Biology News

September 9, 2016

The Adorable Thing Bats Do to Catch Prey

Not One, but Four Giraffe Species

New Reptile Species from 212 Million Years Ago

Largest Reforestation Program: Harm Wildlife?

Latest Headlines

updated 12:54am EDT

Ginger, Chili Peppers Could Work Together to Lower Cancer Risk

Sep. 7, 2016 — For many people, there's nothing more satisfying than a hot, spicy meal. But some research has suggested that capsaicin, the compound that gives chili peppers their kick, might cause cancer. Now ... read more

Bacteria Supply Their Allies With Munitions

Sep. 8, 2016 — Bacteria fight their competitors with molecular spear guns, the so-called Type VI secretion system. When firing this weapon they also unintentionally hit their own kind. ... read more

The History of Beer Yeast

Sep. 8, 2016 — Today's industrial yeast strains are used to make beer, wine, bread, biofuels, and more, but their evolutionary history is not well studied. Researchers have now described a ... read more

Cover Crop Mixtures Increase Agroecosystem Services, First-of-Kind Study Suggests

Sep. 8, 2016 — Planting a multi-species mixture of cover crops -- rather than a cover crop monoculture -- between cash crops, provides ... read more

Yellow or Black, Large or Small? Ant Color and Body Size Respond Strongly to Environment

Sep. 8, 2016 — A study of ants across three continents has revealed that their color and size is strongly influenced by their environment, ... read more

Newly Described Amphipod Species Already Under Threat

Sep. 8, 2016 — Biologists have described a new amphipod species which is endemic to the Alps. While alpine lakes provide relatively undisturbed habitats for Gammarus alpinus, this species ... read more

How Chinese Medicine Kills Cancer Cells

Sep. 8, 2016 — Researchers have shown how a complex mix of plant compounds derived from ancient clinical practice in China -- a Traditional Chinese Medicine -- works to kill cancer ... read more

Why Moths Are Attracted to Light

Sep. 8, 2016 — Light at night changes animals’ behavior. A new study shows that moths are attracted to street lamps within a radius of approximately 23 meters. The number of specimens ... read more

Picky Ants Maintain Color Polymorphism of Bugs They Work With

Sep. 7, 2016 — Researchers have found that ants have a particular preference for aphid colonies with certain colors, which could be why these bugs are able to keep their colors ... read more

Other Layers of Immunity in TB/HIV Co-Infections Discovered

Sep. 6, 2016 — Researchers found some monkeys whose immune systems are depleted by the simian strain of HIV have a second line of defense against tuberculosis. The discovery could have ... read more

Expert: S. African Great White Sharks Threatened

Vienna Zoo Hails Rare Birth of Tiny Giant Panda Twins

GPS Collars Protect Kenya's Lions

Greenland Shark: Long in the Tooth

Linking RNA Structure and Function

Sep. 8, 2016 — Several years ago, biologists discovered a new type of genetic material known as long noncoding RNA. This RNA does not code for proteins and is copied from sections of the genome once believed to be ... read more

Measuring Forces in the DNA Molecule

Sep. 8, 2016 — DNA, our genetic material, normally has the structure of a twisted rope ladder. Experts call this structure a double helix. Among other things, it is stabilized by stacking forces between base pairs. ... read more

Stealth Pig Cells May Hold the Key to Treating Diabetes in Humans

Sep. 8, 2016 — In preclinical work begun this year, stealth insulin-producers — pancreatic islets from pigs or mice coated with thin bilayers of biomimetic material — are being tested in vivo in a mouse model ... read more

Antimicrobial Chemicals Found With Antibiotic-Resistance Genes in Indoor Dust

Sep. 7, 2016 — University of Oregon researchers have found links between the levels of antimicrobial chemicals and antibiotic-resistance genes in the dust of an aging building used for athletics and academics. One ... read more

Fruit Flies Yield Clues on Cancerous Tumor Hotspots

Sep. 7, 2016 — Scientists have found that the epithelial tissues that line the surfaces of organs throughout the body intrinsically have hot spots for cancerous tumors.They discovered this by examining a common ... read more

