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. The link between obesity and cardiovascular mortality may be substantially underestimated, while some of the adverse consequences of being underweight may be overstated, concludes a study published in the British Medical Journal today. http://www.physorg.com/news180767351.html Medicine & Health Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:10:08 EST news180767351 Females can be too attractive to the opposite sex -- too attractive for their own good -- say biologists at UC Santa Barbara. They found that, among fruit flies, too much male attention directed toward attractive females leads to smaller families and, ultimately, to a reduced rate of population-wide adaptive evolution. http://www.physorg.com/news179502397.html Biology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:20:01 EST news179502397 We don't always turn out like our parents. Sometimes we become even better. How this happens is the subject of a new research project at the University of Gothenburg. http://www.physorg.com/news179498500.html Biology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:00:01 EST news179498500 (PhysOrg.com) -- When spider mites attack a bean plant, the plant responds by producing odours which attract predatory mites. These predatory mites then exterminate the spider mite population, thus acting as a type of 'bodyguard' for the plant. However, if the plant is simultaneously attacked by whiteflies, insects that are related to aphids, the plant becomes less attractive to the predatory mites and therefore more vulnerable to spider mites. http://www.physorg.com/news178451189.html Biology Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:47:54 EST news178451189 (PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, scientists at The University of Western Ontario have shown that insects exposed to repeated periods of cold will trade reproduction for immediate survival. http://www.physorg.com/news178391046.html Biology Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:05:32 EST news178391046 The world's largest species of monkey 'chooses' mates with genes that are different from their own to guarantee healthy and strong offspring, according to a new research study. http://www.physorg.com/news178315092.html Biology Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:59:12 EST news178315092 'Prevention is the best cure' is a common expression, but what happens if preventative measures are not used? A large proportion of pregnant Ugandan women are going out of their way not to be HIV tested, increasing the risk of mother-to-child transmission. http://www.physorg.com/news177851040.html Medicine & Health Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:30:01 EST news177851040 Mountain goats are no exception to the general rule among mammals that larger males sire more and healthier offspring. But University of Alberta researcher David Coltman has found a genetic quirk that might make female mountain goats think twice about their romantic partners. http://www.physorg.com/news177692981.html Biology Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:20:02 EST news177692981 Organisms ensure the survival of their species by genetically adapting to the environment. If environmental conditions change too rapidly, the extinction of a species may be the consequence. A strategy to successfully cope with such a challenge is the generation of variable offspring that can survive in different environments. Even though a portion of the offspring may have a decreased chance to survive, the survival of the species as a whole is guaranteed. http://www.physorg.com/news176567521.html Biology Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:32:55 EST news176567521 The great diversity of male sexual traits, ranging from peacock's elaborate train to formidable genitalia of male seed beetles, is the result of female choice. But why do females choose among males? In a new study published today in Current Biology, researchers from Uppsala University found no support for the theory that the female choice is connected to "good genes". http://www.physorg.com/news175439685.html Biology Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:30:02 EST news175439685 The evolution of altruism has long puzzled researchers and has mainly been explained previously from ultimate perspectives -I will help you now because I expect there to be some long-term benefit to me. However, a new study by researchers at the Primate Research Institute (PRI) and the Wildlife Research Center (WRC) of Kyoto University shows that chimpanzees altruistically help conspecifics, even in the absence of direct personal gain or immediate reciprocation, although the chimpanzees were much more likely to help each other upon request than voluntarily. The findings are published October 14 in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE. http://www.physorg.com/news174735140.html Biology Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:32:43 EST news174735140 Expectant mothers who eschew asthma treatment during pregnancy heighten the risk transmitting the condition to their offspring, according to one of the largest studies of its kind published in the European Respiratory Journal. A research team from the Université de Montréal, the Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal and Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center found that 32.6 percent of children born to mothers who neglected to treat their asthma during pregnancy developed the respiratory illness themselves. http://www.physorg.com/news173964887.html Medicine & Health Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:35:14 EST news173964887 Bee colonies are well known for high levels of cooperation, but new research published in Molecular Ecology demonstrates a conflict for reproduction between worker bees and their Queens, leading some workers to selfishly exploit the colony for their own needs. http://www.physorg.com/news171746038.html Biology Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:20:01 