ScienceDaily: Plants & Animals News |
| 'Flash droughts' coming on faster, global study shows Posted: 01 Apr 2022 01:05 PM PDT Just like flash floods, flash droughts come on fast -- drying out soil in a matter of days to weeks. These events can wipe out crops and cause huge economic losses. And according to scientists, the speed at which they dry out the landscape has increased. |
| CRISPR and HIV: New technique in human blood unveils potential paths toward cure Posted: 01 Apr 2022 01:05 PM PDT Gene editing used to discover human proteins hijacked by HIV to replicate in blood • By better understanding how the virus replicates, treatments could one day become cures • 'This new assay is the most faithful representation of what's happening in the body during HIV infection that we could easily study in the lab,' researcher says • Over half the genes identified in the study had never been looked at in the context of HIV infection |
| Monkeys routinely consume fruit containing alcohol, shedding light on our own taste for booze Posted: 01 Apr 2022 11:13 AM PDT Scientists analyzed the ethanol content of fruit eaten by spider monkeys in Panama, and found that the fruit regularly contained alcohol: between 1% and 2%. The researchers also collected urine samples, most of which contained secondary metabolites of ethanol. The results provide further evidence that our primate ancestors preferentially sought out fermented, alcohol-containing fruit likely for its greater nutritional value, and that humans may have inherited this proclivity for ethanol. |
| Study shows: Fish can calculate Posted: 01 Apr 2022 09:22 AM PDT Cichlids and stingrays can perform simple addition and subtraction in the number range of one to five. This has been shown in a recent study by the University of Bonn, which has now been published in the journal Scientific Reports. It is not known what the animals need their mathematical abilities for. |
| Learning from the single cell: A new technique to unravel gene regulation Posted: 01 Apr 2022 09:22 AM PDT How is the activity of genes regulated by the packaging of DNA? To answer this question, researchers developed a technique to measure both gene expression and DNA packaging at the same time. |
| Gene linked to hearing in humans also linked to touch in sea anemones Posted: 01 Apr 2022 09:21 AM PDT Investigators have discovered a developmental gene linked to touch in the tentacles of sea anemones as well as hearing in humans. The gene, called pou-iv (pronounced 'pow four'), is important for the development of auditory cells in the human inner ear. |
| Shapeshifting volcano virus points to new ways to deliver drugs, vaccines Posted: 01 Apr 2022 06:49 AM PDT A discovery about a shapeshifting virus found in hot volcanic springs could have very useful implications. |
| Lost bioscapes window into Polynesian settlement circa 12th century Posted: 01 Apr 2022 06:48 AM PDT Polynesian explorers discovered a treasure trove of unique plants and animals when they arrived in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia, according to new research. |
| Periodic volcanism triggered multiple Jurassic extinctions Posted: 01 Apr 2022 06:48 AM PDT Geologists have provided critical new evidence for the timing of volcanic activity in the Karoo province, the largest of the Jurassic magma systems. The remnants of the province are widespread in southern Africa and Antarctica. |
| Wildfire smoke exposure in early pregnancy affects infant monkey behavior Posted: 01 Apr 2022 06:48 AM PDT Infant monkeys conceived while their mothers were naturally exposed to wildfire smoke show behavioral changes compared to animals conceived days later, according to a new study. |
| Crowdsourcing campaign identifies drivers of tropical forest loss Posted: 01 Apr 2022 06:48 AM PDT To combat forest loss in the tropics, a new study uses crowdsourcing to identify the drivers of deforestation. The resulting dataset can be used to create high-resolution maps and help policymakers apply the best protection measures. |
| Warmer autumns could spell bad news for butterflies, suggests study Posted: 01 Apr 2022 06:47 AM PDT New research finds that longer and warmer autumns make it less likely that green-veined white butterflies will survive winter to emerge in spring. |
| Scientists can predict carbon transfer in the ocean based on deep-diving tiny organisms Posted: 31 Mar 2022 02:08 PM PDT Biologists find that the health and size of ocean bacteria that eat the carbon-carrying particles can affect the speed with which they sink toward the deep ocean. They then developed a predictive model for oceanic carbon transfer. |
| Mammals put brawn before brains to survive post-dinosaur world Posted: 31 Mar 2022 12:15 PM PDT Prehistoric mammals bulked up, rather than develop bigger brains, to boost their survival chances once dinosaurs had become extinct, research suggests. |
| A single gene controls species diversity in an ecosystem Posted: 31 Mar 2022 12:14 PM PDT To test if a single gene could affect an entire ecosystem, a research team conducted a lab experiment with a plant and its associated ecosystem of insects. They found that plants with a mutation at a specific gene foster ecosystems with more insect species. The discovery of such a 'keystone gene' could change current biodiversity conservation strategies. |
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