http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- In an experiment designed to illustrate the different ways that animals use their own unique type of intelligence to accomplish certain goals, a team of zoologists and biologists from the University of Vienna and Oxford University, led by biologist Dr. Alice Auersperg have shown that New Caledonian crows and a type of green parrot called the kea, are both able to accomplish similar difficult tasks, but go about doing so in very different ways. In a paper published in PLoS ONE, the team describe how when confronted with a box with food inside, both species of birds showed high levels of intelligence in getting at that food, but went about doing so in ways uniquely suited to their physical and behavioral attributes. http://phys.org/news226838952.html Biology Thu, 09 Jun 2011 11:49:58 EST news226838952 (PhysOrg.com) -- In a novel experiment running over three years, evolutionary biologists Christopher Harbison and Dale Clayton, both of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, sought to show that a certain species of lice evolved the way it did, in part due to the way it’s hosts evolved; while another species of lice on the same hosts, did not. By studying two different types of lice that live in the feathers of doves and pigeons, the two researchers, as described in their paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) show that one of the lice species had a similar evolutionary history to its host, while the other did not, due to its inability to migrate to other birds. http://phys.org/news225455911.html Biology Tue, 24 May 2011 11:38:46 EST news225455911 (PhysOrg.com) -- About 580 million years ago, life on Earth began a rapid period of change called the Cambrian Explosion, a period defined by the birth of new life forms over many millions of years that ultimately helped bring about the modern diversity of animals. Fossils help palaeontologists chronicle the evolution of life since then, but drawing a picture of life during the 3 billion years that preceded the Cambrian Period is challenging, because the soft-bodied Precambrian cells rarely left fossil imprints. However, those early life forms did leave behind one abundant microscopic fossil: DNA. http://phys.org/news211987334.html Biology Sun, 19 Dec 2010 13:22:56 EST news211987334 Nanotechnologists, marine biologists and signal-processing experts from Rice University, the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., and other U.S. universities have won a $6 million grant from the Office of Naval Research to unlock the secrets of nature's best camouflage artists. Ultimately, the team hopes to create "metamaterials" that emulate some of the elegant skin colors and patterns produced by marine animals. http://phys.org/news211118221.html Nanotechnology Thu, 09 Dec 2010 11:57:35 EST news211118221 (AP) -- Federal wildlife biologists have confirmed sightings of two more Sierra Nevada red foxes that once were thought to be extinct. http://phys.org/news210651240.html Biology Sat, 04 Dec 2010 02:30:02 EST news210651240 The largest mammal that ever walked the Earth -- Indricotherium transouralicum, a hornless rhinoceros-like herbivore that weighed approximately seventeen tons and stood about eighteen feet high at the shoulder -- lived in Eurasia almost 34 million years ago. In a paper just published in the journal Science, an international team of researchers has compiled and analyzed an enormous database of information about the largest mammals across time and around the globe, revealing striking patterns in their evolution. http://phys.org/news209917140.html Biology Thu, 25 Nov 2010 14:19:18 EST news209917140 Among the traits they share in common -- proximity to the coast, popularity among tourists, renowned, painterly light -- Venice, Italy, and San Diego also share one all-too-disturbing similarity: They are both in considerable danger if climate change leads to a predicted rise in sea levels. http://phys.org/news209813914.html Space & Earth Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:38:55 EST news209813914 Will polar bears survive in a warmer world? UCLA life scientists present new evidence that their numbers are likely to dwindle. http://phys.org/news209811411.html Biology Wed, 24 Nov 2010 08:57:08 EST news209811411 Pterosaurs, the largest creatures ever to take to the skies, were adept fliers in a balmy breeze but would have crashed in stormy weather, according to a study published Wednesday. http://phys.org/news209761871.html Other Sciences Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:11:27 EST news209761871 Biologists have long thought that interactions between plants and pollinating insects hasten evolutionary changes and promote biological diversity. However, new findings show that some interactions between plants and pollinators are less likely to increase diversity than previously thought, and in some instances, reduce it. http://phys.org/news209666084.html Biology Mon, 22 Nov 2010 16:37:11 EST news209666084 At least 1.3 million sharks, many listed as endangered, were harvested from the Atlantic in 2008 by industrial-scale fisheries unhampered by catch or size limits, according to a tally released Monday. http://phys.org/news209620501.html Biology Mon, 22 Nov 2010 04:10:01 EST news209620501 A Harvard botanist is citing climate change lessons learned at Walden Pond and urging evolutionary biologists into the global warming fray, where their knowledge of species’ genetic relationships can inform climate change predictions and guide mitigation efforts. http://phys.org/news209386110.html Biology Fri, 19 Nov 2010 10:48:41 EST news209386110 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study analysing how complex, highly-evolved societies are organised in nature has found that it is workers that play a pivotal role in creating well-ordered societies where conflict is minimized. http://phys.org/news207925067.html Biology Tue, 02 Nov 2010 20:00:02 EST news207925067 Researchers have identified a marine giant virus that infects Cafeteria roenbergensis, a widespread planktonic