South Africa has an unparalleled fossil record of prehistoric life. It also holds a key position within the African nursery of humankind. And so, the country's palaeontology tells the story not just of those who live in it, ...
Archaeology
Oct 1, 2018
0
47
When it comes to changing their passwords, bacteria are just as bad as you and me—maybe even worse. A Carnegie Mellon University research team has found that despite 2.7 billion years of evolution, bacteria are still using ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 25, 2018
0
166
Science may have enabled us to travel in space and trace the history of the entire universe, but it has not yet been able to answer exactly how and when life first arose on our planet. Traditionally, scientists have used ...
Evolution
Aug 21, 2018
0
86
Just because an animal is soft and squishy doesn't mean it isn't tough. Experiments at Rice University show the humble hydra is a good example.
Analytical Chemistry
Jul 26, 2018
0
14
Most plants absorb sunlight and CO2 with their leaves, take up water and minerals from the soil through roots, and are fully autotrophic. However, parasitic plants are a special class of plants that extract water and nutrients ...
Biotechnology
Jul 12, 2018
0
8
All plants require an adequate supply of inorganic nutrients, such as fixed nitrogen (usually in the form of ammonia or nitrate), for growth. A special group of flowering plants thus depends on close symbiotic relationships ...
Biotechnology
May 25, 2018
0
41
By comparing the genomes of different species, chiefly birds and turtles, the Kent team were able to determine how the overall genome structure (i.e. the chromosomes) of many people's favourite dinosaur species – like Velociraptor ...
Archaeology
May 21, 2018
0
218
Australia has a bunch of kangaroo species, Madagascar has multiple species of lemurs, the Galapagos Islands have boulder-sized tortoises—islands get lots of cool animals. That's because when animals are isolated on islands, ...
Ecology
May 16, 2018
2
135
The first animals emerged on Earth at least 541m years ago, according to the fossil record. What they looked like is the subject of an ongoing debate, but they're traditionally thought to have been similar to sponges.
Biotechnology
May 3, 2018
0
23
DNA is a blueprint for cells to make proteins that allow those cells to function properly. To create the proteins, enzymes copy genetic codes from DNA strands and then transfer the instructions onto RNA in a process called ...
Biotechnology
Apr 24, 2018
0
11
