Think evolution is a slow, gradual process? Tell that to fruit flies. In a new report in Science, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania used a controlled field experiment to show that flies rapidly adapted to shifting ...
Evolution
Mar 17, 2022
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337
As they annoyingly buzz around a batch of bananas in our kitchens, fruit flies appear to have little in common with mammals. But as a model species for science, researchers are discovering increasing similarities between ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 17, 2022
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185
The distinctive smell of a flower… the unmistakable aroma of coffee… the dangers linked with inhaling smoke fumes. Sensory systems have evolved to provide us with immediate, finely tuned information about the world around ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 1, 2022
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59
Humans and fruit flies respond to many of the same tastes—sweet, salty, bitter and so on. The receptors that identify these substances, however, are very different between us and insects. Except when it comes to sour.
Molecular & Computational biology
Dec 13, 2021
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206
Whether chatting with friends at a dinner party or managing a high-stakes meeting at work, communicating with others in a group requires a complex set of mental tasks. Our brains must track who is speaking and what is being ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 21, 2021
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190
Plump and ponderous, tardigrades earned the nickname "water bears" when scientists first observed the 0.02-inch-long animals' distinctive lumbering gaits in the 18th century. Their dumpy plod, however, raises the question ...
General Physics
Aug 27, 2021
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1406
COVID-19 lockdowns scrambled sleep schedules and stretched waistlines. One culprit may be social isolation itself. Scientists have found that lone fruit flies quarantined in test tubes sleep too little and eat too much after ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 18, 2021
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993
Individuals are likely to prioritize food over sex after being deprived of both, according to researchers at the University of Birmingham, who studied this behavioral conflict in fruit flies.
Molecular & Computational biology
Aug 5, 2021
1
243
A team of researchers at Universidade de São Paulo has found that bird species that have a central position in frugivory networks tend to belong to more stable lineages over macroevolutionary time scales. In their paper ...
In 2005, an ultramarathon runner ran continuously 560 kilometers (350 miles) in 80 hours, without sleeping or stopping. This distance was roughly 324,000 times the runner's body length. Yet this extreme feat pales in comparison ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 22, 2021
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