Using computational biology for the annotation of proteins

Research carried out at Universidad Carlos III of Madrid in collaboration with the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas employed computational techniques to improve the characterization of proteins. The system they ...

Muscle powers spearing mantis shrimp attacks

Mantis shrimps pack a powerful punch, whether they smash or spear their victims. According to Maya deVries and Sheila Patek from University of California, Berkeley, smasher mantis shrimps power their claws' ballistic blows ...

It pays to cooperate

Many species exhibit cooperative survival strategies—for example, sharing food or alerting other individuals when a predator is nearby. However, there are almost always freeloaders in the population who will take advantage ...

Soft-shelled turtles urinate through mouth

Chinese soft-shelled turtles are exquisitely adapted to their aquatic lifestyle, sitting contentedly on the bottom of brackish muddy swamps or snorkelling at the surface to breath. According to Y. K. Ip from the National ...

Choreography of submerged whale lunges revealed

Returning briefly to the surface for great lungfuls of air, the underwater lifestyles of whales had been a complete mystery until a small group of pioneers from various global institutions – including Malene Simon, Mark ...

Hummingbirds make flying backward look easy

Animals that move backwards usually require a lot of energy, so Nir Sapir from the University of California Berkeley, USA, was surprised when he realized that hummingbirds execute this maneuver routinely. Wondering how hummingbirds ...

Chocolate makes snails smarter

Chocolate isn't usually on the diet for snails, but when Lee Fruson and Ken Lukowiak from the University of Calgary, became curious about the effects of diet on memory, they decided to try a flavonoid from chocolate, epicatechin ...

Deep-sea crabs grab grub using UV vision

(Phys.org)—Crabs living half-a-mile down in the ocean, beyond the reach of sunlight, have a sort of color vision combining sensitivity to blue and ultraviolet light. Their detection of shorter wavelengths may give the crabs ...

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