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Strange Ingredients Lurking in Doritos Chips
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Like many others settling in for a Friday night movie with a side of snacks, I opted for Doritos chips. My perception of Doritos has always been associated with quality, but after reading the long list of ingredients for one particular flavor (Bold Barbeque), I completely lost my appetite. The flavor, which I expected to be a premium product, was instead loaded with foreign ingredients that seemed out of place. Among them, I identified at least two food coloring agents, but a third one caught me off guard – Indigotine. Intrigued by the word itself, I knew instinctually that it had something to do with color indigo, so I did some more research. My initial hunch connecting it to the color indigo turned out to be accurate; indigotine (shown be ...
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2346 |
bio_man |
2 months ago |
Unusual Plant Defenses
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Plants have evolved a remarkable array of strategies to defend themselves against herbivores, and one such strategy involves attracting insects that act as natural enemies to these plant-eating pests. The fascinating interplay between plants, insects, and the chemical signals they utilize continues to captivate researchers in the field. In the case of the beet armyworm caterpillar, scientists have discovered that its saliva contains a chemical called volicitin, which plays a crucial role in eliciting a defensive response from the plant. When the caterpillar feeds on corn seedlings, the volicitin triggers the release of chemical signals from the leaves, effectively attracting parasitic wasps. These wasps, in turn, prey on the caterpillars, pr ...
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2056 |
bio_man |
11 months ago |
What's the deal with OCD?
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"I'd better check......one more time.....just let me make sure.....I'd better go back...." In isolation these comments might come from anyone wondering whether the headlights are turned off on the car. But as the mantra of people suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) these thoughts plague their daily lives. Whether its washing one's hands 25 times a day (above, scene taken from The Aviator (2004)) or checking to make sure the stove burner is off every hour on the hour, OCD can severely hobble one's peace of mind. More rightly, it may be a piece of brain that produces these intrusive thoughts. UCLA's Jeffrey Schwartz and his colleagues used PET scans to study the brains of obsessive-compulsive patients. They found that the orbita ...
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12155 |
Biology Forums |
A year ago |
First human-made object to land on another planet
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The Soviet-built space probe, Venera 3, was the first spacecraft to ever land on another planet back on March 1 st, 1966, after being launched on November 16, 1965 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The mission of this spacecraft was to land on the Venusian surface. The entry body contained a radio communication system, scientific instruments, electrical power sources, and medallions bearing the State Coat of Arms of the U.S.S.R. Unfortunately, the probe crash-landed on Venus, causing its communication systems to fail before it could return any information about the planet. The spacecraft impacted on the night side of Venus, near the terminator, around -20º to 20º N, 60º to 80º E. The Venera program, however, would go on to successfully submit data f ...
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2290 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |
Ming the Clam
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Ming the Clam, once the world's oldest animal, was killed at 507 years of age by scientists trying to determine its age in 2006.Ming the Clam (1499–2006) is a nickname given to a specimen of the ocean quahog clam ( Arctica islandica), that was excavated off the coast of Iceland in 2006 and whose age was calculated by counting annual growth lines in the shell. Ming was the oldest individual animal ever discovered whose age could be accurately determined. The mollusc’s 507 year old life came to an end in 2006 when the British researchers – unaware of the animal’s impressive age – opened up its shell to examine it. The clam was named Ming in reference to the Ming dynasty, during which it was born. Interestingly, the second oldest ocean quahog ...
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2256 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |
First ever exoplanets discovered outside our galaxy
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Using a technique known as gravitational microlensing, Oklahoma University astrophysicists were able to detect several exoplanets within a quasar 6 billion light-years away called RX J1131-1231 (depicted in the illustration above, left). Their research shows that the planets range in size from masses as small as the Moon to ones as great as Jupiter. The idea behind this technique is derived from the Einstein's theory of general relativity. Since light waves bend when they pass through space warped by a large gravitational presence, a planet passing in front of a star can act as a lens to focus the light, creating a temporary sharp increase in a star’s brightness, and changing the apparent position of the star. Currently, it's the only known ...
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1112 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |
These giant worms enjoy bathing in hydrogen sulfide
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Digging 3 meters down into the dark marine mud of a former log storage pond in Mindanao, Philippines, scientists have discovered five live specimens of an elusive creature previously known only through the 1 to 1.5–meter-long calcium carbonate shells it left behind. By carefully chipping away at the end of a chalky tube (right, above), researchers found a long, black, wormlike mass oozing from its casing – the first live specimen of the giant shipworm Kuphus polythalamia. The animal’s length makes it the longest of any living bivalve, a class of typically small critters including clams, oysters, and scallops. And as far as shipworms go, which usually burrow into and feed on wood from ships or sunken trees, K. polythalamia is unique for squa ...
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7076 |
bio_man |
7 years ago |
Bowhead whales can live for more than 200 years
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Thanks to a cold environment, which causes a slow metabolism, bowhead whales ( Balaena mysticetus) can live for more than 200 years - nearly 3 times longer than the average human, making it the longest-lived mammal. Bowhead whales can grow 14 to 18 m (46 to 59 ft) in length, and unlike most whales, they lack a dorsal fin. This thick-bodied species can weigh from 75 to 100 tonnes (82 to 110 US tons). They live entirely in fertile Arctic and sub-Arctic waters, unlike other whales that migrate to low latitude waters to feed or reproduce. The bowhead also has the largest mouth of any animal. Of course, following around a whale to measure how long it lives is practically impossible. Researchers discovered this amazing feature in 2007, when a 15 m ...
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15208 |
duddy |
7 years ago |
Drug-resistant bacteria are no match for this newly discovered compound
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Researchers have discovered a new compound, named 'darwinolide', inside an Antarctic sponge, Dendrilla membranosa (above, middle), that has shown to kill 98.4 percent of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) cells it comes in contact with. Lab tests so far suggest that it has a unique structure that allows it to penetrate the 'biofilm' that MRSA throws up to protect itself from treatments. The next step is to synthesise darwinolide in the lab, so they don't have to rely on extracting it from live Antarctic sponges. If the researchers are able to show that they can use darwinolide to fight MRSA in a clinical setting, it could save the lives of tens of thousands of people every years. Source: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ac ...
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4067 |
bio_man |
7 years ago |
This is shocking
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To take the zap out of a school of electric eels, fishermen in 17th century South America sent teams of horses into the water as bait, scooping up the eels after they had exhausted themselves in the attack. According to famed naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, the eels would leap out of the water to shock the frightened - but mostly unharmed - horses. Until now, no one else had recorded evidence of such behavior, and many scientists were skeptical of Von Humboldt’s account. A new study shows that not only do the animals leap from the water to attack their prey, but they also increase their voltage as they leap (see video below). The jumping behavior was first observed by accident: As scientists were studying the eels in an unrelated exper ...
