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General Science / Biology news 1234

12 new species discovered in Brazil

April 29, 2008 | User rating: 5 / 5 after 6 vote(s) | No comments yet

Researchers discovered a legless lizard and a tiny woodpecker along with 12 other suspected new species in Brazil’s Cerrado, one of the world’s 34 biodiversity conservation hotspots.


Stressed seaweed contributes to cloudy coastal skies, study suggests

May 06, 2008 | User rating: 4.9 / 5 after 10 vote(s) | No comments yet

Scientists at The University of Manchester have helped to identify that the presence of large amounts of seaweed in coastal areas can influence the climate.


Unraveling the Genomic Code for Development

May 06, 2008 | User rating: 4.9 / 5 after 9 vote(s) | No comments yet

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology have produced the first complete description of the complex network of genes that create a particular type of cell in an organism.


Prions show their good side

May 07, 2008 | User rating: 4.9 / 5 after 8 vote(s) | User comments: 1

Prions, the infamous agents behind mad cow disease and its human variation, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, also have a helpful side. According to new findings from Gerald Zamponi and colleagues, normally functioning prions prevent ...


Female concave-eared frogs draw mates with ultrasonic calls

May 11, 2008 | User rating: 4.9 / 5 after 8 vote(s) | User comments: 1

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 ...


Diatoms discovered to remove phosphorus from oceans

May 02, 2008 | User rating: 4.9 / 5 after 8 vote(s) | User comments: 2

Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered a new way that phosphorus is naturally removed from the oceans – its stored in diatoms. The discovery opens up a new realm of research into ...


Biochips can detect cancers before symptoms develop

May 12, 2008 | User rating: 4.8 / 5 after 19 vote(s) | User comments: 1

In their fight against cancer, doctors have just gained an impressive new weapon to add to their arsenal. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have developed a chip that ...


Glowing sugars light up zebrafish

May 04, 2008 | User rating: 4.8 / 5 after 12 vote(s) | No comments yet

Using artificial sugar and some clever chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, researchers have made glow-in-the-dark fish whose internal light comes from the sugar coating on their cells.


Human vision inadequate for research on bird vision

May 12, 2008 | User rating: 4.8 / 5 after 12 vote(s) | No comments yet

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, ...


Monarch butterflies help explain why parasites harm hosts

May 14, 2008 | User rating: 4.8 / 5 after 6 vote(s) | No comments yet

It’s a paradox that has confounded evolutionary biologists since Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859: Since parasites depend on their hosts for survival, why do they harm them?


Researchers create heart and blood cells from reprogrammed skin cells

April 30, 2008 | User rating: 4.8 / 5 after 25 vote(s) | No comments yet

Stem cell researchers at UCLA were able to grow functioning cardiac cells using mouse skin cells that had been reprogrammed into cells with the same unlimited properties as embryonic stem cells. The finding is the first to ...


Lizards Undergo Rapid Evolution after Introduction to a New Home

April 17, 2008 | User rating: 4.8 / 5 after 24 vote(s) | User comments: 6

In 1971, biologists moved five adult pairs of Italian wall lizards from their home island of Pod Kopiste, in the South Adriatic Sea, to the neighboring island of Pod Mrcaru. Now, an international team of researchers has shown ...


Early human populations evolved separately for 100,000 years

April 24, 2008 | User rating: 4.8 / 5 after 9 vote(s) | No comments yet

A team of Genographic researchers and their collaborators have published the most extensive survey to date of African mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Over 600 complete mtDNA genomes from indigenous populations across the continent ...


Bees disease -- 1 step closer to finding a cure

May 02, 2008 | User rating: 4.8 / 5 after 13 vote(s) | User comments: 3

Scientists in Germany have discovered a new mechanism of infection for the most fatal bee disease. American Foulbrood (AFB) is the only infectious disease which can kill entire colonies of bees. Every year, this notifiable ...


Researchers discover critical detail of cellular defense against genetic mistakes

April 17, 2008 | User rating: 4.8 / 5 after 8 vote(s) | User comments: 1

Researchers are closing in on a completed diagram of how human cells protect themselves against constant genetic mistakes that contribute to most diseases, according to a study to be published in the April 18 edition of the ...


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