News tagged with biology
First-ever blueprint of a minimal cell is more complex than expected
Nov 26, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (20) |
4
What are the bare essentials of life, the indispensable ingredients required to produce a cell that can survive on its own? Can we describe the molecular anatomy of a cell, and understand how an entire organism ...
Bigger not necessarily better, when it comes to brains
Nov 17, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (19) |
12
(PhysOrg.com) -- Tiny insects could be as intelligent as much bigger animals, despite only having a brain the size of a pinhead, say scientists at Queen Mary, University of London.
One word: bioplastics
Nov 17, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (14) |
4
(PhysOrg.com) -- Every year, more than 250 billion pounds of plastic are produced worldwide. Much of it ends up in the world's oceans, a fact that troubles MIT biology professor Anthony Sinskey.
Wide heads give hammerheads exceptional stereo view
Nov 27, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (10) |
4
Hammerhead sharks are some of the Ocean's most distinctive residents. 'Everyone wants to understand why they have this strange head shape,' says Michelle McComb from Florida Atlantic University. One possible ...
Dopamine enhances expectation of pleasure in humans
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 12, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (10) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Enhancing the effects of the brain chemical dopamine influences how people make life choices by affecting expectations of pleasure, according to new research from the UCL Institute of Neurology.
Beyond genomics, biologists and engineers decode the next frontier
Nov 18, 2009 |
5 / 5 (7) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Princeton biologists and engineers has dramatically improved the speed and accuracy of measuring an enigmatic set of proteins that influences almost every aspect of how cells and ...
Greenhouse gas carbon dioxide ramps up aspen growth
Dec 04, 2009 |
3.5 / 5 (8) |
6
The rising level of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be fueling more than climate change. It could also be making some trees grow like crazy.
By feeding the birds, you could change their evolutionary fate
Dec 03, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (6) |
5
Feeding birds in winter is a most innocent human activity, but it can nonetheless have profound effects on the evolutionary future of a species, and those changes can be seen in the very near term. That's ...
'Shoot-'em-up' video game increases teenagers' science knowledge
Dec 08, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (6) |
2
While navigating the microscopic world of immune system proteins and cells to save a patient suffering from a raging bacterial infection, young teenage players of the "Immune Attack" video game measurably improved their understanding ...
Tough yet stiff deer antler is materials scientist's dream
Nov 27, 2009 |
3.4 / 5 (7) |
2
Prized for their impressive antlers, red deer have been caught in the hunters' sights for generations. But a deer's antlers are much more than decorative. They are lethal weapons that stags crash together when duelling. John ...
Poisonous Poisson
Dec 04, 2009 |
4 / 5 (6) |
0
In contrast to the exhaustive research into venom produced by snakes and spiders, venomous fish have been neglected and remain something of a mystery. Now, a study of 158 catfish species, published in the ...
Research spawns new discoveries showing how crops survive drought
Nov 18, 2009 |
5 / 5 (4) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Breakthrough research done earlier this year by a plant cell biologist at the University of California, Riverside has greatly accelerated scientists' knowledge on how plants and crops can ...
Scientists show that female fruit flies can be 'too attractive' to males
Dec 08, 2009 |
4 / 5 (5) |
0
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 ...
Researchers discover biological basis of 'bacterial immune system'
Nov 30, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (4) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- Bacteria don’t have easy lives. In addition to mammalian immune systems that besiege the bugs, they have natural enemies called bacteriophages, viruses that kill half the bacteria on Earth every two days.
Study reveals why certain drug combinations backfire
Nov 13, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (4) |
0
Combination drug therapy has become a staple for treating many infections. For instance, doctors treat extensively drug resistant forms of tuberculosis with one drug that breaks down the pathogen's protective barriers and ...
