http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/plants_animals/ Plants and animals. Read current science news in biology, botany and zoology. Find everything from research on genetics and stem cells to the most recent stories on animal care, with images. en-us Thu, 15 May 2008 01:05:01 EDT Thu, 15 May 2008 01:05:01 EDT 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/plants_animals/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514064921.htm A study investigating aging in mice has found that hormonal changes that occur when mice eat significantly less may help explain an already established phenomenon: a low calorie diet can extend the lifespan of rodents, a benefit that even regular exercise does not achieve. Thu, 15 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514064921.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512113508.htm The most attractive male birds attract more females and as a result are most successful in terms of reproduction. This is the starting point of many studies looking for factors that influence sexual selection in birds. However, is it reasonable to assume that birds see what we see? Researchers now show that our human vision is not an adequate instrument. Thu, 15 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512113508.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513101652.htm One possible approach to carbon dioxide reduction would be to deliberately plant forests, bind the carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and then removed the trees from the global cycle by burial. Thu, 15 May 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513101652.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513153947.htm RNA is best known as a working copy of the DNA sequence of genes. In this role, it's a carrier of the genes' instructions to the cell, which manufactures proteins according to information in the RNA molecule. But molecular biologists have increasingly realized that many RNA snippets -- so-called small RNAs -- also directly influence which genes make proteins, and in some cases, how much protein. Thu, 15 May 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513153947.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513210456.htm A Swiss marine biologist and an Australian quantum physicist have found that a species of shrimp from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, can see a world invisible to all other animals. Mantis shrimp not only have the ability to see colors from the ultraviolet through to the infrared, but have optimal polarization vision -- a first for any animal and a capability that humanity has only achieved in the last decade using fast computer technology. Thu, 15 May 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513210456.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512172904.htm Fruit flies are dramatically different from humans not in their number of genes, but in the number of protein interactions in their bodies, according to scientists who have developed a new way of estimating the total number of interactions between proteins in any organism. Thu, 15 May 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512172904.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514094245.htm In every production zone worldwide, cocoa trees are faced with pests and diseases that can wipe out entire harvests. To protect their crops, farmers often use costly, polluting chemicals or labour-intensive manual techniques. However, there are now clean, ecological methods, for instance using sources of natural resistance. In this respect, a highly specific group of cocoa trees, the wild trees found in French Guiana, looks very promising. Thu, 15 May 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514094245.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513103957.htm Researchers have completed a massive survey of the network of protein complexes that orchestrate the fundamental processes of life. In the journal Science, researchers describe protein complexes and networks of complexes never before observed -- including two implicated in the normal mechanisms by which cells divide and proliferate and another that controls recycling of the molecular building blocks of life called autophagy. Wed, 14 May 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513103957.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513140139.htm Agarose gel electrophoresis? Most teenagers wouldn't have a clue what this scientific term means, but middle school student Andrew Trigiano knows the protocol inside and out. Setting out to compare differences in popular brands of Easter egg dyes, Trigiano's project grew into a full-blown scientific study and set of replicable classroom experiments. Wed, 14 May 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513140139.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512153631.htm Over a decade of work and contributions by more than 200 leading conservation scientists have produced a first-ever comprehensive map and database of the diversity of life in the world's freshwater ecosystems. Freshwater Ecoregions of the World divides the world's freshwater systems into 426 distinct conservation units, many of which are rich in species but under increasing pressure from human population growth, rising water use, and habitat alteration. Wed, 14 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512153631.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513191934.htm In the first experiment to record the electrophysiology of sleep in a wild animal, three-toed sloths carrying miniature electroencephalogram recorders slept 9.63 hours per day -- 6 hours less than captive sloths did. Wed, 14 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513191934.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513101555.htm A study of Florida beaches has shown that wet sand and dry sand above the intertidal zone have significantly more fecal bacteria than near-shore seawater. Scientists researched whether indicator bacteria survive longer in sand relative to open water and found that all feces-derived bacteria were capable of enhanced growth and survival in sand, while in seawater the bacterial populations steadily decreased over time. Wed, 14 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513101555.