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3982 |
duddy |
7 years ago |
How sleep affects memory
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For decades, scientists have debated whether rapid eye movement sleep - the phase where dreams appear - is directly involved in memory formation. Now, a study provides evidence that REM sleep does, indeed, play this role in mice. In this new study, the researchers used optogenetics, a recently developed technology that enables scientists to target precisely a population of neurons and control its activity by light. For this study, the neurons in the hippocampus were targeted (hippocampus being the structure that is critical for memory formation during wakefulness and is known as the 'GPS system' of the brain). To test the long-term spatial memory of mice, the scientists trained the rodents to spot a new object placed in a controlled environm ...
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4994 |
duddy |
7 years ago |
Non-Newtonian fluids are no longer a mystery
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A non-Newtonian fluid is a fluid with properties that differ in any way from those of Newtonian fluids - it changes its viscosity almost instantly under stress, so you can punch it as a liquid and it’ll turn into a solid (watch the video below), and you can literally walk across a pool of it. On the contrary, a Newtonian fluid is defined as the perfect fluid, where its viscosity is influenced mostly by its temperature and pressure. So if you have water at a moderate temperature and pressure, it will continue to act like a liquid no matter how much you punch it. Depending on how you manipulate it, the fluid-like substance can change states from a liquid to a solid, but how this happens has remained a conundrum amongst physicists. Scientists ...
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3004 |
duddy |
7 years ago |
Gut bacteria affects mood and brain function in mice
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According to a study published in the medical journal eLife, researchers found that specific combinations of gut bacteria produce substances that affect myelin content and cause social avoidance behaviors in mice. Researchers transferred fecal bacteria from the gut of depressed mice to genetically distinct mice exhibiting non-depressed behavior. The study showed that the transfer of microbiota was sufficient to induce social withdrawal behaviors and change the expression of myelin genes and myelin content in the brains of the recipient mice. In an effort to define the mechanism of gut-brain communication, researchers identified bacterial communities associated with increased levels of cresol, a substance that has the ability to pass the bloo ...
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3903 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Heavy marijuana users produce less dopamine
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For the first time, scientists have discovered a link between heavy marijuana use and reduced dopamine production. Just so you know, dopamine is the hormone/neurotransmitter that is released during any kind of satisfaction - it's the same hormone that is released in your brain when you eat chocolate. In a recent study, lower dopamine release was found in the striatum - a region of the brain that is involved in working memory, impulsive behavior, and attention, in addition to subregions involved in associative and sensorimotor learning, and in the globus pallidus. Previous studies have shown that addiction to other drugs of abuse, such as cocaine and heroin, have similar effects on dopamine release, but such evidence for cannabis was mis ...
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4227 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Surfing spider discovered
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The creature you see above is a spider that can actually surf on top of waves and hunt for a wide variety of animals including not only insects but also fish and toads. Dubbed the Dolomedes briangreenei, this species of spider floats on top of water and senses vibrations below to detect potential prey. The spider can even submerge itself underwater for up to an hour to hunt down prey, which makes it doubly frightening for any creatures caught in its path. The largest animals that the spider has been known to eat are cane toads, which can measure up to nine inches in length. For comparison, the D. briangreenei is about the size of a human palm. ...
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21349 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Allergic to vibrations?
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Vibratory urticarial is a ultra rare genetic condition that cause people to break out in hives if their skin is vigorously vibrated or rubbed. In fact, even drying yourself with a towel can cause hives, make your face flush, give you headaches, or produce the sensation of a metallic taste. According to a new study published this week, researchers found a mutation in a gene called ADGRE2 that codes for a receptor protein found on the surface of mast cells - immune cells in the skin that dump out inflammatory molecules such as histamines that increase blood flow to an area and can cause hives. The researchers observed that shaking mast cells in a dish breaks apart two subunits of this receptor protein, which prompts histamine release. In p ...
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16222 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
All trees, regardless of size, break once this wind speed is reached
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The magic number is 42 m/s (94 mph). Using mathematical data and physical experiments, scientists say they have found the law that governs the resistance of wooden beams under stress. According to the study ( link), researchers hung weights from wooden rods and pieces of pencil lead to record the amount of force needed to snap the cylinder. As one might sense, they found that for a fixed length, increasing the diameter made the rods stronger: They could bend more before breaking. This would make tall skinny trees most vulnerable, but, as the team points out, trees don’t grow taller without getting disproportionately thicker as well. By incorporating established laws of tree allometry - which explain the relationship of tree size parameters ...
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12776 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Schizophrenia may boil down to a specific gene, scientists find
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A landmark study, based on genetic analysis of nearly 65,000 people, has revealed that a person's risk of schizophrenia is increased if they inherit specific variants in a gene related to "synaptic pruning" - the elimination of connections between neurons. The findings represent the first time that the origin of this devastating psychiatric disease has been causally linked to specific gene variants and a biological process. They also help explain decades-old observations: synaptic pruning is particularly active during adolescence, which is the typical period of onset for schizophrenia symptoms, and brains of schizophrenic patients tend to show fewer connections between neurons. The gene, called component 4 (C4), plays a well-known role in t ...
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4498 |
bio_man |
8 years ago |
Should you eat snow?
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You've probably heard the saying 'don't eat yellow snow', for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, you shouldn’t eat any snow. Snow has been found to act as a rather effective sink for tiny particles that are found primarily in car exhaust fumes, so any consumption of it is effectively like eating a pollution-flavored Popsicle. Researchers of this study found that from just one hour of exposure, the levels of pollutants within the snow increased dramatically, with toxic particles becoming trapped within the small ice particles or dissolved within pockets of meltwater. This means that snow is a particularly effective “sink” for car exhaust pollution. Sour ...
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10606 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Dogs can read human emotions
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Dog owners often say they "know" that their dog understands what they’re feeling. Now, scientists have the evidence to back this up. Researchers tested 17 adult dogs of various breeds to see whether they could recognize emotional expressions in the faces and voices of humans and other dogs - an ability that’s considered a higher cognitive talent because two different senses are involved. Each dog took part in two test sessions with 10 trials. One by one, they stood facing two screens on which the researchers projected photos of unfamiliar but happy/playful human or dog faces versus the same faces with angry/aggressive expressions (as in the photo above). At the same time, the scientists played a single vocalization - either a dog bark, ...
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8729 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
First ever image taken of a single protein
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Proteins are subatomic biomolecules. They're produced by cells, so it's logical to assume that they are much tinier than cells, and of course, much tinier than the organelles that produce them. In a remarkable achievement, scientists have now obtained the first-ever photographs of single proteins. Using a "holography electron microscope," researchers tested on a range of protein samples, all just a few nanometers in size. Hemoglobin, the protein that transports oxygen in red blood cells, and cytochrome c, the protein that transfers electrons within the body, were just two examples. Source: arXiv ...
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8439 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Addicted to hookah smoking, this might change your mind
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As cigarette smoking rates fall, more people are smoking tobacco from hookahs: communal pipes that enable users to draw tobacco smoke through water. A new meta-analysis shows that hookah smokers are inhaling a large load of toxicants. According to the study, compared with a single cigarette, one hookah session delivers approximately 125 times the smoke, 25 times the tar, 2.5 times the nicotine and 10 times the carbon monoxide (CO). The latter stat accounts for the light-headedness and high that smokers experience when inhaling the smoke, since CO reduces the amount oxygen capable of binding to circulating red blood cells. In addition to these estimates, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that, for the first time ...
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8072 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Time to update the science textbooks
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The periodic table has been given four new elements, changing one of science’s most fundamental pieces of knowledge. Elements 113, 115, 117 and 118 will now be added to the table’s seventh row and make it complete, after they were verified by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry on December 30 th. The new elements were discovered by team from Japan, Russia and the USA, who will all get to name their own new elements. All of the four new admissions are man-made. The super-heavy elements are created by shoving lighter nuclei into each other and are found in the radioactive decay - which only exists for a tiny fraction of a second before they decay into other elements. The elements have been worked on since at least 2004, when st ...
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16544 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Glow-in-the-dark shark
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Meet the ninja lanternshark. It's a newly discovered animal that's really weird. It hides in the deep - and its black skin keeps it camouflaged - but it also glows in the dark. The ninja lanternshark was discovered by a team at the Pacific Shark Research Centre, in Moss Landing, California. Its official Latin name is Etmopterus benchleyi, after Jaws author Peter Benchley. The ninja lanternshark is roughly half a metre, or 18 inches long, and it lives at a depth of about 1,000 metres off the Pacific Coast of Central America. Its odd combo of dark and light helps it creep up on its prey, according to its discoverers. ...
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16484 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Bacteria spray gun
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In the reproductive tract of the Hawaiian bobtail squid, there is a mysterious gland that releases bacteria that protect the squid’s eggs from fungus. When researchers applied antibiotics to freshly-laid squid eggs, fuzzy fungus soon moved in, smothering the eggs of the gemlike creatures. For more information, visit: http://www.nap.edu/read/13500/chapter/2#15 ...
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18248 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
How to tell the best joke
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According to a new study, it's your voice that is to blame if your joke ever falls flat. Researchers recorded men and women telling corny one-liners and then manipulated the pitches of their voices. Artificially lowered voices made the speakers sound more dominant; higher pitched voices made them sound less so. Volunteer listeners then rated each joke’s funniness. Female listeners laughed or groaned regardless of the comic’s voice pitch, but for men it depended on how burly and dominant they were. Guys with bigger biceps and higher self-rated attractiveness were more likely to prefer lower-pitched jokes than less dominant listeners, and vice versa, according to a study in press in Evolution and Human Behavior. The researchers suggest humor ...
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25487 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Pluto up-close
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Taken from a range of just 17 000 km, these images were snapped during the spacecraft's closest approach to Pluto, from its flyby of the dwarf planet in July this year. They document an 80-kilometre strip of the planet's surface, offering an intimate perspective of its cratered, mountainous and glacial terrains. The photos scan from Pluto's jagged horizon about 800 kilometres north-west of the informally named Sputnik Planum, across the al-Idrisi mountains, over the shoreline of Sputnik, and across its icy plains. Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-05/new-pluto-close-ups-to-help-nasa-piece-together-planets-history/7004516 ...
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17370 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Do black panthers have spots?
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Black panthers do have spots. By using an infrared camera, scientists have been able to see the hidden patterns for the first time in wild Malaysian panthers.
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5882 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Incredible, these ants can build live bridges with their bodies
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Army ants ( Eciton hamatum, shown above) can form living bridges without any oversight from a "lead" ant and with a clear cost-benefit ratio. The ants will create a path up to the point when too many workers are being diverted from collecting food and prey. Bridges will be the length of 10 to 20 ants - only a few centimeters, but swarms form several bridges a day, which save collective energy and maximize foraging time. The ants exhibit a level of collective intelligence that could provide new insights into animal behavior. Watch the video found here: http://phys.org/news/2015-11-ants-bridges-bodies-video.html ...
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3332 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Sweet tooth explained
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Someone who greatly enjoys sweet foods is said to have a "sweet tooth." Experimental evidence now shows us that eating sweets forms memories that may control eating habits. In other words, people may enjoy eating sweets because the taste is correlated with positive memories. The findings, published online in the journal Hippocampus, show that neurons in the dorsal hippocampus, the part of the brain that is critical for episodic memory, are activated by consuming sweets. Episodic memory is the memory of autobiographical events experienced at a particular time and place. In the study, a meal consisting of a sweetened solution, either sucrose or saccharin, significantly increased the expression of the synaptic plasticity marker called activity ...
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6970 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
What some fish will do to survive
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Shallow waters will sometimes get too hot, forcing one fish to make a break for the shore. The tiny mangrove rivulus (shown above) avoids neurological damage from hot swamps by escaping to land. Retreating to land allows the fish to cool down through a process called evaporative cooling, which is akin to human sweating but using water from the environment. Previously, scientists had suggested that the fish, besides simply escaping hot water, might be taking advantage of evaporative cooling. Source: http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/11/10/20150689 ...
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20480 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Hair loss no more - a promising treatment for baldness
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Isn't it strange, two FDA-approved drugs - topical ruxolitinib or tofacitinib - can reawaken dormant hair follicles! According to the study, within 3 weeks, mice that received topical ruxolitinib or tofacitinib had regrown nearly all their hair (right photo; drug was applied only to the right side of the mouse). Little to no hair growth occurred in control mice during the same timeframe (left photo). According to researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, inhibiting a family of enzymes inside hair follicles that are suspended in a resting state restores hair growth. These drugs, known as JAK inhibitors have been approved to treat blood diseases (ruxolitinib) and the other for rheumatoid arthritis (tofacitinib). Both are being tested ...
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20470 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
World's rarest rabbit rediscovered
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In the Tian Shan Mountains of China, researchers have spotted the elusive Ili Pika, an adorable creature which hasn’t been seen in two decades. The so-called "magic bunny" measures about eight inches long and is a distant relative of the rabbit. It has eluded research teams for decades, sneaking in and out of cliffs. Around the time of its discovery, back in 1983, the species numbered around 2900. Now, their numbers are down to less than a thousand, most likely due to human activity and climate change. ...
