Biology News Net - Biology

Actor Johnny Depp immortalized in ancient fossil find

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:57:53 -0500

A scientist has discovered an ancient extinct creature with 'scissor hand-like' claws in fossil records and has named it in honour of his favourite movie star.

Study finds brain system for emotional self-control

Sat, 11 May 2013 05:33:00 -0500

Different brain areas are activated when we choose to suppress an emotion, compared to when we are instructed to inhibit an emotion, according a new study from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Ghent University.

Sea turtles benefiting from protected areas

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:58:57 -0500

Nesting green sea turtles are benefiting from marine protected areas by using habitats found within their boundaries, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study that is the first to track the federally protected turtles in Dry Tortugas National Park.

Scientists create phantom sensations in non-amputees

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:04:02 -0500

The sensation of having a physical body is not as self-evident as one might think. Almost everyone who has had an arm or leg amputated experiences a phantom limb: a vivid sensation that the missing limb is still present. A new study by neuroscientists at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows that it is possible to evoke the illusion of having a phantom hand in non-amputated individuals.

Researchers demonstrate oldest dinosaur embryos

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:04:00 -0500

In the laboratory are Dr. Koen Stein (right) and Olaf Dülfer, University of Bonn from the Steinmann-Institute. An international team of researchers, including a paleontologist from the University of Bonn, have proven dinosaur embryos to be the oldest ever found. The specimens of Lufengosaurus discovered in China lived during the lower Jurassic about 200 to 190 million years ago. Based on the bone tissue, Dr. Koen Stein was able to show that the fossils must have been in a very early stage of development. The rapid growth and high reproductive rate of these Chinese dinosaurs is astounding. The results are now being presented in the renowned scientific journal "Nature".

Rare primate's vocal lip-smacks share features of human speech

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:07:01 -0500

The vocal lip-smacks that geladas use in friendly encounters have surprising similarities to human speech, according to a study reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on April 8th. The geladas, which live only in the remote mountains of Ethiopia, are the only nonhuman primate known to communicate with such a speech-like, undulating rhythm. Calls of other monkeys and apes are typically one or two syllables and lack those rapid fluctuations in pitch and volume.

Power behind primordial soup discovered

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 19:40:09 -0500

Researchers at the University of Leeds may have solved a key puzzle about how objects from space could have kindled life on Earth.

Symbiotic bacteria program daily rhythms in squid using light and chemicals

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 17:23:00 -0500

Glowing bacteria inside squids use light and chemical signals to control circadian-like rhythms in the animals, according to a study to be published on April 2 in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. The Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes, houses a colony of Vibrio fischeri bacteria in its light organ, using the bacteria at night as an antipredatory camouflage while it ventures out to hunt. The results of the study show that, in addition to acting as a built-in lamp, the bacteria also control when the squid expresses a gene that entrains, or synchronizes, circadian rhythms in animals.

Novel insights into the evolution of protein networks

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 20:05:31 -0500

System-wide networks of proteins are indispensable for organisms. Function and evolution of these networks are among the most fascinating research questions in biology. Bioinformatician Thomas Rattei, University of Vienna, and physicist Hernan Makse, City University New York (CUNY), have reconstructed ancestral protein networks. The results are of high interest not only for evolutionary research but also for the interpretation of genome sequence data. Recently, the researchers published their paper in the renowned journal PLOS ONE.

Origins of human teamwork found in chimpanzees

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:56:24 -0500

Teamwork has been fundamental in humanity's greatest achievements but scientists have found that working together has its evolutionary roots in our nearest primate relatives – chimpanzees.