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Sexual reproduction works thanks to ever-evolving host, parasite relationships: study

(PhysOrg.com) -- It seems we may have parasites to thank for the existence of sex as we know it. Indiana University biologists have found that, although sexual reproduction between two individuals is costly ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 07, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Model predicts 'religiosity gene' will dominate society

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the past 20 years, the Amish population in the US has doubled, increasing from 123,000 in 1991 to 249,000 in 2010. The huge growth stems almost entirely from the religious culture’s ...

Other Sciences / Mathematics

created Jan 28, 2011 | popularity 2.8 / 5 (91) | comments 153 | with audio podcast feature

Men can rest easy -- sex chromosomes are here to stay

Fears that sex-linked chromosomes, such as the male Y chromosome, are doomed to extinction have been refuted in a new genetic study which examines the sex chromosomes of chickens.

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 08, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Insect glands may illuminate human fertilization process

Insect glands are responsible for producing a host of secretions that allow bees to sting and ants to lay down trails to and from their nests. New research from Carnegie scientists focuses on secretions from glands in the ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 03, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Plant diversity is key to maintaining productive vegetation

Vegetation, such as a patch of prairie or a forest stand, is more productive in the long run when more plant species are present, a new University of Minnesota study shows. The unprecedented long-term study of plant biodiversity ...

Biology / Ecology

created May 03, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Meat eating led to earlier weaning, helped humans spread across globe

When early humans became carnivores, their higher-quality diet allowed mothers to wean babies earlier and have more children, with potentially profound effects on population dynamics and the course of human evolution, according ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 18, 2012 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Analysis raises atmospheric, ecologic and economic doubts about forest bioenergy

A large, global move to produce more energy from forest biomass may be possible and already is beginning in some places, but scientists say in a new analysis that such large-scale bioenergy production from ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Apr 18, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Cyanobacterium demonstrates promise for biotechnology feedstock production

Harvard Medical School researchers have engineered a photosynthetic cyanobacterium to boost sugar production, as a first step towards potential commercial production of biofuels and other biotechnologically and industrially ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 17, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Seed size is controlled by maternally produced small RNAs: research

Seed size is controlled by small RNA molecules inherited from a plant's mother, a discovery from scientists at The University of Texas at Austin that has implications for agriculture and understanding plant ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Apr 11, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Changing climate can affect fish fertility

(Phys.org) -- Warmer water temperatures can greatly increase the reproductive capacity of the widely distributed pest fish species gambusia, or mosquito fish, a new study has found.

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 10, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Fertilizer use responsible for increase in nitrous oxide in atmosphere

University of California, Berkeley, chemists have found a smoking gun proving that increased fertilizer use over the past 50 years is responsible for a dramatic rise in atmospheric nitrous oxide, which is a major greenhouse ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Apr 02, 2012 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (9) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Natural levels of nitrogen in tropical forests may increase vulnerability to pollution

(PhysOrg.com) -- Waterways in remote, pristine tropical forests located in the Caribbean and Central America contain levels of nitrogen comparable to amounts found in streams and rivers flowing through polluted forests in ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Mar 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Paternal components in fruit flies, humans may contribute to fertilization, embryonic development

(PhysOrg.com) -- It had long been assumed that the human sperm cell’s mission in life ended once it had transferred its freight of parental DNA to the egg. More recently however, other components of sperm have been implicated ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Feb 29, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Diverse ecosystems are crucial climate change buffer

Preserving diverse plant life will be crucial to buffer the negative effects of climate change and desertification in in the world's drylands, according to a new landmark study.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 12, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study finds fish offspring grow best at same temperature as parents

(PhysOrg.com) -- Fish parents can pre-condition their offspring to grow fastest at the temperature they experienced, according to research published in the February 2012 edition of Ecology Letters. This pre-conditioning, known as transgenerational plasticity (TGP), occurs w ...

Biology / Ecology

created Jan 11, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Fertilizer

Fertilizers are chemical compounds applied to promote plant and fruit growth. Fertilizers are usually applied either through the soil (for uptake by plant roots) or, by foliar feeding (for uptake through leaves).

Fertilizers can be placed into the categories of organic fertilizers (composed of decayed plant/animal matter), or inorganic fertilizers (composed of simple chemicals and minerals). Organic fertilizers are 'naturally' occurring compounds, such as peat, manufactured through natural processes (such as composting), or naturally occurring mineral deposits; inorganic fertilizers are manufactured through chemical processes (such as the Haber process), also using naturally occurring deposits, while chemically altering them (e.g. concentrated triple superphosphate).

Properly applied, organic fertilizers can improve the health and productivity of soil and plants, as they provide different essential nutrients to encourage plant growth. Organic nutrients increase the abundance of soil organisms by providing organic matter and micronutrients for organisms such as fungal mycorrhiza, which aid plants in absorbing nutrients. Chemical fertilizers may have long-term adverse impact on the organisms living in soil[citation needed] and a detrimental long term effect on soil productivity of the soil[citation needed].

For more information about Fertilizer, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: women , eggs , sperm , embryos , infertility