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11466 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
One-eyed pigeons are terrible with directions
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When homing pigeons fly home they rely on smells, magnetic fields, and vision to guide their way. But how important visual memory is for pigeons has long remained a mystery. According to a new study, pigeons that learned their way home with a blocked left eye couldn’t repeat the same journey when they wore a patch over their right eye, and vice versa. Instead, they flew slightly off course, following more of a curve than a straight line. Since birds lack a corpus callosum, this suggests that a birds’ lack of this key neural structure greatly affects how pigeons are able to find their way home. Source: http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1816/20151957 ...
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9086 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Elephants possess tumour fighting genes that prevent cancer
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Having more cells usually puts one at a higher risk for cancer - but not for the elephant. Despite packing 100 times as many cells as humans, this towering animal can keep cancer at bay thanks to extra copies of a tumor-fighting gene. Researchers found that Asian elephants harbor 30 to 40 copies of the gene that encodes the protein p53, one of the most important mechanisms for preventing cancer and maintaining cell division. If cells have DNA damage that could spawn tumors, p53 prevents them from dividing until they make repairs or spurs them to commit suicide. In contrast, humans sport only two copies of the gene for p53, and so does elephants’ closest living relative, the rock hyrax. The extra copies probably accumulated millions of yea ...
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9943 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Tiniest snails you'll ever see!
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Angustopila dominikae is the only known specimen measuring the astounding 0.86 mm in shell height. That means ten of them could fit into the eye of a large sewing needle at the same time! Until now, the smallest known land snail was a thai species measuring about 0.9 millimeters long. Researchers believe that it probably feeds on microorganisms and may be hermaphroditic. However, because the team didn’t recover any DNA, a lot of uncertainly remains. ...
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17718 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Turns out that fish oil only benefits those who have the right genes
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Most foods today are fortified with essential oils like omega-3 fatty acids. Naturally, these oils are found in fish, and are known to benefit many parts of the body, including the eyes, brain, heart, and joints. So, are these so-called beneficial oils important for people who lack the DNA profile needed to metabolise them? It turns out that the extra omega-3 might not do much good at all. According to a study published in Science, Inuit people living in Greenland whose traditional diet of fish and marine mammals have the right enzymes in their bodies needed to metabolise these foods that are very high fat content. The researchers reported that their DNA that was most different was on chromosome 11, specifically among genes that control the ...
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15460 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Who knew hawks were a hummingbird's best friend
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Sometimes it pays to have big, bad neighbors! Tiny black-chinned hummingbirds (shown above) have learned to build their homes near hawk nests. The hawks are too big to be interested in teeny hummingbird eggs, and they scare off the medium-sized birds that are. According to the study, of the 342 hummer nests studied over three years, 80% were near hawk nests - and for good reason. The researchers monitored hummingbird egg and fledgling survival near six active and six inactive hawk nests. Those hummers unlucky enough to be near inactive nests lost all but 8% of their young, while those in a “good” neighborhood had a 70% success rate, they report. Source: http://news.sciencemag.org/plants-animals/2015/09/why-hawk-hummingbird-s-best-friend ...
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12325 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
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7361 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
This newly discovered bat has one LONG tongue
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The researchers found the bizarre tube-lipped nectar bat ( Anoura fistulata) - the first record of this species in the park. Described in Ecuador just a decade ago and known from only three records. It has the longest tongue in relation to its size of any mammal - stretching 8.5 cm to reach into the deepest flowers. PS: I added the picture of Dorian (villain from The Mask) below it simply because it was the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the picture. ...
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22341 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Weird things happen when you stare into someone's eyes
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According to a new study conducted out of Italy, staring into another individuals eyes could induce hallucinogenic effects. The experiment is simple: get two individuals to look into each other's eyes for 10 minutes while they are sitting in a dimly lit room. The sensations that ensue resemble mild "dissociation" - a rather vague psychological term for when people lose their normal connection with reality. It can include feeling like the world is unreal, memory loss and odd perceptual experiences, such as seeing the world in black and white Healthy participants said they'd had "... a compelling experience unlike anything they'd felt before", they scored higher on a dissociative states questionnaire than control participants, and 75 per cent ...
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2208 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Why do our eyes move when we're dreaming?
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Scientists have worked out why your eyes move when you’re dreaming. Scientists have known for decades that the rapid eye movements (REMs) that occur during sleep signal that we’re dreaming, but what do the individual eye motions really represent? It’s long been hypothesised that each movement of the eye reflects new visual information in our dreams, and now for the first time researchers have demonstrated that this is actually the case. According to a new study by researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel, each flick of the eye that occurs during REM sleep accompanies the introduction of a new image in our dream, with the movement essentially acting like a reset function between individual dream "snapshots". Source: http://www.sciencealer ...
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3084 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Pre-crastination
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Some of us may be guilty of procrastination, but we all are pre-crastinators at some level. Procrastination is a serious problem to many of us that like to put off work and cram the night before. Not only is procrastination a behavioral problem, but also one with a psychological implication. Procrastination is the "thief of time". On the other hand, precrastination, discovered to be the complete opposite, is the tendency to do things ahead of time - and really ahead of time- just for the sake of completion. Precrastination was found to be exhibited in pigeons as well. And the fact that we and pigeons have separated in phylogeny 300 million years ago suggests that precrastination is a behavior also found earlier in phylogeny. How has this be ...
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9129 |
ehd123 |
8 years ago |
Can our brain run out of space?
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We've all struggled trying to shove magnanimous amounts of information for exams, be it vocabulary, geometry theorems, biology notes, chemistry reactions, physics equations or even just names of acquaintances we meet at weddings or the likes. You might question whether after many years of non-stop learning, be it in a classroom setting, or just basic interactions and do's and don'ts, may we run out of space to absorb all the memories, events and information we encounter. Our brain, unlike the brains of animals and lower ancestors, is not hardwired by instincts. In fact, we have very little in the field of instincts by comparison. Our brain is a learning brain. It is designed to absorb and interconnect information. Now, which of this inform ...
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5011 |
ehd123 |
8 years ago |
Our ancestors never really noticed the color blue
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Our perception has heavily depended on how well we can accurately describe our surroundings. And this description relies on our language. Our ancestors apparently were not capable of perceiving the color blue. If they did, they were not capable of noticing it, simply because there was no term in language for blue. The first civilization to document and affirm the color blue was the Ancient Egyptian Civilization. In fact, the Ancient Egyptians were the only ancestors that were able to produce blue dyes! Moreover, philologists have compared Hindu, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew and many more languages only to find no mention of the color blue. However, just because the term for blue did not exist, does not mean our ancestors did not perceive blue. T ...
