News tagged with experimental biology
Why Winning Athletes Are Getting Bigger
Jul 17, 2009 |
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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 ...
Wide heads give hammerheads exceptional stereo view
Nov 27, 2009 |
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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 ...
Get a grip! Blistering new evidence on why we have fingerprints
May 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Fingerprints do not help primates grip, as previously thought, scientists have discovered. They actually reduce the friction needed to hold onto flat surfaces. Now Dr Roland Ennos and his ...
Super sticky barnacle glue cures like blood clots
Oct 16, 2009 |
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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 ...
Dolphins maintain round-the-clock visual vigilance
May 01, 2009 |
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Dolphins have a clever trick for overcoming sleep deprivation. Sam Ridgway from the US Navy Marine Mammal Program explains that they are able to send half of their brains to sleep while the other half remains ...
Alligators hint at what life may have been like for dinosaurs
Apr 17, 2009 |
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During the last 540 million years, the earth's oxygen levels have fluctuated wildly. Knowing that the dinosaurs appeared around the time when oxygen levels were at their lowest at 12%, Tomasz Owerkowicz, Ruth ...
Tough yet stiff deer antler is materials scientist's dream
Nov 27, 2009 |
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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 ...
Triangles Go Underwater and Supersonic
Jun 30, 2009 |
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(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.
Short heels make elite sprinters super speedy
Oct 30, 2009 |
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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 ...
Team offers first look at how bats land (w/Video)
Mar 20, 2009 |
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People have always been fascinated by bats, but the scope of that interest generally is limited to how bats fly and their bizarre habit of sleeping upside down. Until now, no one had studied how bats arrive ...
Crafty Australian crayfish cheat
Feb 27, 2009 |
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Nestled just off the east coast of Australia, picturesque North Stradbroke Island is a haven for local wildlife. Yet some of the inhabitants of the island's creeks and swamps are far from peaceful. Slender crayfish are aggressive ...
Quails get super fit by simply eating omega-3 diet
Mar 27, 2009 |
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When tiny semipalmated sandpipers embark on their annual odyssey from the Canadian Arctic to their winter residences in South America, they set out on one of the world's longest migrations. On the way, the tiny birds stop ...
Sponges recycle carbon to give life to coral reefs
Nov 13, 2009 |
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Coral reefs support some of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, yet they thrive in a marine desert. So how do reefs sustain their thriving populations?
Benefit of grapes may be more than skin deep
Apr 22, 2009 |
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Can a grape-enriched diet prevent the downhill sequence of heart failure after years of high blood pressure?
Imiquimod, an immune response modifier, is dependent on the OGF-OGFr signaling pathway
Jul 24, 2008 |
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Researchers at The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania have discovered that the efficacy of imiquimod, a clinically important immune response modifier with potent antiviral and antitumor ...