Crab from the Chinese Pet Market Turns out to Be a New Species of a New Genus

Sep. 7, 2016 — Shimmering carapaces make crabs attractive to pet owners. To answer the growing demand, fishermen collect and trade crustaceans, often not knowing what exactly they have handed over to their clients. ... read more

Six New Groups of Molecules Could Be the Key to Delaying Aging

Sep. 7, 2016 — Researchers assess how six previously identified plant extracts can delay aging by affecting different signalling pathways that set the pace of growing ... read more

Probing a Mosquito Protein for Clues in the Fight Against Zika

Sep. 7, 2016 — As health departments around the United States boost efforts to combat Zika, scientists are working on new ways to kill the mosquitoes that carry the virus. One approach involves understanding the ... read more

How Fungi Help Trees Tolerate Drought

Sep. 7, 2016 — Specific adaptations in the transcriptome of the most common ectomycorrhizal fungus could help their hosts be more resistant to drought stress, a finding that could be useful in developing more plant ... read more

Snake Eats Lizard Eats Beetle: Fossil Food Chain from the Messel Pit Examined

Sep. 7, 2016 — Scientists have examined a spectacular discovery from the UNESCO World Heritage site Messel Pit: A fossil snake in whose stomach a lizard can be seen, which in turn had consumed a beetle. The ... read more

Overcrowding Forces Pheasants to Cooperate in Hawaii

Sep. 7, 2016 — 'Survival of the fittest' usually means that animals put their own needs first, but occasionally it pays to work together. A new study describes an unusual example of cooperative breeding ... read more

In Eastern Tibetan Forest, Signs of Tree Growth Amid Climate Change

Sep. 7, 2016 — Word of mouth from nomadic herders led Lucas Silva into Tibetan forests and grasslands. What his team found was startling: rapid forest growth in tune with what scientists had been expecting from ... read more

Thrive or Fail: Examining Forest Resilience in the Face of Fires

Sep. 7, 2016 — Scientists outline a framework to help scientists better test, understand and predict when forests are resilient enough to recover from fire or when a combination of conditions could tip the scales, ... read more

Throughout History, Humans Have Preferred Their Pigs to Be Black, Suggests Study

Sep. 6, 2016 — An international team of researchers studied the mitochondrial DNA and MC1R gene sequences in tissue samples collected from 57 modern feral Hawaiian pigs. They found a novel mutation in all the ... read more

A Tail of Gene Expression

Sep. 6, 2016 — Messenger molecules that convey instructions from DNA to protein factories for protein synthesis require special molecular tails for their stability and function. Now, scientists have found that many ... read more

Nano-Lipid Particles from Edible Ginger Could Improve Drug Delivery for Colon Cancer, Study Finds

Sep. 6, 2016 — Edible ginger-derived nano-lipids created from a specific population of ginger nanoparticles show promise for effectively targeting and delivering chemotherapeutic drugs used to treat colon cancer, ... read more

Flowers Critical Link to Bacteria Transmission in Wild Bees

Sep. 6, 2016 — Flowers are a hot spot of transmission of bacteria that end up in the microbiome of wild bees, new research has found. The work shows for the first time that multiple flower and wild bee species ... read more

Structure of Mammalian Protein Complex of Respiratory Chain Solved at Atomic Level

Sep. 6, 2016 — The mitochondrial Complex I plays a central role in cellular respiration and energy metabolism. The ~1 Megadalton L-shaped protein complex is the largest protein assembly of the respiratory chain and ... read more

Flycatcher Genome Sheds Light on Causes of Mutations

Sep. 6, 2016 — A research team has determined the complete genetic code of 11 members of a flycatcher pedigree. Doing this, they have for the first time been able to estimate the rate of new mutations in birds. ... read more

Study Demonstrates Seasonality of Bird Migration in Response to Environmental Cues

Sep. 6, 2016 — For the first time, a study shows that remote sensing data from weather surveillance radar and on-the-ground data from the eBird citizen science database both yield robust indices of migration ... read more

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Four out of six great apes one step away from extinction, experts say

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