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2848 |
ehd123 |
8 years ago |
Being a morning person versus being a 'night owl' can now be explained through genetics
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Researchers from the University of Leicester in the UK have identified nearly 80 genes that are linked to a preference for either 'morningness' or 'eveningness' in flies ( Drosophila melanogaster) - most of these genes can also be found in mammals, too. You'd think that these genes are directly related to the species "biological clock", but instead they are involved in a range of molecular pathways. These molecular processes aren't just delayed in the 'night owl' flies - they were entirely different. One research referred to this behaviour as the 'pinball theory' in the sense that "Once a gene expression is delayed, a completely different cascade of molecular events is carried, similar to the ball in a pinball machine that takes a different r ...
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5791 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Mosquitoes have preferences too
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According to a new study published in the journal PLOS One, it was found that identical twins are equally attractive to mosquitoes than fraternal - or non-identical - twins. This correlation lead researchers to conclude that mosquitoes might be making preferential choices based on differences in our DNA. What causes this preferences? While it may be nice to believe that that mosquitoes are attracted to "sweeter blood", it's not true at all. Female mosquitoes - the ones that bite, in order to get protein necessary for egg development - are actually drawn to us by chemical signals related to body odour. ...
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17847 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Some birds are afraid of butterflies
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It turns out that butterflies with eyelike spots evolved to scare off predators. A recent study concluded that about 68% of the birds that were shown an image with eye-mimicking spots, flew away or showed signs of being startled such as chirping a warning call as they flew in for food (within a controlled setting). That’s on par with the 57% showing the same reactions to the owl with open eyes, the research team notes. The full study can be analyzed in the link below: Source: http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1806/20150202 ...
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31753 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Balding? Try deliberately plucking your hair
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While it may sound counter-intuitive, new research suggests that selectively plucking hairs in very close proximity can stimulate some startlingly dense regrowth. The team behind the study, led by researchers at the University of Southern California, demonstrated that by carefully extracting 200 hairs, one-by-one, from the back of a mouse in a specific configuration and density, they could trigger the growth of around 1,200 new hairs in the area - a five-fold increase. The biological mechanism is shown below: While it's very early days, the researchers say their findings, which were reported in the journal Cell, could pave the way for new treatments for balding, or alopecia. ...
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duddy |
9 years ago |
Try dates, not honey
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While they are super sweet, syrup made from this ancient fruit has antibacterial compounds that are more effective than honey. In case you've never had it or seen it before, dates are a thick, dark brown, and super-sweet fruit used in Middle Eastern cuisine. New research suggests that date syrup contains chemical compounds that help ward off a number of bacterial infections, including those caused by Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. This was discovered after scientists inhibited the growth of these pathogens for about six hours, which researchers say is faster than manuka honey - a honey known for its antibacterial and wound healing properties. ...
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29867 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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33868 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Queen Khentakawess and Osiris
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I am not sure if such blogs are welcome here, but I will try sparking enthusiasm in this subject. Alongside my major field of interest, I have an unhealthy/obsessive curiosity distortion in the archaeology field, specifically Egyptology. And recently, two major discoveries have been made in the Ancient Egyptian land. The first discovery made was that belonging to an Ancient Queen named Khentakawess's the 3rd's tomb, which was located near her husband's tomb, Pharoah Neferefre. These two, date back to the 4th or 5th dynasties, that is approximately 4000 years back in history. Around that time, the first three pyramids, yes, the ones that we see all the time and are the most famous pyramids of Giza, were being built by Pharoahs Khufu, his son ...
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13187 |
ehd123 |
9 years ago |
Rosetta's Comet - Update
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Remember Philae? That little lander that was targeting comet Rosetta? https://biology-forums.com/index.php?article=1050It was very big news around two months ago... Sadly, Philae landed incorrectly in a rather awkward position due to technical failings. After all, it was trying to land on the harsh, unstable, deteriorating/burning up surface of a comet. It bounced three times to a site away from the targeted position and ended up in a shady place with insufficient sunlight to recharge its energy reserves. And so it died out after 60 hours of touchdown. Recent tabloids have now reported that Philae is missing! Scientists from the European Space Agency have tried to analyze the images that Philae returned but things just keep on getting more ...
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13011 |
ehd123 |
9 years ago |
Insights into the Hippocampus
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When Henry Molaison (now widely known as H.M.) cracked his skull in an accident, he began blacking out and having seizures. In an attempt to cure him, daredevil surgeon, Dr. William Skoville, removed H.M.'s hippocampus. Luckily, the seizures did go away — but so did his long-term memory! Sam Kean walks us through this astonishing medical case, detailing everything H.M. taught us about the brain and memory.
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14215 |
ehd123 |
9 years ago |
Fully charged in less than 30 seconds
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Israel-based company, StoreDot, has developed a battery made from a new material called nanodots that can charge a smartphone in just 30 seconds, and could be scaled up to charge an electric car within minutes. These special ‘nanodots’, which are artificial peptide molecules - about 2.1 nanometers in diameter - are released into the battery to rapidly increase its absorption and retention of power - almost like a sponge. ...
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5317 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
A mummy in Italy that blinks
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In the catacombs of Sicily, there's a creepy child mummy named Rosalia Lombardo who appears to open and close her eyes on a regular basis. Here's how a scientist solved the mystery of this little "sleeping beauty". (Hint: she's not actually undead.)
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1275 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Rosetta's Comet
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Two days ago, I streamed history being made for the first time ever online, and witnessed the Philae lander's touchdown on Rosetta's comet. The journey took 10 years, 6.4 billion kms away from here, and a 7 hour long landing. Unfortunately, it was an awkward landing where Philae landed approximately 1km away from its intended landing site that currently, one of its 3 legs is not on the surface of the comet and it itself is oriented in a way that no sufficient sunlight is being recieved enough to charge its batteries ever 12 hour rotation. At the moment, plans to try to "hop" the robot back into a position for enough sunlight are being studied, hopefully in time to execute them before Philae dies out sometime between next Friday and Saturday. ...
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6613 |
ehd123 |
9 years ago |
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duddy |
9 years ago |
This super-effective cancer-fighting berry can help fight cancer
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A drug made from berries produced the blushwood tree ( Hylandia dockrillii), found in Australia, has been used to treat animals with face and neck tumours, and it starts taking effect within five minutes. Human trials have now been approved. According to researchers, in 75 percent of the 300 animals cases, the tumour disappeared in individuals that were treated with isolated compound found in the seed, and has so far not come back. "The compound works in three ways essentially: it kills the tumour cells directly, it cuts off the blood supply and it also activates the body's own immune system to clean up the mess that's left behind." ...
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6247 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Grapes kill bacteria that causes acne?
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An antioxidant derived from grapes, known as resveratrol, could work as an acne treatment by inhibiting bacteria growth. Researchers have found that combining acne medication with the antioxidant makes the drug more effective. Now you may apply grapes on your face ...