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513140134.htm A recent study offers new information that can help schools and contractors get outdoor athletic fields ready for fall sports more quickly. Certain blends of grass work better than others. Wed, 14 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513140134.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513101552.htm Neuroscientists are a step closer to understanding pain sensitivity -- specifically why it's variable instead of constant -- having identified a gene that regulates a heat-activated molecular sensor. Wed, 14 May 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513101552.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507084005.htm Some Malagasy mouse lemurs are so similar that picking a mate of the right species, especially at night time in a tropical forest, might seem like a matter of pot luck. However, new research has shown that our desperately cute distant cousins use vocalizations to pick up a partner of the right species. Wed, 14 May 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507084005.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513125216.htm Researchers found socially subordinate female rhesus macaques over consume calorie-rich foods, resulting in accelerated weight gain and an increase in fat-derived hormones. The study is a critical step in understanding the psychological basis for the sharp increase in obesity across all age groups since the mid-1970s. This is the first study to show how food intake can be reliably and automatically measured, thus identifying the optimal animal model and setting for future obesity studies. Wed, 14 May 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513125216.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514175045.htm The US Secretary of the Interior has announced that he is accepting the recommendation of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The listing is based on the best available science, which shows that loss of sea ice threatens and will likely continue to threaten polar bear habitat. This loss of habitat puts polar bears at risk of becoming endangered in the foreseeable future, the standard established by the ESA for designating a threatened species. Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514175045.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514124110.htm The mouse is a stalwart stand-in for humans in medical research, thanks to genomes that are 85 percent identical. But identical genes may behave differently in mouse and man, a study by evolutionary biologists reveals. Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514124110.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514171807.htm You might think that stocking the Great Lakes with things like trout and salmon would be good for the herring gull. The birds often eat from the water, so it would be natural to assume that more fish would mean better dining. But a new report published in the journal Ecology says that restoring fish has not been good for the birds. Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514171807.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514133137.htm Communities of Oregon white oak were once widespread in the Pacific Northwest's western lowlands, but, today, they are in decline. Fire suppression, conifer and invasive plant encroachment, and land use change have resulted in the loss of as much as 99 percent of the oak communities historically present in some areas of the region. A new study indicates that if oaks are to be successfully restored, more aggressive management is needed within the next several decades. Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514133137.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514082740.htm Scientists succeeded in capturing syntrophic (means "feeding together") microorganisms that are known to dramatically reduce the oceanic emission of methane into the atmosphere. These microorganisms that oxidize methane anaerobically are an important component of the global carbon cycle and a major sink for methane on Earth. Methane - a more than 20 times stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide - constantly seeps out large methane hydrate reservoirs in the ocean floors, but 80 percent of it are immediately consumed by these microorganisms. Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514082740.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514082019.htm Due to their ability to produce a potent inhibitor of protein degradation, hibernating bears do not lose muscle mass after long periods of hibernation. The team researched for the first time the physiological reasons for an effect that is well known to the scientific community -- the fact that hibernating bears do not lose muscle tissue, only fat. The team studied the physiological response of muscle cells of laboratory rats grown with hibernating bear plasma outside the period of hibernation. Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514082019.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512141718.htm Insects have provided the inspiration for a team of European researchers seeking to improve the functionality of robots and robotic tools. The research furthers the development of more intelligent robots, which can then be used by industry, and by emergency and security services, among others. Smarter robots would be better able to find humans buried beneath the rubble of a collapsed building, for example. Tue, 13 May 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512141718.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512135105.htm The patient's sight was restored through a two-step surgical procedure that involves cutting into the eye to take out the cloudy cornea and inserting a permanent, plastic cornea. The new cornea is sutured, or stitched, into place. The entire eye including the new, plastic cornea is then covered with tissue from the dog to help the eye heal from the surgery. Because of the tissue and the bandages, the dog cannot see after this procedure. After several weeks, the bandages are removed and a hole is cut into the tissue exposing the new, plastic cornea. Tue, 13 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512135105.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512212320.htm Cornell researchers are studying bacterium big enough to see -- the Shaquille O'Neal of bacteria. The secret to an unusual bacterium's massive size -- it's the size of a grain of salt, or a million times bigger than E. coli bacteria, and big enough to see with the naked eye -- may be found in its ability to copy its genome tens of thousands of times. Tue, 13 May 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512212320.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512143743.htm Blackberries, blueberries, oranges and grapes --- chemistry students are loading up on their fruits these days, but it has nothing to do with the food pyramid. The students are using the fruit to produce solar energy. Actually, they are using the dye from the fruit in a process to create solar cells. Tue, 13 May 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512143743.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512094446.htm People diet to look more attractive. Fish diet to avoid being beaten up, thrown out of their social group and getting eaten as a result. Researchers have discovered that subordinate gobis deliberately diet to avoid posing a challenge to their larger rivals by consistently remaining 5-10% smaller. Once a subordinate fish grows to within 5-10% of its larger rival, it provokes a fight which usually ends in the smaller goby being expelled from the group. Tue, 13 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512094446.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512092318.htm Researchers in California report development of a new kind of genetically modified yeast cell that produces complex proteins up to 300 times more than possible in the past. These "super yeasts" could help boost production and lower prices for a new generation of protein-based drugs that show promise for fighting diabetes, obesity, and other diseases, the researchers suggest. Tue, 13 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512092318.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512094438.htm It's a tough job, but somebody, or at least some dogs, have to do it. In the Cerrado region of Brazil, four dogs trained to detect animal feces by scent are helping researchers monitor rare and threatened wildlife such as jaguar, tapir, giant anteater and maned wolf in and around Emas National Park, a protected area with the largest concentration of threatened species in Brazil. Tue, 13 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512094438.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512105736.htm More than 600 million years of evolution has taken two unlikely distant cousins -- turkeys and scallops -- down very different physical paths from a common ancestor. But researchers have found that a motor protein, myosin 2, remains structurally identical in both creatures. Tue, 13 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512105736.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512172317.htm Plants have an ambivalent relationship with light. They need it to live, but too much light leads to the increased production of high-energy chemical intermediates that can injure or kill the plant. The intermediates do this because the efficient conversion of sunlight into chemical energy cannot keep up with sunlight streaming into the plant. Tue, 13 May 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512172317.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080509171616.htm Reducing the spread of some invasive species into our lakes could be as simple as asking boaters and fishers to dry out their equipment, says one biology professor studying invasive species in Lake Ontario. When anchor rope, fishing line and the boats themselves are thoroughly dried, the invasive species and their eggs will die, rather than spreading to another location, she explains. "It's such a simple thing for the general public to do, and yet it could make a big difference in the way that our lake ecosystems function." Tue, 13 May 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080509171616.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512105729.htm While it has long been known that embryonic stem cells have the ability to develop into any kind of tissue-specific cells, the exact mechanism as to how this occurs has heretofore not been demonstrated. Now, researchers have succeeded in graphically revealing this process, resolving a long-standing question as to whether the stem cells achieve their development through selective activation or selective repression of genes. Tue, 13 May 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512105729.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513210450.htm Pointed wings, together with carrying less weight per wing area and avoidance of high winds and atmospheric turbulence, save a bird lots of energy during migration. This is shown for the first time in free-flying wild birds. Researchers state that climate change might have a critical impact on small migrants' energy budgets if it causes higher winds and atmospheric instability as predicted. Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513210450.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513140127.htm Move over "Longface", "Spooktacular" and "Trickster" -- there's a new face in the pumpkin patch. Researchers recently introduced "Orange Bulldog," a new variety of the familiar fall fruit that may soon be available to consumers and wholesale pumpkin growers. Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513140127.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513114829.htm Cell division is essential to life, but the mechanism by which emerging daughter cells organize and divvy up their genetic endowments is little understood. Researchers report on how a key motor protein orchestrates chromosome movements at a critical stage of cell division. Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513114829.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512145154.htm Buying chicken these days is not like it used to be. With labels like "100 percent natural," "organic," "grain-fed," and "free range," many consumers don't really know what they're buying. