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 Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:05:02 EDT Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:05:02 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/2009/07/090706090604.htm Parents compensate for a lazy partner by working harder to bring up their offspring, but not enough to completely make up for the lack of parenting, says research by bird biologists. Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090706090604.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090618124940.htm Slow-flying, woodland bats -- which tend to be at greater risk from extinction than their speedier kin -- really don't like street lights, according to a new study. Lesser horseshoe bats will stray from their usual flight routes to steer clear of the artificial glow from lights that are similar to everyday street lights, the new report shows. Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090618124940.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090618190622.htm MicroRNAs are the newest kid on the genetic block. By regulating the unzipping of genetic information, these tiny molecules have set the scientific world alight with such wide-ranging applications as onions that can't make you cry and therapeutic potential for new treatments for viral infections, cancer and degenerative diseases. But the question remains: How do they work? Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090618190622.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090705215237.htm Coffee drinkers may have another reason to pour that extra cup. When aged mice bred to develop symptoms of Alzheimer's disease were given caffeine -- the equivalent of five cups of coffee a day -- their memory impairment was reversed, report researchers. Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090705215237.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630074951.htm Researchers subjected species found in Antarctic waters to increasing levels of water temperature to learn how well they would cope with a warmer ocean. The study shows that several of these species are already living really close to their upper temperature range, and that further increases could easily provoke serious ecological imbalances in this region. Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630074951.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090626190939.htm People smell them, thump them and eyeball their shape. But ultimately, it's sweetness and a sense of healthy eating that lands a melon in a shopper's cart. Plant breeders now have a better chance to pinpoint such traits for new varieties, because the melon genome with hundreds of DNA markers has now been mapped. That means tastier and healthier melons are likely for future summer picnics. Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090626190939.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090611142402.htm Some disease-causing bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics because they have peculiar sex lives, say researchers publishing new results in the journal Science. The new study helps scientists understand how bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics, which is a major challenge for those treating infectious diseases. Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090611142402.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090702170126.htm A new type of optical particle trap can be used to manipulate bacteria, viruses and other particles on a chip as part of an integrated optofluidic platform. Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090702170126.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629100639.htm Scientists are describing discovery and successful tests of the first once-a-month pill for controlling both fleas and ticks in domestic dogs and cats.  Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629100639.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629200630.htm An international team of scientists warns that accelerating losses of seagrasses across the globe threaten the immediate health and long-term sustainability of coastal ecosystems. The team has compiled and analyzed the first comprehensive global assessment of seagrass observations and found that 58 percent of world's seagrass meadows are currently declining. Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629200630.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629165603.htm Since NASA researchers began assembling the Aerosol Robotic Network in the 1990s, the worldwide network of ground-based aerosol sensors has grown to 400 sites across seven continents. The trouble is that two-thirds of the planet is covered by ocean. And aerosols -- the tiny atmospheric particles that can have an outsized impact on the climate -- are just as likely to be found in the air above the oceans as they are over land. Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629165603.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629165559.htm From his office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., Brent Holben helps manage the world's largest network of ground-based sensors for aerosols -- tiny specks of solids and liquids that waft about in the atmosphere. These particles come from both human and natural sources, and can be observed everywhere in the world. Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629165559.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090706134058.htm Pinpointing the genes involved in human brain cancer can be like looking for a needle in a haystack, and sometimes the needle you find may not be the right one. Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090706134058.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090706134052.htm Cancerous tumors sometimes form at the site of chronic wounds or injury, but the reason why is not entirely clear. Now researchers have engineered mice with a persistent wound-like skin condition, and the mice are helping them understand the tumor-promoting effects of long-standing wounds and injuries. Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090706134052.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090625074514.htm Researchers have genetically altered castor-oil plant so as to use it as a factory to produce bio lubricants. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090625074514.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629200800.htm A mathematical epidemiologist is researching the A(H1N1) influenza pandemic strain circulating around the world. The new study's findings reveal an age shift in the proportion of cases toward a younger population when compared with historical patterns of seasonal influenza in Mexico. "For the 1918 ("Spanish flu") influenza pandemic, this was the pattern -- first a mild wave, and then a severe one with higher case fatality rates," notes one of the researchers. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629200800.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090701102904.htm Researchers have managed to make out the "self-irrigating" mechanism of the desert rhubarb, which enables it to harvest 16 times the amount of water than otherwise expected for a plant in this region based on the quantities of rain in the desert. This is the first example of a self-irrigating desert plant, the scientists say. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090701102904.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090701082718.htm Scientists have found that by switching the social role of honey bees, aging honey bees can keep their learning ability intact or even improve it. The research team is hoping to use them as a model to study general aging processes in the brain and how to prevent or ameliorate cognitive impairments associated with old age. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090701082718.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629200804.htm Accelerated snowmelt -- precipitated by desert dust blowing into the mountains -- changes how alpine plants respond to seasonal climate cues that regulate their life cycles, according to a new study. These results indicate that global warming may have a greater influence on plants' annual growth cycles than previously thought. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629200804.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090701163647.htm Home gardeners beware: This year, late blight -- a destructive infectious disease that caused the Irish potato famine in the 1840s -- is killing tomato and potato plants in gardens and on commercial farms in the eastern United States. In addition, basil downy mildew is affecting plants in the Northeast. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090701163647.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629200641.htm The current H1N1 swine flu strain has genetic roots in an illness that sickened pigs at the 1918 Cedar Rapids Swine Show in Iowa, report experts. Their paper describes H1N1's nearly century-long and often convoluted journey, which may include the accidental resurrection of an extinct strain. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629200641.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629200634.htm The first microsatellite-based genetic linkage map has been published for Schistosoma mansoni, a blood fluke that is known to infect over 90 million people in Africa, the Middle East and the New World. Researchers hope the map will stimulate research and open doors to new advances in combating this neglected human pathogen. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629200634.