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5552 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Female baboons with 'boyfriends' live three years longer
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A study published by the Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Studies presents some of the first evidence showing the beneficial effects of opposite-sex friendships in the animal kingdom. According to the study, females that socialized with other females the most were 34 percent less likely to die in a given period than those who rarely interacted with other females, whereas socializing a lot with males lessened the chances of dying by 45 percent. ...
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4351 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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9579 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Is it a mushroom or an animal?
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These weird deep-sea animals, namely, Dendrogramma enigmatica and Dendrogramma discoides, discovered off the coast of Tasmania in 1986, have just been classified - and they're like no animal alive today. The animals' mostly non-symmetrical body plan is unique, which means they’re not part of the Bilateria group, one of the main animal groupings that includes humans.
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6128 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Peanut allergies could be a thing of the past
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New research from the University of Chicago in the US shows that a class of bacteria known as Clostridia can block peanut allergies in mice, and suggests it could be used to treat similar conditions in humans. Clostridia is one of the types of bacteria killed off by antibiotic use in early childhood, and this research supports the emerging theory that increased antibiotic use is one of the factors that has caused food allergies in kids to rise by 50% since 1997. Source: http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20142708-26075.html ...
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6263 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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duddy |
9 years ago |
Can this sea snail cure herpes?
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Australian scientists are creating a new herpes-blocking drug using a protein found in the blood of abalones. If successful, it could prevent the virus from entering human cells, thereby prevent future outbreaks of cold sores.
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4334 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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6395 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Spider-man would be proud of this finding
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Researchers have uncovered the mechanism that allows spiders to build such strong webs. According to the study, both ends of the spider's silk grand have different pH levels, which helps these proteins become a solid fibre that can be spun into a solid web. The researchers also found that the pH level has different effects on the stability of the two regions at each end of the spidroin proteins. “While one of the ends tended to pair up with other molecules at the beginning of the duct (N-terminal) and became increasingly stable as the acidity increased along the duct, the other end (C-terminal) destabilised as the acidity increased, and gradually unfolded until it formed the structure characteristic of silk at the acidic pH of 5.5”, ex ...
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5196 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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8180 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
World's largest aquatic insect
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The largest aquatic insect in the world has been discovered in China, with a wingspan of 21 cm. And those enormous tusks? They're for mating.
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7527 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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6576 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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duddy |
9 years ago |
HIV is no match for bee venom
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In a breakthrough, scientists have found that nanoparticles carrying a toxin found in bee venom can destroy HIV while leaving surrounding cells unharmed.
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1947 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Did you know that bees and flowers communicate using electric fields?
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Researchers discover that bees and flowers communicate using electric fields. "It turns out flowers have a slight negative charge relative to the air around them. Bumblebees have a charge, too. The plant's electric field is changed by the proximity of that positively charged bee. And once the bee leaves, the field stays changed for 100 seconds or so. That's long enough for the altered field to serve as a warning for the next bee that buzzes by. She won't stop to investigate a flower that's already been visited." ...
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5148 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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3541 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
A spider with claws!
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Cavers in the Pacific Northwest have discovered a type of spider so unusual it belongs to an entirely new lineage. Researchers describing the creature gave it a genus name - Trogloraptor, or "cave robber" - that derives from both its home habitat and its remarkable claws.
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4284 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
A new rock formed out of plastic
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Plastic may be with us a lot longer than we thought! A new type of rock made from plastic, volcanic rock, sand, seashells, and corals has begun forming on the shores of Hawaii. The discovery adds to the debate about whether humanity’s heavy hand in natural processes warrants the formal declaration of a new epoch of Earth history.
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2002 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
World's oldest pants discovered
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These are the ultimate retro pants—and they are depicted to be 3,000 years old! They were found by archaeologists working at the Yanghai cemetery, in western China.
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2048 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
The future is holography
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Pixie Dust is a new display technology that uses sound waves to levitate tiny particles that are then arranged into images and animations. Imagine these floating particles suddenly coming together to form a computer or television screen.
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3265 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Stress alters children's DNA
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Stress affects children too. Children who grow up in stressful situations have shorter telomeres, an early sign of genetic ageing that makes them vulnerable to diseases such as cancer. Telomeres shrink when cells divide, but when they get too short, the cell can’t divide and dies.
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2083 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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duddy |
10 years ago |
Shock-absorbing goo found within bones
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A viscous fluid made out of citrate and water is what gives our bones flexibility. The gooey fluid is trapped between the tiny crystals of calcium phosphate that form our bones, absorbing shocks and allowing movement. Without this fluid the crystals fuse together and become less flexible and brittle.
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3043 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Half granny, half delicious
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A one in a million apple has been found on a property in Kingston in southern Tasmania. Half granny smith, half red delicious, it's thought that this mutation is the result of all the mutations that led to the Australian royal red gala, and this particular apple is trying to revert to a couple of its previous versions.
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3503 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Sleep-deprived? You want to read this
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Researchers have found that chronic sleep loss is more serious than previously thought and may lead not only to loss of brain cells, but to irreversible physical damage. According to this study, people who don’t sleep enough can also be at risk of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
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2180 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
House plants could one day power our computers
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Researchers have discovered a novel method to harness photosynthesis to create electricity. By attaching nanotubes to plant cells, the researchers were able to direct the electrons that plants free during photosynthesis down a wire and generate electrical current – and it was twice as powerful as electricity gathered from solar cells.
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duddy |
10 years ago |
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duddy |
10 years ago |
Invasive cockroach reach home
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An invasive cockroach species has made it to New York. The roach is native to Japan, has an unusual resistance to cold weather and thrives on ice, but researchers still don’t know if it will spread to other American cities. This is the first time that this species of cockroach has been spotted in the US.
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12876 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
There's no place like home
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Female lemon sharks return to the place they were born almost 15 years later to give birth to their own young, a longer-term study has revealed, confirming "homing" behaviour for the first time in sharks.
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5787 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
An actual semi-dinosaur foot
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This is indeed the foot of a megalapteryx - better known as a moa. Moas were huge flightless birds that went extinct approximately 600 years ago. Keep in mind that all birds are descended from dinosaurs.
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6799 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
World's cleanest bacteria
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A bacterium previously unknown to science was found in two spacecraft clean rooms, one in Florida and the other in Guiana. Space agencies use these rooms to prepare spacecraft for launch and are considered two of the most sterile places on Earth.
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5740 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Rare whale sighting
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Considered the rarest whale population in the world, a North Pacific right whale ( Eubalaena japonica) is an incredible sight to see. And for just the second time since 1951, one of these 17-metre-long creatures was spotted off the coast of British Columbia.
