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ScienceDaily: Plants & Animals News |
Think chimpanzee beds are dirtier than human ones? Think again Posted: 16 May 2018 02:23 PM PDT Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) appear to keep tidier sleeping arrangements than humans do. That's one finding of a recent study that evaluated the microbes and arthropods found in the treetop beds that chimpanzees make each night. |
The mystery of lime-green lizard blood Posted: 16 May 2018 02:23 PM PDT Green blood is one of the most unusual characteristics in the animal kingdom, but it's the hallmark of a group of lizards in New Guinea. The muscles, bones and tongues of these lizards appear bright, lime-green due to high levels of biliverdin, or a green bile pigment, which is toxic and causes jaundice. Surprisingly, these lizards remain healthy with levels of green bile that are 40 times higher than the lethal concentration in humans. |
Cannabidiol significantly reduces seizures in patients with severe form of epilepsy Posted: 16 May 2018 02:22 PM PDT Cannabidiol (CBD), a compound derived from the cannabis plant that does not produce a 'high,' was shown in a new large-scale, randomized, controlled trial to significantly reduce the number of dangerous seizures in patients with a severe form of epilepsy called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. This study also is the first to offer information on cannabidiol dosing for patients with treatment-resistant epilepsy. |
Diverse and abundant megafauna documented at new Atlantic US Marine National Monument Posted: 16 May 2018 02:22 PM PDT Airborne marine biologists were dazzled by the diversity and abundance of large, unusual and sometimes endangered marine wildlife on a recent trip to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Marine Monument, about 150 miles southeast of Cape Cod. |
Scientists predict how 686 marine species' habitats may shift in response to warming seas Posted: 16 May 2018 11:48 AM PDT New predictions reveal how global warming may shift the geographic distribution of 686 marine species that inhabit North America's Atlantic and Pacific continental shelves, according to a new study. |
Natural regeneration or tree-planting? Study points to bias in forest restoration studies Posted: 16 May 2018 11:47 AM PDT At a time when countries are pledging to restore millions of hectares of forest, new research argues that recent studies on forest regeneration techniques are flawed. Sites used to evaluate natural regeneration were secondary growth forests, whereas sites chosen to evaluate artificial regeneration ranged from abandoned coal mines to cattle-trampled fields. Authors of the new study suggest elements of both techniques should be considered, depending on the objectives for a site and its current state. |
Early evidence of use of a bit on domestic donkeys found in the Near East Posted: 16 May 2018 11:46 AM PDT Donkeys may have worn bits as early as the third millennium BCE, long before the introduction of horses in the ancient Near East, according to a study published May 16, 2018 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Haskel Greenfield from University of Manitoba, Canada, Aren Maeir from Bar-Ilan University, and colleagues. |
Whole-tree logging may not hinder plant biodiversity Posted: 16 May 2018 11:46 AM PDT When it comes to timber harvesting, removing the whole tree -- from stump to twigs -- doesn't reduce plant diversity any more than old-fashioned logging, which leaves tree branches behind in the woods, new research finds. |
How the gut influences neurologic disease Posted: 16 May 2018 10:12 AM PDT A study sheds new light on the connection between the gut and the brain, untangling the complex interplay that allows the byproducts of microorganisms living in the gut to influence the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. |
Exploration of diverse bacteria signals big advance for gene function prediction Posted: 16 May 2018 10:12 AM PDT Scientists have developed a workflow that enables large-scale, genome-wide assays of gene importance across many conditions. The study, 'Mutant Phenotypes for Thousands of Bacterial Genes of Unknown Function,' has been published in the journal Nature and is by far the largest functional genomics study of bacteria ever published. |
New nuclear RNA retention activity discovered Posted: 16 May 2018 10:11 AM PDT Gene expression involves mRNA transport from its place of synthesis to the cytoplasm where protein translation occurs. However, many non-coding RNA species do not follow this flow and new data now demonstrate how cells prevent the unwanted export of RNA and instead ensure nuclear degradation. |
A simple software error corrected: Bittersweet chloroplast genome becomes the model Posted: 16 May 2018 09:37 AM PDT Information about the organization and evolution of plastomes is crucial to improve crop plants and to resolve the phylogeny of photosynthetic organisms. In a recent study researchers have sequenced the plastid genome of a weed called bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara). |
Beef peptides block bitter tastes Posted: 16 May 2018 09:37 AM PDT From burgers to steaks, beef has a long history of being a delicious part of dinner. But what if that pleasant experience of eating beef could extend beyond the dinner plate? Now, one group reports that beef protein, when broken down into peptides, can block bitter taste receptors on the tongue. Such peptides could someday be used to make other foods and even medicines taste better. |
Climate change should help Midwest corn production through 2050 Posted: 16 May 2018 09:36 AM PDT Contrary to previous analyses, research shows that projected changes in temperature and humidity will not lead to greater water use in corn. This means that while changes in temperatures and humidity trend as they have in the past 50 years, crop yields can not only survive -- but thrive. |
Posted: 16 May 2018 09:36 AM PDT In Texas, the Southern High Plains uses water from an aquifer to water cotton fields. However, the aquifer is running low. Scientists from the area are working to find the best irrigation method for cotton that uses the least water. |
New technique reveals details of forest fire recovery Posted: 16 May 2018 09:35 AM PDT Do you know someone who's so caught up in the details of a problem that they 'can't see the forest for the trees?' Scientists seeking to understand how forests recover from wildfires sometimes have the opposite problem. |
