Nature vs. nurture has long been one of the great debates in science—is behavior hard-wired into the brain, or determined by environment? In at least some cases, Harvard researchers are showing, how animals behave is in ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 16, 2013
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Biologist Kate Wilsterman is amazed by pregnancy. This essential mammalian life process is both complicated and dynamic: In addition to creating the next generation, pregnancy requires changes in nearly every organ of the ...
Evolution
Jun 14, 2023
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17
Scientists studying mice from the Andes Mountains in Patagonia noticed something they couldn't explain: the mice from the western side of the mountains were bigger than the ones from the east, but DNA said that they were ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 1, 2022
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455
According to a well-studied but controversial principle known as Bergmann's Rule, species tend to be larger in cold climates and smaller in warm ones. As human impacts heat the planet, will animals shrink over time?
Plants & Animals
Jun 1, 2020
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32
Mice living at high altitudes in the American West carry a genetic variant that increases their heart rate, helping them cope with the low oxygen levels that occur at high elevations. Rena Schweizer of the University of Montana ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 7, 2019
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100
Why is it that some species seem to be particularly attentive parents while others leave their young to fend for themselves? For years, scientists have believed one of the major drivers was experience - an animal raised by ...
Biotechnology
Apr 19, 2017
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19
For deer mice living in the Nebraska Sandhills, color can literally be the difference between life and death.
Evolution
Mar 14, 2013
3
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When mammals are cold, they can employ physical changes to stay warm -- such as intense shivering. Like any form of aerobic exercise, though, "shivering thermogenesis" is especially challenging at high altitudes because there ...
Plants & Animals
May 17, 2012
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0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at Harvard University are moving closer to answering some age-old questions. How did the leopard get its spots? How did the zebra get its stripes?
Biotechnology
Feb 24, 2011
2
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Biologists have long known how adaptive evolution works. New mutations arise within a population and those that confer some benefits to the organism increase in frequency and eventually become fixed in the ...
Evolution
Aug 10, 2009
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