News tagged with current biology

Related topics: brain , genes , fruit flies , fish , brain regions

Gut movements in caterpillars inspire soft-body robot design (w/ Video)

"Weird movements" in the abdomens of freely crawling caterpillars are making headlines in the fields of engineering and biology, says Jake Socha, Virginia Tech assistant professor of engineering science and ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 22, 2010 | popularity 4 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The secret to sniffing out a safe supper

When mice smell the scent of food on the breath of their fellow mice, they use that experience to decide what's safe to eat in the future. Key in that learning process is the pairing of a particular odor with a chemical ingredient ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 15, 2010 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Part of the brain that tracks limbs in space discovered

Scientists have discovered the part of the brain that tracks the position of our limbs as we move through space.

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Jul 15, 2010 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (9) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

For female baboons, too, it's good to have friends

Female baboons that maintain closer ties with other members of their troop live substantially longer than do those whose social bonds are less stable, a recent study has found. The researchers say that the ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 01, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Old males win sex battle

(PhysOrg.com) -- Old roosters can still dominate the sexual pecking order even when their ability to fertilise eggs drastically declines, new Oxford University research has shown.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jun 25, 2010 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Why chimpanzees attack and kill each other

Bands of chimpanzees violently kill individuals from neighboring groups in order to expand their own territory, according to a 10-year study of a chimp community in Uganda that provides the first definitive ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jun 21, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (11) | comments 68 | with audio podcast

Brain study shows that the opinions of others matters

Simon Cowell may appear to relish arguing with his fellow judges when they disagree with him, but new research out today suggests that - at least at a neuronal level - he would find their agreement much more ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Jun 17, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Battle of the bugs leaves humans as collateral damage

It's a tragedy of war that innocent bystanders often get caught in the crossfire. But now scientists at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oxford have shown how a battle for survival at a ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jun 17, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (10) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New research shows malaria threat is as old as humanity

New research published today by scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) shows that malaria is tens of thousands of years older than previously thought. An international team, ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jun 17, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Tiny insect brains capable of huge feats

Insects may have tiny brains the size of a pinhead, but the latest research from the University of Adelaide shows just how clever they really are.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jun 11, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (9) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Researchers Identify New Steps in Spread of Malaria Parasite Through Bloodstream

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have observed two previously unknown steps in the spread of the malaria parasite through the bloodstream. And in laboratory cultures, the researchers interfered ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Jun 10, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Sharks can really sniff out their prey, and this is how they do it

It's no secret that sharks have a keen sense of smell and a remarkable ability to follow their noses through the ocean, right to their next meal. Now, researchers reporting online on June 10th in Current Bi ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jun 10, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Biologists identify genes regulating sleeping and feeding

In the quest to better understand how the brain chooses between competing behaviors necessary for survival, scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and New York University have isolated two genes in the ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jun 10, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

A turn-off for cancer: Scientists discover an ancient 'switch' in plants that could halt cancer metastasis

Although plants and animals are very different organisms, they share a surprising number of biological mechanisms. A plant biologist at Tel Aviv University says that one of these mechanisms may be the answer ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jun 07, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

For the first time, scientists capture very moment blood flow begins

By capturing movies of both the blood and vasculature of zebrafish embryos, each less than two millimeters long, researchers have been able for the first time to see the very moment that blood begins to flow.

Biology / Other

created Jun 03, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast