How can life originate from a lifeless chemical soup? This question has puzzled scientists since Darwin's 'Origin of species'. University of Groningen chemistry professor Sijbren Otto studies 'chemical evolution' to see if ...
Biochemistry
Jan 4, 2016
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Colorado potato beetles are a dreaded pest of potatoes all over the world. Since they do not have natural enemies in most potato producing regions, farmers try to control them with pesticides. However, this strategy is often ...
Biotechnology
Feb 26, 2015
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Sugars are usually known as energy storage units in plants and the insects that feed on them. But, sugars may also be part of a deadly game of tag between plant and insect according to scientists at the Max Planck Institute ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 25, 2014
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A new study on silkmoths revealed that the insects' ability to perceive environmental odors has been reduced after about 5,000 years of domestication by humans. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 21, 2013
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(Phys.org) —In a world full of hungry predators, prey animals must be constantly vigilant to avoid getting eaten. But plants face a particular challenge when it comes to defending themselves.
Plants & Animals
Aug 7, 2013
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Once introduced for biological pest control, Asian lady beetle Harmonia axyridis populations have been increasing uncontrollably in the US and Europe since the turn of the millennium. The species has been proliferating rapidly ...
Ecology
May 16, 2013
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Plants use underground fungal networks to warn their neighbours of aphid attack, UK scientists have discovered.
Ecology
May 10, 2013
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In the spring following a forest fire, trees that survived the blaze explode in new growth and plants sprout in abundance from the scorched earth. For centuries, it was a mystery how seeds, some long dormant in the soil, ...
Biotechnology
Apr 29, 2013
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Highly developed antennae containing different types of olfactory receptors allow insects to use minute amounts of odors for orientation towards resources like food, oviposition sites or mates. Scientists at the Max Planck ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 18, 2013
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Max Planck scientists in Jena, Germany, have discovered an unusual regulation of enzymes that catalyze chain elongation in an important secondary metabolism, the terpenoid pathway. In the horseradish leaf beetle Phaedon cochleariae ...
Biochemistry
Feb 28, 2013
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