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2479 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Who knew chili peppers were good for you
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Exposure to cold and eating chili peppers both appear to increase the activity of brown fat cells, which burn energy, rather than store it as typical "white" fat cells do, a study has found.
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6896 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Oreo cookies are more addictive than cocaine
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Researchers have found that Oreos are as addictive as cocaine, at least for lab rats. According to the new study, eating the black and white cookies activated more neurons in the rat brain’s pleasure centre than drugs such as cocaine.
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3395 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
A new species of giant fish as been discovered
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The new species is member of the arapaima genus, which contains some of the world’s biggest freshwater fish that breathe air and weigh up to 200kg. Found in the central Amazon of Brazil, the new fish has been named Arapaima leptosoma and is the first new species of arapaima described since 1847.
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3942 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Massive flying squirrel
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Named Biswamoyopterus laoensis, with a suggested common name of the Laotian giant flying squirrel. It weighs around 1.8 kg and measures about 42 inches (1.08 m) in total length – the body is about 18 inches (0.46 m) long and the tail is 24 inches (0.62 m) long.
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2495 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Imagine staying in flight for six months straight
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New data shows alpine swift can spend up to 200 days in the air. It is a mystery how the birds are able to physiologically accomplish this feat. While their diet is relatively straightforward, they feed on airborne insects, how they rest in midair is not known.
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3585 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
It's no wonder this species was so hard to find
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Biologists from James Cook University have discovered a new species of leaf-tailed gecko in Australia. The lizard is highly camouflaged against the granite boulders it lives on and grows to around 12 cm. It's been named the Cape Melville leaf-tailed gecko ( Saltaurius eximius) after the region in northern Queensland where it was found.
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6440 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
So, chemistry is all theory, right?
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Using high-resolution atomic force microscopy, a hydrogen bond has been imaged for the first time. This technique is quite similar to the one used to photograph bonds breaking and reforming that was announced earlier this year.
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4728 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Self-exploding ants
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Carpenter ants ( Camponotus cylindricus) are found in Borneo and expel the lethal sticky substance to defend their colony. Both ant and invader are killed in these attacks; they fall from the canopy as a pair into the leaf litter below, to eventually be eaten by something. Most of the bodies of the south-east Asian Camponotus cylindricus ants are for storage of the deadly secretion. The insects react quickly - when researchers lightly touched them with forceps their abdomen walls ruptured. ...
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2509 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Liver genes play a role in sleeping
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New research has shown that liver genes play a key role in regulating our body clock, and could be the target for treatments that help shift workers and international travellers 'reset' their internal rhythm and reduce their risk of obesity and diabetes.
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2615 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Can anyone whisper, evolution?
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Zookeepers at Central Park Zoo in the US assumed their cotton-top tamarins were falling silent every time someone entered their enclosure, but spectrograms, which provide visual representations of sound, revealed what was really going on. These little monkeys were actually whispering their alarm calls instead of shouting them, which is the first evidence of whispering in a non-human primate species.
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duddy |
10 years ago |
These aren't snakes, people - they are lizards
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Four species of legless lizard have been identified in the sand dunes of Antioch, California. This picture introduces Anniella grinnelli, one of the recently found species. It has a bright yellow belly and a lilac back with deep purple lines, and was named after Joseph Grinnell, the first director of the Berkeley Zoology Museum.
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2603 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Beetles the size of period
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The water beetle is about 1 mm in length and has been named Hydraena ateneo. Most of the discoveries made in the Philippines occur in their forests, making this discovery even more surprising.
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3546 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Vulnerability to tuberculosis
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If you’re not already acquainted, meet Mycobacterium tuberculosis – a wildly successful bacterium that has marched in lockstep with our population growth and history. The cause of tuberculosis, this bacterium is said to infect a new host every single second. Research lead Caitlin Pepperell from University of Wisconsin-Madison remarked, "Evolutionary theory predicts that M. tuberculosis populations should be vulnerable to extinction. Yet it is obviously highly prevalent. It must have some incredibly clever strategies and tricks to hang on." A paper published last month in PLoS Pathogens investigated 63 genomes from the bacteria and related pathogenic mycobacteria to gain insight into how natural election pressures have shaped its evolution and ...
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3412 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Who needs supplements when you have kiwis?
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Researchers from University of Otago have found that a natural fruit source of vitamin C – kiwifruit – is vastly superior to a purified supplement form. The researchers are studying kiwifruit as a source of dietary vitamin C and found that in mice eating kiwifruit, vitamin C uptake was five times as effective as taking a purified supplement form. The study was recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the highest ranking journal for human nutrition research. ...
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4079 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Do babies learn while they are still in the womb?
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The researchers gave pregnant women a recording of several spoken variations of the made-up word "tatata" to play daily during their last trimester. When tested using EEG sensors after birth, their infants' brains recognised the words and its variations, while the control group did not.
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3522 |
savio |
10 years ago |
An unrecognized hero
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"I believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted."Alan Turing (left) was a hero to the British people and the free world whose work cracking the codes of Axis powers saved lives and helped the war effort. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, giving a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general purpose computer ...
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3563 |
savio |
10 years ago |
A peculiar lobster has been discovered
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1 out of every 50-100 million lobsters has split coloring. One side is typically a dark brown, while the other side is blue, orange, or red. These individuals usually exhibit traits of both males and females.
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4866 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
New species discovered in the Western Hemisphere
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Meet olinguito, or Bassaricyon neblina, the first species of carnivore discovered in the Western Hemisphere in 35 years. This cute teddy bear-like nocturnal mammal is native to Central and South America, and spends most of its time in the treetops, coming down to the forest floor occasionally to eat fruits such as guava.
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3937 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
First poisonous bird discovered
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The hooded Pitohui was one of the first poisonous birds discovered. It has a toxin on its skin and feathers that can induce tingling or numbness when touched. It is a common bird in New Guinea.
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2289 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Two new gigantic viruses
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Have you heard about two new gigantic viruses that have been discovered? They measure around 1 micrometer long & half that across – larger than some eukaryotic cells! Massive genomes up to 2.5 Mb (millions of base pairs) are present to match their giant size. Their discovery raises many questions on viral diversity that remains unexplored.
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2254 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
The plastisphere
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Much of the debris in our oceans consists of small fragments of detritus no larger than a fingernail. These confetti-like plastic pieces act as microbial reefs – their own ecosystems – in the vast open ocean. Scientists are studying them to help better understand the predation and symbiosis in these mini ecosystems themselves and also how they are affecting the ocean and its other communities on a broader scale.