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090705145642.htm Bordetella hinzii just may be the Eddie Haskell of avian bacteria. Like the notoriously sneaky character from the iconic 1950s television show "Leave It to Beaver," B. hinzii has been causing trouble and dodging the blame. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090705145642.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090705145109.htm Varroa mites, prime suspect in bee colony collapse disorder, could literally be walking into a trap --- thanks to a newly developed attractant. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090705145109.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090705141721.htm Even in its native Argentina, the fire ant wins in head-to-head competition with other ant species more than three-quarters of the time. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090705141721.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090703065218.htm Existing drugs used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease could be repositioned for use in the treatment of extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis, which kills about 2 million people each year, according to a new study. The rise of these strains of TB throughout the world, including industrialized countries, poses a great threat to human health. Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090703065218.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090702140845.htm Milder winters are causing Scotland's wild breed of Soay sheep to get smaller, despite the evolutionary benefits of possessing a large body, according to new research. Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090702140845.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090615185424.htm Researchers have identified cells in blood that predict which HIV-positive individuals are most likely to develop deadly fungal meningitis, a major cause of HIV-related death. This form of meningitis affects more than 900,000 HIV-infected people globally--most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and other areas of the world where antiretroviral therapy for HIV is not available. Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090615185424.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090702080527.htm The Archaea are single-celled organisms and a domain unto themselves, quite apart from the so called eukaryotes (bacteria and higher organisms). Many species live under extreme conditions, and carry out unique biochemical processes shared neither with bacteria nor with eukaryotes. Methanogenic archaeans, for example, can produce methane gas out of carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090702080527.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090702170207.htm A similarity in brain disturbance between insects and people suffering from migraines, stroke and epilepsy points the way toward new drug therapies to address these conditions. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090702170207.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090617105048.htm Computer scientists have developed a framework for studying the arrangement of tissue networks created by cell division across a diverse set of organisms, including fruit flies, tadpoles and plants. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090617105048.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090702132825.htm The forests of the Pacific Northwest hold significant potential to increase carbon storage and help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in coming years, a recent study concludes, if they are managed primarily for that purpose through timber harvest reductions and increased rotation ages. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090702132825.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090703070846.htm Scientists have discovered three new species of Australian dinosaur discovered in a prehistoric billabong in Western Queensland: two giant, herbivorous sauropods and one carnivorous theropod. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090703070846.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090702140849.htm Scientists have found a genetic explanation for why the new H1N1 "swine flu" virus has spread from person to person less effectively than other flu viruses. But researchers say the new strain bears watching as it could mutate. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090702140849.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630163113.htm Researchers have devised a microscale tool to help them understand the mechanical behavior of biofilms, slimy colonies of bacteria involved in most human infectious diseases. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630163113.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090702112230.htm Researchers have found that embryonic stem cells and skin cells reprogrammed into embryonic-like cells have inherent molecular differences, demonstrating for the first time that the two cell types are clearly distinguishable from one another. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090702112230.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630163326.htm Researchers have used mathematical models to demonstrate that cells infected with HIV could die sooner than was thought until now. If infected cells have a shorter lifespan then this increases the chances of the virus escaping the attention of the immune system. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630163326.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090701103002.htm The American Dietetic Association has released an updated position paper on vegetarian diets that concludes such diets, if well-planned, are healthful and nutritious for adults, infants, children and adolescents and can help prevent and treat chronic diseases including heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090701103002.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630163156.htm Lyme disease in the US is caused by the tick-borne bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, and usually begins with a skin lesion, after which the bacteria spread throughout the body to the nervous system, heart or joints. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630163156.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090702170131.htm Intelligent countryside management could improve the survival chances of animal and plant species threatened by climate change. The creation of small heat-shielded habitats and better links between habitats would counteract a moderate temperature increase, and give threatened species more time to adapt better and/or to migrate to cooler regions. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090702170131.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090703111301.htm Oscar the bobcat is healing by leaps and bounds after a team of surgeons repaired injuries he sustained after being hit by a car. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090703111301.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090704064959.htm The newest revolution in microbiology testing walks on four legs and says "baa". It's the hair sheep, a less-hirsute version of the familiar woolly barnyard resident. Not only are these ruminants low-maintenance and parasite-resistant, they're also perfect blood donors for the microbiology tests necessary to diagnose infectious disease in the developing world. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090704064959.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630215938.htm Scientists have performed the first DNA-based reconstruction of the giant extinct moa bird, using prehistoric feathers recovered from caves and rock shelters in New Zealand. Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630215938.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629100649.htm New research has shown that fish kept alone or in small groups are more aggressive and exhibit fewer natural behaviors such as shoaling. Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629100649.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090701082712.htm Charles Darwin postulated that animals eat as much as possible while food is plentiful, and produce as many offspring as this would allow. However, new research shows that, even when food is abundant, intake reaches a limit. One theory for this is that animals actively limit their energy turnover to maintain a higher level of reproductive success over their lifetime. Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090701082712.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629124957.htm In a first-of-its-kind advance toward the next generation of genetically modified foods — intended to improve consumers' health — researchers in Japan are reporting that a new transgenic rice designed to fight a common pollen allergy appears safe in animal studies.  Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090629124957.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630153408.htm Engineers used a novel underwater manufacturing technique to successfully build biomimetic cilia. The hairlike appendages mix tiny volumes of liquid to speed up biomedical reactions. Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630153408.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090625111431.htm When humans and animals delay reproduction because food or other resources are scarce, they may live longer to increase the impact of reproduction, according to a new study. Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090625111431.htm