Frontpage » Biology » sorted by liverank »

Deep sea animals stowaway on submarines and reach new territory

Marine scientists studying life around deep-sea vents have discovered that some hardy species can survive the extreme change in pressure that occurs when a research submersible rises to the surface. The team's ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 3 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Commonly used pesticide turns honey bees into 'picky eaters'

Biologists at UC San Diego have discovered that a small dose of a commonly used crop pesticide turns honey bees into "picky eaters" and affects their ability to recruit their nestmates to otherwise good sources of food.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 2 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Newly discovered sensory organ in the chin of baleen whales allows them to be world's largest hunters

Lunge feeding in rorqual whales (a group that includes blue, humpback and fin whales) is unique among mammals, but details of how it works have remained elusive. Now, scientists from the Smithsonian Institution ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 14 hours ago | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Hacking code of leaf vein architecture solves mysteries, allows predictions of past climate

(Phys.org) -- UCLA life scientists have discovered new laws that determine the construction of leaf vein systems as leaves grow and evolve. These easy-to-apply mathematical rules can now be used to better ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 21 hours ago | popularity 3.6 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Project to examine 'Yeti' DNA

(Phys.org) -- A new collaboration between Oxford University and the Lausanne Museum of Zoology will use the latest genetic techniques to investigate organic remains that some have claimed belong to the ‘Yeti’ ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 18 hours ago | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

The living fossils of brain evolution

(Phys.org) -- In the course of its evolution, the architecture of the mouse brain may have barely changed. Similar to the tiny ancestors of modern mammals that lived about 80 million years ago, nerve cells ...

Biology / Evolution

created 16 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Octopuses focus on key features for successful camouflage

Octopuses camouflage themselves by matching their body pattern to selected features of nearby objects, rather than trying to match the entire larger field of view, according to new research published in the ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 10 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Warm, dry El Nino weather puts baby sea turtle at risk

Climate variability associated with El Niño was associated with higher mortality for eggs and hatchlings of the critically endangered leatherback turtle, an effect that could be worsened by continuing global climate ...

Biology / Ecology

created 10 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Research suggests cells communicate via biophotons

(Phys.org) -- Biologists have long been familiar with luminescence in organisms, where plants and animals produce visible light, but more intriguing perhaps is the newer field of study centered around biophotons, ...

Biology / Other

created 18 hours ago | popularity 4 / 5 (7) | comments 1 | with audio podcast weblog

Factors behind past lemur species extinctions put surviving species in 'ecological retreat'

New research out today on the long-term impact of species extinctions suggests that the disappearance of one species does not necessarily allow remaining competitor species to thrive by filling now-empty niches.

Biology / Ecology

created 12 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Light pollution transforming insect communities

(Phys.org) -- Street lighting is transforming communities of insects and other invertebrates, according to research by the University of Exeter. Published today in the journal Biology Letters, the study shows ...

Biology / Ecology

created 22 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Human-like spine morphology found in aquatic eel fossil

For decades, scientists believed that a spine with multiple segments was an exclusive feature of land-dwelling animals. But the discovery of the same anatomical feature in a 345-million-year-old eel suggests ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 22 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Not a one-way street: Evolution shapes environment of Connecticut lakes

Environmental change is the selective force that preserves adaptive traits in organisms and is a primary driver of evolution. However, it is less well known that evolutionary change in organisms also trigger ...

Biology / Evolution

created 22 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Top 10 new species list draws attention to diverse biosphere

The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and a committee of scientists from around the world announced their picks for the top 10 new species described in 2011. This ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 14 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

An introduced bird competitor tips the balance against Hawaiian species

Biologists Leonard Freed and Rebecca Cann from the University of Hawaii at Manoa have been studying birds at Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge for 20 years. Located on an old cattle ranch on the windward ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 14 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0