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3330 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Dumbo Octopus
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The Dumbo Octopus belongs to the genus Grimpoteuthis, and is given its nickname based on its resemblance to the large-eared Disney elephant. They can live up to 7,000 meters below the surface, though many are found between 1,000 and 4,000 meters. It feeds unlike any other octopus, by skimming the surface of the sea floor looking for crustaceans to swallow whole. The largest specimen on record was 1.8 m (6ft) long, weighing 5.9 kg (13 pounds).
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10 years ago |
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10 years ago |
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10 years ago |
Spiders smaller than a grain of sand
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Two new species of spiders have been discovered in China, and neither of them are bigger than a grain of sand. They live in the damp litter of the forest, which is why they had gone unnoticed for so long. Both species are part of the Mysmenidae family, which are somewhat poorly understood orb-weaving spiders. Mysmena wawuensis (top) measures 0.75 mm, while Trogloneta yuensis (bottom) is 1.01 mm.
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8357 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Earliest form of dentistry
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The earliest evidence of ancient dentistry we have is an amazingly detailed dental work on a mummy from ancient Egypt that archaeologists have dated to 2000 BCE.
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9065 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
World's clearest lake
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These are the first photos ever taken of the clearest lake in the world. In the water of Blue Lake in New Zealand's South Island you can see for around 76 metres - in distilled water you can see 80 metres.
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Geneticists have eliminated schizophrenia-like symptoms in mice
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Schizophrenia has a variety of causes and a spectrum of severity of symptoms. Geneticists were able to cause schizophrenia-like symptoms by over-expressing Neuregulin-1 (NRG1). Scientists discovered that these mice not only had nearly the same symptoms as humans with schizophrenia, but they even develop the symptoms at the same stage in life. Geneticists have been able to modify the expression of NRG1 in adult mice, bringing it down to appropriate levels. This caused schizophrenia-like symptoms in these mice to disappear and behavior returned to normal. ...
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10 years ago |
Dental cavities could be a thing of the past
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Dental cavities aren’t caused by sugar, but by a byproduct from bacteria that feed on that sugar. A new molecule called Keep 32 has been created to eliminate that bacteria in the mouth. If the human trials go well, Keep 32 may begin to appear in toothpastes to help make dental visits less painful and keep smiles healthier and brighter.
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10 years ago |
A human confused as an alien
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This bizarre looking thing is "Ata the humanoid", a mummified corpse found in the Atacama Desert ten years ago. It's strange appearance led to many calling it an "alien", claiming it as proof that extraterrestrials have visited Earth. Well, it's finally been submitted to a battery of tests and the results show it to be fully human. DNA analysis has even managed to pinpoint the location and nationality of its mother. The results do suggest that it was once alive and human, not a hoax, and so asks more questions than they answer. The bone analysis suggests that this is not a fetus, but a child between the ages of 6-8. The specimen has just ten ribs (as opposed to 12), is just six inches long and has severe facial deformities. These symptoms do ...
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10 years ago |
New bat species discovered
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This striped bat is only the fifth of its kind to be collected, and is so unique, it warranted the creation of a new genus.
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2776 |
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11 years ago |
A new species of monkey discovered
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Scientists claim they have discovered a species of monkey previously unknown to science in the Democratic Republic of Congo -- only the second new species of monkey to be discovered in 28 years. The monkey has been named Cercopithecus lomamiensis, known locally as the Lesula.
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duddy |
11 years ago |
The giant squid once faced a population bottleneck
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Genetic testing of giant squid corpses discovered all over the world has found that not only are they all the same species, they have surprisingly low genetic diversity. This suggests that some time in the recent past they were pushed to the brink of extinction, but managed to rebound and are now found throughout the worlds oceans.
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11 years ago |
The Midas touch
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Mythical King Midas was ultimately doomed because everything he touched turned to gold. Now, the reverse has been found in bacteria that owe their survival to a natural Midas touch. Delftia acidovorans lives in sticky biofilms that form on top of gold deposits, but exposure to dissolved gold ions can kill it. That's because although metallic gold is unreactive, the ions are toxic. To protect itself, the bacterium has evolved a chemical that detoxifies gold ions by turning them into harmless gold nanoparticles. These accumulate safely outside the bacterial cells. ...
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11 years ago |
Asteriod impacts
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The third largest asteroid to ever hit earth has been found in South Australia. According to scientists involved, the asteroid, which measured up to 20 km across, hit Earth approximately 360 million years ago. This was around the time of the Late Devonian mass extinction, strengthening the idea that asteroid impacts have been associated with many mass extinctions throughout the history of life on Earth.
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11 years ago |
Atelopus varius
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This is the Costa Rican variable harlequin toad ( Atelopus varius), also known as the clown frog (in spite of the fact that it is a true toad). They once ranged from Costa Rica to Panama, but are now listed as critically endangered and reduced to a single population in Costa Rica. The variable harlequin toads conspicuous colouring serves as a warning to predators of the toads toxicity.
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5268 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
What happens to spiders when they are on drugs?
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In 1995 a group of NASA scientists repeated and refined some earlier tests on the effect that various drugs have on the web building abilities of the common garden spider. They tested the the effect of caffeine, benzedrine, marijuana and chloral hydrate and as you can see the results were pretty extreme!
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11 years ago |
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duddy |
11 years ago |
The LifeStraw
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The LifeStraw removes nearly 100% of waterborne bacteria and can filter up to 1000 L of water. Throughout the world, an estimated 884 million people still do not have access to clean sources of water. According to the LifeStraw manufacturers, the device contains no chemicals or batteries and makes it possible to drink safely from any river, lake or puddle. ...
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duddy |
11 years ago |
Breast milk - a pool of bacteria
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Breast milk contains more than 700 species of bacteria! Spanish researchers have traced the bacterial microbiota map in breast milk. The study has revealed a larger microbial diversity than originally thought (more than 700 species) and that it changes over the period of lactation, with the weight of the mother & by delivery method of the baby (c-section versus. vaginal). To create this microbiome (the identification of the set of bacteria contained within breast milk) scientists used a technique based on massive DNA sequencing. Thanks to their study, additional pre- and postnatal variables influencing the micriobial richness of milk can now be determined. ...
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10442 |
bio_man |
11 years ago |
Underwater world
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Near the town of Tragöß in Styria, Austria you can find this stunning lake known as Grüner See (Green Lake). Named Green Lake for its amazingly clear emerald green water it’s mostly the result of seasonal snowmelt from the surrounding Hochschwab Mountains and forests. During winter months the lake is only 1-2m deep with the rest of the area used as a county park, however as spring arrives the lake grows in size from all the melting snow reaching at its peak around mid-May 12m deep in places. Not surprisingly the waters are a little chilly at 6-7oC, although it remains popular among divers during the peak months who love to pose on the underwater bench and visit the flooded green meadows. ...
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bio_man |
11 years ago |