Plug-and-play diagnostic devices Posted: 16 May 2018 07:23 AM PDT Researchers have developed modular blocks that can be put together in different ways to produce diagnostic devices. These 'plug-and-play' devices can test blood glucose levels in diabetic patients or detect viral infection, among other functions. |
World's Strongest bio-material outperforms steel and spider silk Posted: 16 May 2018 07:14 AM PDT At DESY's X-ray light source PETRA III, researchers have produced the strongest bio-material that has ever been made. The artificial, but biodegradable cellulose fibers are stronger than steel and even than dragline spider silk, which is usually considered the strongest bio-based material. |
Small birds almost overheat while feeding their young Posted: 16 May 2018 07:14 AM PDT For decades, researchers have thought that access to food determined the brood size of birds. Now, biologists have discovered a completely new explanation: the body temperature of small birds can increase by more than 4°C to exceed 45°C when they are feeding their young. Larger broods would require more work, resulting in even higher body temperatures -- something the birds would probably not survive. |
Scientists' new way to identify microscopic worm attacking coffee crops Posted: 16 May 2018 07:14 AM PDT The plants which produce one of the most popular drinks in the world, coffee, are targeted by a microscopic worm, but scientists are fighting back. An underestimated problem in coffee farming, the parasite has been found in soil samples across the coffee growing world thanks to a new and quick detection method. |
Forest loss in one part of US can harm trees on the opposite coast Posted: 16 May 2018 05:57 AM PDT If a whole forest disappears, new research shows, this has ricocheting effects in the atmosphere that affect vegetation on the other side of the country. |
Worm-eating mice reveal how evolution works on islands Posted: 16 May 2018 05:56 AM PDT When animals are isolated on islands, they can evolve into strange new species found nowhere else on Earth. But what's the cut-off -- how small can an island be and still support the evolution of multiple new species from a single common ancestor? A family of worm-eating mice from a tiny island in the Philippines have set a new lower limit for island size and evolution. |
Hippo waste causes fish kills in Africa's Mara River Posted: 16 May 2018 05:56 AM PDT Ecologists have long known that agricultural and sewage pollution can cause low oxygen conditions and fish kills in rivers. A new study reports that hippo waste can have a similar effect in Africa's Mara River, which passes through the world renowned Maasai Mara National Reserve of Kenya, home to more than 4,000 hippos. |
China's program 'riskiest environmental project in history,' researcher warns Posted: 15 May 2018 03:09 PM PDT A global expert on infrastructure says that China's plan to crisscross half of the Earth with massive transportation and energy projects is environmentally the riskiest venture ever undertaken. |
New way to stimulate cellular recycling process Posted: 15 May 2018 01:28 PM PDT In research that could lead to future therapies for age-related diseases, researchers have found a new way to stimulate the process by which cells recycle their spare parts. |
Biologists find mechanisms that control where transcription factors bind Posted: 15 May 2018 11:25 AM PDT A team of biologists has determined how transcription factors, which guide gene regulation, function differently in embryonic development. The results help illuminate how cells acquire distinct functions as the embryo matures. |
A green approach to making ammonia could help feed the world Posted: 15 May 2018 10:15 AM PDT Researchers have developed a new 'green' approach to making ammonia that may help make feeding the rising world population more sustainable. |
Superbug MRSA infections less costly, but still deadly Posted: 15 May 2018 10:15 AM PDT Drug-resistant staph infections continue to be deadlier than those that are not resistant and treatable with traditional antibiotics, but treatment costs surprisingly are the same or slightly less, a new national analysis shows. |
Traditional knowledge sheds light on changing East Greenland climate and polar bear hunt Posted: 15 May 2018 10:15 AM PDT Inuit polar bear hunters in East Greenland report changes to their subsistence hunting patterns as well as polar bear distribution and behavior due to decreasing sea ice and the introduction of hunting quotas in 2006. The study is the first in nearly 20 years to document traditional knowledge in East Greenland -- providing a valuable baseline for monitoring future changes and the polar bear population. |
437 million tons of fish, $560 billion wasted due to destructive fishing operations Posted: 15 May 2018 07:56 AM PDT Industrial fisheries that rely on bottom trawling wasted 437 million tonnes of fish and missed out on $560 billion in revenue over the past 65 years, new research has found. |
Big data from world's largest citizen science microbiome project serves food for thought Posted: 15 May 2018 06:29 AM PDT Researchers have published the first major results from the American Gut Project -- a crowdsourced, global citizen science effort. The project is the largest published study to date of the human microbiome -- the unique microbial communities that inhabit our bodies. |
New lineage of microbes living in Yellowstone sheds light on origin of life Posted: 15 May 2018 06:29 AM PDT Scientists have found a new lineage of microbes living in Yellowstone National Park's thermal features that sheds light on the origin of life, the evolution of archaeal life and the importance of iron in early life. |
Accumulating over time, even low concentrations of silver can foil wastewater treatment Posted: 15 May 2018 06:29 AM PDT Research has shed new light how an increasingly common consumer product component -- silver nanoparticles -- can potentially interfere with the treatment of wastewater. |
Biologists identify temporal logic of regulatory genes affecting nitrogen use efficiency in plants Posted: 14 May 2018 12:19 PM PDT A team of biologists and computer scientists has adopted a time-based machine-learning approach to deduce the temporal logic of nitrogen signaling in plants from genome-wide expression data. |
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