Flightless birds gave up flying after dinosaurs were wiped out
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have assumed the ancestors of modern flightless birds were also flightless, but results of new research suggests they only became flightless and began to explore the ground...
View ArticleNew discovery: Plaice are spotted (on the inside)
Have you seen a spotted plaice? Probably. However, marine biologist Helen Nilsson Skold at the University of Gothenburg is the first person to research the spotted insides of plaice.
View ArticleScientists reveal driving force behind evolution
Scientists at the University of Liverpool have provided the first experimental evidence that shows that evolution is driven most powerfully by interactions between species, rather than adaptation to...
View ArticleWhen the dinner bell rings for seafloor scavengers, larger animals get first...
Surplus food can be a double-edged sword for bottom-feeders in the ocean deep, according to a new study in the April issue of Ecology. While extra nutrients give a boost to large animals on the deep...
View ArticleReturn of top predators is key to ecological future
Sufficient advances have been made about the importance of top predators in ecosystem function that it's time to move from discussing the issue to acting upon it, a conservation biologist from Oregon...
View ArticlePaper set to open door to new phase of evolutionary biology
(PhysOrg.com) -- Research by evolutionary biologist Professor Roger Thorpe and his world-leading team of herpetologists at Bangor University's School of Biological Sciences is contributing to a change...
View ArticleSquirrels show softer side by adopting orphans, study finds
Those neighbourhood squirrels you often see fighting over food may not seem altruistic, but new University of Guelph research has found that the critters will actually take in orphaned relatives.
View ArticleChanging Chesapeake Bay acidity impacting oyster shell growth
Acidity is increasing in some regions of the Chesapeake Bay even faster than is occurring in the open ocean, where it is now recognized that increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolve in...
View ArticleTapping into sorghum's weed-fighting capabilities to give growers more options
By unlocking the genetic secrets of sorghum, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have found a way to make one of the world's most important cereal crops a better option for growers....
View ArticleSea creatures flee oil spill, gather near shore
(AP) -- Dolphins and sharks are showing up in surprisingly shallow water just off the Florida coast. Mullets, crabs, rays and small fish congregate by the thousands off an Alabama pier. Birds covered...
View ArticleFuzzy logic predicts cell aging
The process of aging disturbs a broad range of cellular mechanisms in a complex fashion and is not well understood. Computer models using fuzzy logic might help to unravel these complexities and...
View ArticleProposed kill quotas for whales too high: scientists
The International Whaling Commission starts a key meeting Monday to debate catch quotas which could replace a moratorium on hunting though a key scientific committee will say the catch limits are too...
View ArticleWide-eyed primate caught on camera for first time
A "cute" primate so rare it was thought to be extinct has been caught on camera in the forests of Sri Lanka for the first time, scientists said Monday.
View ArticleFrogs evolution tracks rise of Himalayas and rearrangement of Southeast Asia
The evolution of a group of muscled frogs scattered throughout Asia is telling geologists about the sequence of events that led to the rise of the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau starting more than...
View ArticleNew microscope breaks light microscopy resolution barrier
A new laser-equipped microscope at IU Bloomington's Light Microscopy Imaging Center makes it possible to examine biological samples with unprecedented detail in three dimensions.
View ArticleScientists say natural selection alone can explain eusociality
Scientists at Harvard University have sketched a new map of the "evolutionary labyrinth" species must traverse to reach eusociality, the rare but spectacularly successful social structure where...
View ArticleChocolate farmers could benefit from newly sequenced cacao genome
A first draft of the cacao genome is complete, a consortium of academic, governmental, and industry scientists announced today. Indiana University Bloomington scientists performed much of the...
View ArticleElusive elephant-shrew found in African forest
Conservationists researching the biodiversity of the Boni-Dodori forest on the coast of north-eastern Kenya were thrilled to capture pictures of the bizarre mammal.
View ArticleFlorida panthers bound back thanks to Texas mates
In the quest to save the endangered Florida panther, their Texas cousins were the cat's meow. Wildlife biologists moved eight female panthers from Texas - close relatives yet genetically distinct -...
View ArticleHow plants drove animals to the land
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study of ancient oxygen levels presents the first concrete evidence that after aquatic plants evolved and boosted the levels of oxygen aquatic life exploded, leading to fierce...
View Article
