Why does puberty trigger us to stop growing?

All animals start out as a single-celled organism and then start growing. At some point, of course, they need to stop getting bigger, but the process by which this happens is poorly understood.

Team succeeds in culturing the pygmy zebra octopus

For generations, scientists have relied on a handful of organisms to study the fundamentals of biology. The usual suspects—fruit flies, zebrafish, and mice, among others—all have short lifespans, small body size, can ...

Fruit flies learn their body size once for an entire lifetime

In order to orient themselves and survive in their environment, animals must develop a concept of their own body size. Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have shown that the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster ...

'Bickering' flies make evolutionary point

When a male fruit fly gets aggressive, he rears up on his back four legs and batters his foe with his front pair. Neither fly seems particularly damaged by the encounter, but their subsequent actions are telling about the ...

Preserving the best qualities of 'Honeycrisp' apples

'Honeycrisp' apples are among the most popular varieties in today's fresh fruit market. The apple's explosive crispness, juiciness, and flavor have made them a new favorite among consumers. However, the apples' distinctive ...

Fire-wise Hakea's invest in larger, fewer seeds

Some of the south-west's iconic Hakea plants that are able to survive bushfires are more likely to have bigger, fewer seeds than those killed by flames, researchers have discovered.

Body size requires hormones under control

The proper regulation of body size is of fundamental importance, but the mechanisms that stop growth are still unclear. In a study now published in the scientific journal eLife, a research group from Instituto Gulbenkian ...

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