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture "100 percent natural" means the poultry doesn't contain artificial ingredients like preservatives. But experts warn--there are no guarantees. Mon, 12 May 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512145154.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080509112525.htm For members of the multimillion-dollar West Coast shellfish industry, their world is the oyster. Unfortunately, the oyster industry's ability to meet rising demands is hampered by two species of burrowing shrimp. So scientists are working to develop sustainable shrimp-control strategies. Mon, 12 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080509112525.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512120958.htm A new study finds that restricted nutrient availability prevents muscle stem cells from growing into mature muscle cells. The research provides exciting new information about how developing muscle cells sense and respond to nutrient levels. Mon, 12 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512120958.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512113511.htm T cells, the body's master immune regulators, do not use simple on/off switches to govern the cellular machinery that regulates their development and function. Immune cells adjust their function like a radio dial; a discovery that hints at how autoimmune disease may develop late in life. Mon, 12 May 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512113511.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512092420.htm Scientists in Louisiana are reporting development and successful testing of a new cost-effective system to kill unwanted plants and animals that hitch a ride to the United States in the ballast water of merchant ships. These so-called "invasive species," such as the notorious zebra mussel, devastate native organisms and infrastructure and cost taxpayers billions of dollars annually. Mon, 12 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512092420.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080509111955.htm The Agricultural Research Service and the Apiary Inspectors of America have conducted a combined survey of beekeepers to get a snapshot of how well managed colonies made it through the winter of 2007-08. Surveyed beekeepers reported a total loss of about 36.1 percent of their honey bee colonies, up about 13.5 percent from the previous winter. Mon, 12 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080509111955.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512094440.htm Medical researchers have discovered a key step in the mechanism by which cells destroy themselves. In this process, called "apoptosis," certain proteins cause the cell to self-destruct by puncturing its "power plant." How the proteins do this has now been clarified. The discovery is an important step towards the identification of targets for drugs designed to regulate cell death. Mon, 12 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512094440.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080511190843.htm Most female frogs don't call; most lack or have only rudimentary vocal cords. A typical female selects a mate from a chorus of males and then -- silently -- signals her beau. But the female concave-eared torrent frog, Odorrana tormota, has a more direct method of declaring her interest: She emits a high-pitched chirp that to the human ear sounds like that of a bird. Mon, 12 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080511190843.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080511190830.htm At first, fruit flies eat like horses. Hatching inside over-ripe fruit where they were laid, they feed wildly in the sugar-rich environment until nature sends them an offer they can't refuse. To survive, they must leave the fruit, wander off and burrow into the earth where they avoid food as if it were poison. Only then can the larvae grow and hatch into flies that will take wing to lay their own eggs. Researchers have now discovered that the important developmental switch from food attraction to aversion in the fruit fly larva is controlled by a timing mechanism in the brain and its sensory system. The study shows how this important avoidance mechanism has been recruited into evolutionary processes to promote development and could lead to new methods of controlling pain in humans and other animals. Mon, 12 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080511190830.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508174651.htm Scientists used to think that hermaphrodites, due to their low position in the evolutionary scale, did not have sufficiently developed sensory systems to assess the "quality" of their mates. A new work has shown, however, that earthworms are able to detect the competition by fertilizing the eggs that is going to find its sperm, tripling its volume when there is rivalry. This ability is even more refined as they are able to transfer more sperm to more fertile partners. Mon, 12 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508174651.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508222429.htm Scientists have discovered how to keep one's tomatoes from wilting -- the answer lies at the molecular level. Farmers and fellow agriculturalists are continuously battling the ability of plant pathogens to co-evolve alongside their host's immune system. In agriculture, the most environmentally friendly way to combat the evolutionary change in plant diseases is to make use of the innate immune system of plants. Mon, 12 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508222429.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080511205328.htm Scientists have discovered a fast and effective way to investigate important aspects of human aging: a gene in fruit flies that means flies can now be used to study the effects aging has on DNA. The researchers found that flies with damage to this gene share important features with people suffering from the rapid aging condition Werner syndrome. Mon, 12 May 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080511205328.htm