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:16:52 EST news160323379 The common research worm, C. elegans, is able to use heat-sensing nerve cells to not only regulate its response to hotter environments, but also to control the pace of its aging as a result of that heat, according to new research at the University of California, San Francisco. http://www.physorg.com/news159109624.html Biology Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:07:44 EST news159109624 (PhysOrg.com) -- When it comes to wooing females, males of all species -- even fruit flies -- try to gain a competitive edge. http://www.physorg.com/news158947334.html Biology Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:02:49 EST news158947334 Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have designed tiny RNA molecules that shut off the gene that causes Huntington's disease without damaging that gene's healthy counterpart, which maintains the health and vitality of neurons. Laboratory studies suggest that a single small interfering RNA could reduce production of the damaging Huntingtin protein in nearly half of people with the disease. Another 25 percent of patients might benefit from one of a set of four additional small interfering RNAs. http://www.physorg.com/news158503609.html Medicine & Health Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:47:30 EST news158503609 In the classic waterfall illusion, if you stare at the downward motion of a waterfall for some period of time, stationary objects -- like rocks -- appear to drift upward. MIT neuroscientists have found that this phenomenon, called motion aftereffect, occurs not only in our visual perception but also in our tactile perception, and that these senses actually influence one another. Put another way, how you feel the world can actually change how you see it -- and vice versa. http://www.physorg.com/news157979723.html Medicine & Health Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:17:57 EST news157979723 We all know that people sometimes change their behavior when someone is looking their way. Now, a new study reported online on April 2nd in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, shows that jackdaws -birds related to crows and ravens with eyes that appear similar to human eyes -can do the same. http://www.physorg.com/news157897513.html Biology Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:25:38 EST news157897513 Researchers at the universities of Leicester and Oxford have made a discovery about plant growth which could potentially have an enormous impact on crop production as global warming increases. http://www.physorg.com/news157619072.html Biology Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:05:16 EST news157619072