EST news171746038 Puppies born from the world's first cloned dog will be offered to good homes later this year, South Korean researchers said on Thursday. http://www.physorg.com/news171178519.html Biology Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:10:04 EST news171178519 (PhysOrg.com) -- If your mother smoked during her pregnancy, you are more likely to be addicted to nicotine as a young adult. http://www.physorg.com/news168703041.html Medicine & Health Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:30:03 EST news168703041 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at North Carolina State University have found that intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), which results in low birth weight and long-term deleterious health effects in cloned swine, is linked to a type of gene - known as an imprinted gene - found only in placental mammals. Imprinted genes play an important role in the normal fetal development of all mammals, and this study could have future implications for the study of IUGR in humans. http://www.physorg.com/news167320132.html Biology Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:00:06 EST news167320132 Research led by scientists at Iowa State University's Plant Sciences Institute has resulted in a process that will make genetic changes in plant genes much more efficient, practical and safe. http://www.physorg.com/news167310456.html Biology Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:08:09 EST news167310456 Parents compensate for a lazy partner by working harder to bring up their offspring, but not enough to completely make up for the lack of parenting, says research by bird biologists at the University of Bath. http://www.physorg.com/news166093927.html Biology Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:12:30 EST news166093927 (PhysOrg.com) -- Milder winters are causing Scotland's wild breed of Soay sheep to get smaller, despite the evolutionary benefits of possessing a large body, according to new research due to be published in this week's Science Express (2 July). http://www.physorg.com/news165762932.html Biology Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:15:56 EST news165762932 A lack of serotonin, commonly known as the "happiness hormone", in the brain slows the growth of mice after birth and is responsible for impaired maternal behavior later in life. This was the result of research conducted by Dr. Natalia Alenina, Dana Kikic, and Professor Michael Bader of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany. http://www.physorg.com/news164974389.html Medicine & Health Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:13:33 EST news164974389 (PhysOrg.com) -- The learning of birdsong resembles the learning of speech in humans. Crucial for the process are acoustic perception and the ability to produce sound. Social isolation leads to a disturbed vocal development both in humans and in birds. When children grow up without contact to other humans they either develop no or a rudimentary form of human language. http://www.physorg.com/news162652235.html Biology Wed, 27 May 2009 14:11:13 EST news162652235 Children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy and their early childhood years may be predisposed to take up smoking as teens and young adults, compounding the physical damage they sustained from the smoke exposure. http://www.physorg.com/news161954304.html Medicine & Health Tue, 19 May 2009 12:19:10 EST news161954304 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 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 In an experiment spanning over 20 years, researchers at the University of Illinois have found that vulnerability to being caught by anglers is a heritable trait in largemouth bass. http://www.physorg.com/news158943417.html Biology Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:57:20 EST news158943417 Nearly 90 percent of koalas in Japanese zoos are infected with a virus believed to cause leukemia in the marsupials, a report said. http://www.physorg.com/news158723171.html Biology Sun, 12 Apr 2009 02:46:46 EST news158723171 Wild female chimpanzees copulate more frequently with males who share meat with them over long periods of time, according to a study led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE April 8. http://www.physorg.com/news158392010.html Biology Wed, 08 Apr 2009 06:51:27 EST news158392010 Leave it to geneticists to answer a question that has perplexed humanity since the dawn of time: does love at first sight truly exist? According to a study published in the April 2009 issue of the journal Genetics, a team of scientists from the United States and Australia discovered that at the genetic level, some males and females are more compatible than others, and that this compatibility plays an important role in mate selection, mating outcomes, and future reproductive behaviors. In experiments involving fruit flies, the researchers found that before mating, females experience what amounts to "genetic priming," making them more likely to mate with certain males over others. http://www.physorg.com/news158331876.html Biology Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:04:59 EST news158331876 Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine's (BUSM) New England Centenarian Study have noted specific personality traits associated with healthy aging and longevity amongst the children of centenarians. The work was conducted in collaboration with scientists from the National Institute on Aging. These findings currently appear on-line in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. http://www.physorg.com/news157975273.html Medicine & Health Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:02:09 EST news157975273 Thai monkeys have been observed showing their young how to floss -- proof primates teach offspring to use tools, a Japanese researcher said Wednesday. http://www.physorg.com/news155993011.html Biology Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:24:06 EST news155993011