predator that occupies a key position in marine food webs, according to a study. http://phys.org/news207902435.html Biology Tue, 02 Nov 2010 07:40:51 EST news207902435 Evolutionary biologists at the University of Toronto have found that environment plays a key role in determining whether a species opts for sexual over asexual reproduction. http://phys.org/news206277949.html Biology Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:40:01 EST news206277949 Warmer oceans promote invasive animals and threaten natives, say UC Davis marine biologists who report striking new evidence from the eastern Pacific fishing harbor of Bodega Bay, Calif. http://phys.org/news206181952.html Biology Wed, 13 Oct 2010 09:46:22 EST news206181952 A humpback whale has broken the world record for travel by any mammal, swimming at least 9,800 kilometres (6,125 miles) from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean in search of a mate, marine biologists reported on Wednesday. http://phys.org/news206162911.html Biology Wed, 13 Oct 2010 04:29:07 EST news206162911 (AP) -- Corals at remote atolls northwest of the main Hawaiian islands suffered some bleaching this summer as ocean temperatures rose to higher-than-normal levels for a couple of weeks, but they were spared the large-scale mass bleaching observed this year in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, scientists said Wednesday. http://phys.org/news205042855.html Space & Earth Thu, 30 Sep 2010 05:30:05 EST news205042855 The yellow monkeyflower, an unassuming little plant that lives as both a perennial on the foggy coasts of the Pacific Northwest and a dry-land annual hundreds of miles inland, harbors a significant clue about evolution. http://phys.org/news204913836.html Biology Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:30:56 EST news204913836 Healthy reefs with more corals and fish generate predictably greater levels of noise, according to researchers working in Panama. This has important implications for understanding the behaviour of young fish, and provides an exciting new approach for monitoring environmental health by listening to reefs. http://phys.org/news204199564.html Space & Earth Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:30:02 EST news204199564 Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have developed a new computational method that will help streamline the analysis of gene expression experiments and provide scientists with a better mechanistic understanding of the differences between diseased and normal cells. The new database and software, called ChIP Enrichment Analysis (ChEA), will revolutionize how researchers identify drug targets and biomarkers. http://phys.org/news203762282.html Medicine & Health Wed, 15 Sep 2010 10:00:01 EST news203762282 (AP) -- Scientists plan to monitor corals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands next month for signs of bleaching that could harm the reefs. http://phys.org/news201718363.html Space & Earth Sun, 22 Aug 2010 17:52:53 EST news201718363 The Wildlife Conservation Society today released initial field observations that indicate that a dramatic rise in the surface temperature in Indonesian waters has resulted in a large-scale bleaching event that has devastated coral populations. http://phys.org/news201230210.html Space & Earth Tue, 17 Aug 2010 02:17:14 EST news201230210 A scientific breakthrough might assist in the fight against mosquitoes. New research carried out at the University of Haifa in collaboration with researchers from other universities has chemically identified, for the first time, compounds released by mosquitoes' natural aquatic predators that function as warning signals for egg laying mosquitoes. Introducing these natural chemicals into mosquito breeding sites will cause the mosquitoes to sense risk of predation to their progeny and avoid laying their eggs there. These findings will soon be published in the prestigious journal Ecology Letters. http://phys.org/news198924214.html Biology Wed, 21 Jul 2010 10:10:01 EST news198924214 (AP) -- A gray whale that was stranded off the shores of Washington state and managed to get back to open waters has beached itself again. http://phys.org/news197871244.html Biology Fri, 09 Jul 2010 05:14:16 EST news197871244 Long before TV's campy Fantasy Island, the isolation of island communities has touched an exotic and magical core in us. Darwin's fascination with the Galapagos island chain and the evolution of its plant and animal life is just one example. http://phys.org/news197813515.html Biology Thu, 08 Jul 2010 13:30:01 EST news197813515 (PhysOrg.com) -- The capture of a bighead carp in Lake Calumet, Ill., on June 22 (Tuesday), is the first capture of a live Asian carp between the electric barrier in the Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS) and Lake Michigan. The capture confirms the presence of live Asian carp with unimpeded access to Lake Michigan and validates earlier discoveries of environmental DNA (eDNA) of Asian carp, which indicated the fish were nearby. http://phys.org/news196622551.html Biology Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:22:51 EST news196622551 Tracing the success of individual wild insects in leaving descendants is now possible according to new research by University of Exeter biologists using a combination of digital video technology, tagging and DNA fingerprinting. http://phys.org/news194792787.html Biology Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:10:05 EST news194792787 (PhysOrg.com) -- Whales are remarkably diverse, with 84 living species of dramatically different sizes and more than 400 other species that have gone extinct, including some that lived partly on land. Why are there so many whale species, with so much diversity in body size? http://phys.org/news194285889.html Biology Fri, 28 May 2010 17:18:34 EST news194285889 Evolutionary biologists on Tuesday said they had scientific backing to confirm suspicions that movies exploit our innate response to alarm and distress calls. http://phys.org/news194034944.html Biology Tue, 25 May 2010 20:10:01 EST news194034944