News tagged with experimental biology
Short heels make elite sprinters super speedy
Oct 30, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (5) |
0
What is it about elite sprinters that gives them the edge over non-sprinters in the 100m dash? Stephen Piazza from the Pennsylvania State University publishes his discovery, in The Journal of Experimental Bi ...
Super sticky barnacle glue cures like blood clots
Oct 16, 2009 |
5 / 5 (8) |
0
Barnacles are a big problem for boats. Adhering to the undersides of vessels, carpets of the crustaceans can increase fuel consumption by as much as 25%. Ship owners would love to know how to stop these hitchhikers gluing ...
Cockroaches Control Their Breathing to Save Water
Sep 24, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Many insects have been known for decades to hold their breath when resting, but the reasons have not been well understood. A new study on cockroaches suggests the insects reduce their breathing ...
Improvement of liver stem cell engraftment by protein delivery
Aug 24, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
Researchers at INSERM (France) have engineered a chimeric protein that increases cell survival, migration and proliferation to improve stem cell engraftment. The results, which appear in the September 2009 issue of Experimental Bi ...
Neon blue-tailed tree lizard glides like a feather
Jul 17, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
Most lacertid lizards are content scurrying in and out of nooks and crannies in walls and between rocks. However, some have opted for an arboreal life style. Neon blue tailed tree lizards (Holaspis guentheri) leap from b ...
Why Winning Athletes Are Getting Bigger
Jul 17, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (10) |
7
While watching swimmers line up during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, former Olympic swimmer and NBC Sports commentator Rowdy Gaines quipped that swimmers keep getting bigger, with the shortest one in ...
Spread your sperm the smart way
Jul 09, 2009 |
2.8 / 5 (4) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Attractive males release fewer sperm per mating to maximise their chances of producing offspring across a range of females, according to a new paper on the evolution of ejaculation strategies. The findings ...
Key to evolutionary fitness: Cut the calories
Jul 01, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
Charles Darwin and his contemporaries postulated that food consumption in birds and mammals was limited by resource levels, that is, animals would eat as much as they could while food was plentiful and produce as many offspring ...
Triangles Go Underwater and Supersonic
Jun 30, 2009 |
3.3 / 5 (7) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- The seemingly effortless way dolphins and porpoises slice through the water and the unique capabilities of the supersonic Concorde airplane have more in common than one might think.
New crops needed for new climate
Jun 29, 2009 |
1 / 5 (1) |
0
Plants grown under high CO2 and drought conditions show an increase in toxic compounds, a decrease in protein content and a decrease in yield. Dr. Ros Gleadow will present her findings at the Society for Experimental Biology ...
Two is not company -- as far as fish are concerned
Jun 29, 2009 |
4 / 5 (1) |
0
Research at the Universities of Plymouth and Exeter has shown that fish kept alone or in small groups are more aggressive and exhibit fewer natural behaviors such as shoaling. Dr Katherine Sloman will discuss the findings ...
Super-sleepers could help super-sizers!
Jun 29, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
4
Burrowing frogs can survive buried for several years without food or water. Scientists have discovered that the metabolism of their cells changes radically during the dormancy period allowing the frogs to ...
Ozone depletes oil seed rape productivity
Jun 29, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
With rising ozone levels scientists have found that high ozone conditions cause a 30 percent decrease in yield and an increase in the concentration of a group of compounds with toxic effects to livestock, but anticarcinogenic ...
Mice run faster on high-grade oil
Jun 29, 2009 |
2.3 / 5 (3) |
2
Between the 1932 and 2008 Olympic Games, world record times of the men's 100m sprint improved by 0.6 seconds. Scientists at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology in Austria have shown that an equivalent improvement can ...
Dolphins get a lift from delta wing technology
Jun 26, 2009 |
3.8 / 5 (4) |
0
We can only marvel at the way that dolphins, whales and porpoises scythe through water. Their finlike flippers seem perfectly adapted for maximum aquatic agility. However, no one had ever analysed how the animals' ...
