Marine iguanas on the Galápagos Islands live without predators - at least this was the case up until 150 years ago. Since then they have been confronted with cats and dogs on some islands of the Archipelago. For scientists, they are therefore a suitable model of study in order to discover if such generally tame animals are capable of adapting their behaviour and endocrine stress response to novel predation threats. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, the University of Ulm Tufts University and Princeton University were able to show that the stress response induced by corticosterone (CORT) is absent in predator-naïve animals but can be fully restored with experience. However, as the researchers found out, the flight distance of the reptiles does not sufficiently increase, which limits their ability to successfully escape from newly introduced predators (Proceedings of the Royal Society, FirstCite Early Online Publishing December 2006).

Research at the University of Liverpool has found that Shakespearean language excites positive brain activity, adding further drama to the bard's plays and poetry.

Healthy coral reefs provide their adjacent coasts with substantially more protection from destructive tsunami waves than do unhealthy or dead reefs, a Princeton University study suggests.

The Assisted Reproduction Unit at the Quirón Hospital in Donostia-San Sebastián has managed, for the first time in the Basque Country, to successfully carry out an embryonic sex selection in a woman who is a carrier of the disease Retinosis Pigmentaria, linked with the X chromosome – in order to avoid giving birth to a male child.

By studying the genetics of two closely related species of green algae that practice different forms of sexual reproduction, researchers have shed light on one route by which evolution gave rise to reproduction though the joining of distinct sperm and egg cells. The findings, which indicate that a gene underlying a more primitive system of reproduction was likely co-opted during evolution to participate in sex-specific sperm development, are reported by Hisayoshi Nozaki and colleagues at the University of Tokyo, Rikkyo (St. Paul’s) University, and Osaka University. The paper appears in the December 19th issue of the journal Current Biology, published by Cell Press.

When it comes to an immune response against HIV, research funded by the Wellcome Trust in the UK and the National Institutes of Health in the US has found that bigger is not necessarily better, contrary to conventional medical wisdom. The research may have a profound impact on the development of a vaccine against the disease.

It has been known for over 50 years that moths can hear the ultrasonic hunting calls of their nocturnal predator, the bat. Moth ears are among the simplest in the insect world—they have only two or four vibration-sensitive neurons attached to a small eardrum. Previously, it was thought that these ears were only partially sensitive to the sound frequencies commonly used by bats, and it would seem likely that by using high ultrasound, bats would make their hunting calls inaudible to moths. However, as now reported by James Windmill and colleagues at the University of Bristol (UK), moths are not as deaf as they had previously been supposed to be. The findings appear in the December 19th issue of the journal Current Biology, published by Cell Press.

Testing for deadly food, air and water pathogens may get a lot easier and cheaper thanks to the work of a Michigan State University researcher and his team.

The findings, published today (18 December 2006) in the online edition of the journal Brain [1], used sophisticated scanning technology and computer software to measure how brain volume, form and function changed over six to seven weeks of abstinence from alcohol in 15 alcohol dependent patients (ten men, five women).

Neurobiologists have discovered why the aging brain produces progressively fewer new nerve cells in its learning and memory center. The scientists said the finding, made in rodents, refutes current ideas on how long crucial "progenitor" stem cells persist in the aging brain.

In a study that marks progress in understanding the basis of coral reef recovery, researchers have revealed the critical importance of a rare batfish, Platax pinnatus, in promoting the return to health of a disturbed coral reef overgrown with algae. The findings bring to light a previously unrecognized role for the batfish species, which had not been considered a significant player in reef recovery after overfishing. In doing so, the study provides insight into the poorly understood—and potentially complex—forces that influence the state of coral reefs under ecological stress. The work appears in the December 19th issue of the journal Current Biology, published by Cell Press, and is reported by David Bellwood, Terry Hughes, and Andrew Hoey of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University.

A pesticide with a new in-built sunscreen will help farmers beat the heat in crop protection. This means that the bug sprays last longer, as they are protected from the strong rays of sunshine, reports Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI. This is becoming increasingly important as temperatures rise, with the Met Office announcing that several heat records were broken in the UK this year.

An effective response of the immune system’s ‘killer’ T cells against infection with HIV may depend on exactly which viral protein is targeted, according to an international group of researchers. A new study finds that HIV-infected individuals in whom virus-specific CD8 T cells are targeted against the Gag protein have lower viral levels than do those with CD8 responses directed against other viral proteins. The report from the Partners AIDS Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital (PARC-MGH), the University of Oxford and University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa is receiving early online release in Nature Medicine.

Bunnies beware: Britain’s significant rabbit problem could be eliminated simply by dusting slag on wheat fields, reports Tom Hopkinson in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI.