Dolphins have a clever trick for overcoming sleep deprivation. Sam Ridgway from the US Navy Marine Mammal Program explains that they are able to send half of their brains to sleep while the other half remains conscious. What ...
Plants & Animals
May 1, 2009
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Dengue fever is a terrible viral disease blighting many of the world's tropical regions. Carried by mosquitoes, such as Aedes aegypti, 40% of the world's population is believed to be at risk from the infection. What is more, ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 1, 2009
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During the last 540 million years, the earth's oxygen levels have fluctuated wildly. Knowing that the dinosaurs appeared around the time when oxygen levels were at their lowest at 12%, Tomasz Owerkowicz, Ruth Elsey and James ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 17, 2009
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Scientists from the University of Wisconsin, USA, report in the journal Development the successful generation from human embryonic stem cells of a type of cell that can make myelin, a finding that opens up new possibilities ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 9, 2009
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When tiny semipalmated sandpipers embark on their annual odyssey from the Canadian Arctic to their winter residences in South America, they set out on one of the world's longest migrations. On the way, the tiny birds stop ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 27, 2009
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Austin Smith and his research team at the Centre for Stem Cell Research in Cambridge have just published in the journal Development a new and safer way of generating pluripotent stem cells - the stem cells that can give rise ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 27, 2009
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Nestled just off the east coast of Australia, picturesque North Stradbroke Island is a haven for local wildlife. Yet some of the inhabitants of the island's creeks and swamps are far from peaceful. Slender crayfish are aggressive ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 27, 2009
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If you've ever tried capturing a lizard, you'll know how difficult it is. But if you do manage to corner one, many have the ultimate emergency quick release system for escape. They simply drop their tails, leaving the twitching ...
Feb 13, 2009
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Anyone with a sweet tooth knows that too much of a good thing can lead to negative consequences. The same can be said about the signals that help maintain nerve cells, as demonstrated in a new study of myelin, a protein ...
Feb 2, 2009
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Scientists report that human gene mutations expressed in yeast cells can predict the severity of Batten Disease, a fatal nervous system disorder that begins during childhood. The new study published in Disease Models & Mechanisms ...
Dec 22, 2008
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