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Discovered in ancient lake deposits in northeastern China and eastern Kazakhstan, this ancient insect looks and exhibits behavior closely mimicking the modern butterfly. The Jurassic age insect entered the fossil record 165 million years ago, while butterflies as we know them first appeared 80 to 90 million years ago. Though these are set apart by many millions of years, researchers found numerous morphological and ecological features in these two, unrelated clades.
If you can see a person or an animal, then it is possible to be seen back. It's a basic caveat they train in the military when discussing camouflage. What's more, if you suspect you're being seen, you must minimize your movements. This level of abstraction was thought to be unique to humans. It's been recently shown that ravens too are capable of imagining someone is spying on them and take greater care hiding their food, as reported in Nature Communications.
Most people don't have that much of an issue with dying, like they do with being freaking old. Being old is a drag. You gain weight, the skin gets wrinkled, the mind and body weakens -- and it all gets gradually worse until you expire. Ants don't seem to share this human tragedy. By all accounts these particular ants don't seem to age and die in youthful bodies.
Researchers looked at the long-term exposure of marijuana on cognitive skills. Current users showed poorer cognitive ability across all the mediums the researchers tested. What was interesting is that among those who reported not using marijuana anymore, but used to, there was a pattern that suggested poorer verbal memory, which the ability to remember words. For every five year of cumulative marijuana use (365 days of smoking pot x 5), one in two people on average remembered one word fewer out of a list of fifteen.
Some people have no trouble rising early and being productive, while others are most active during the evenings. This begs the question: are morning persons and night owls set apart by habit or biology? Habits certainly play a leading role, but all things being equal your genes might have a strong word to say in the matter.
It may be possible to observe the presence of an advanced alien civilization by the effects produced if that civilization were to self-destruct through nuclear war, biological warfare, nanotechnological annihilation, or stellar pollution. Each case would generate unique detectable signs that could be identified by earth-based telescopes.
South African scientists have recreated the quagga – an exotic animal related to the zebras that went extinct in the 19th century. Or better put, they created an animal that’s genetically similar to the quagga. The quagga is still a mysterious animal. There has been much debate over the status of the quagga in relation to […]
A general trend was found: those animals with the highest brain/body size ratio were better at solving a problem they had never seen before.
Considering how inhospitable Mars is, given there's no air, -55C temperatures, radiation and all, you might think the quality of sleep on Mars is our last concern. A new study suggests that a permanent jet lag on Mars might come with some serious health risks, so maybe we should take this more seriously.
Marine biologists study microbes in the waters above natural oil seeps in the Gulf of Mexico stumbled upon something unexpected. They found phytoplankton, tiny organisms that comprise the bottom of the marine food chain, thrive in waters with low concentration oil. In some cases, the population is double that a couple miles off the oil seep sites.
A team at University of British Columbia claims that a type of clay found northwest of Vancouver is effective against a dangerous class of drug-resistant bacteria. The clay investigated by the Canadian researchers destroyed the ESKAPE germs, in some instances in less than 5 hours. Furthermore, the clay is completely natural and no toxic side-effects have been reported thus far.
Researchers found a way to manipulate single cells in three dimensions using sound waves. They devised acoustic tweezers that can position minute particles or cells anywhere within the fluid enclosure without touching, altering, deforming or labeling the particles in any way. The resolution or accuracy is between 1-2 micrometers. Work like this might enable us to design tissue implants which faithfully mimic the human tissues or organs destined to be replaced. Other methods, like 3D biological printing, alter or even destroy cells keeping them from functioning the way they ought to.
Natural hydrocarbon seeps are providing the nutrients for vast microbial communities to thrive in the Gulf of Mexico.
Scientific American recently reported that the three countries most affected by dengue fever have approved the use of the first vaccine against this affliction. Officials from Mexico, Philippines and Brazil hope that this will curb the nearly 400 million new infections each year, 22,000 of which result in death.
A study from Emory University looking into prairie voles' consoling behaviors provides new evidence in support of animal empathy. The tests had pairs of voles isolated from each other, one being exposed to mild electric shocks, to study how the rodents react to a distressed mate.
Where are all the aliens? Why haven’t we seen or heard their signals from space? Could we really have been the only planet where life evolved?
This bright orange zinnia was grown in the Vegetable Production System (also known as the gloriously puny "Veggie"), a deployable unit built to sustain a range of crops including lettuce -- the first space-grown crop that the ISS taste-tested in August.
Our houses are teeming with tiny insects, but have no fear - not only are they harmless, they might help us.
Hear all about it here.
Why would you eat snow in the first place? Because it's fun and harmless. It's free ice cream. A new study, however, suggests snow isn't as pure as we care to think. Being colder, the temperature gradient leads noxious pollutants expelled from the tails of vehicles to become absorbed by the snow, and in your organism if you decide to eat it. That being said, if you're having fun in the park, it's better not to eat it. We don't know yet how harmful this is, but ingesting benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, and xylenes mustn't be good.
Mushrooms are pretty awesome in themselves, but some are just off-the-charts awesome. Take Omphalotus olearius for example, also called the jack-o’-lantern mushroom. Sure, it may be poisonous – but not only does it glow in the dark, you can make glow-in-the-dark paint with it. Appearance The most important thing about the Jack-o’-lantern mush is how to avoid […]
30 years, frozen solid - now back to life.
Creative thinking requires the simultaneous activation of two distinct networks in the brain, the associative and normative networks. Higher connectivity between these completely different systems of your brain leads to new, original and useful ideas, University of Haifa research concludes.
How eyesight works and other functions.
University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) scientists have identified a new enzyme that could protect the body from toxic levels of intra-cell sugar. When there is too much sugar in the body it gets processed to glycerol-3-phosphate, a buildup of which can damage internal organs. The team behind the study proved that G3PP is able to extract excess sugar from cells.
The government has declared a state of emergency in the most affected areas while scientists are trying to figure out why so many babies are born with this often lethal condition.
Brain scans of nearly 200 adolescent boys recorded as part of a new study performed in South Korea show that compulsive video game players have radically different wiring in their brains, most notably increased communication (known as hyperconnectivity) between several functional brain networks.
Columbia University researchers have successfully identified the cellular network that allows mice to remember which environments are safe and which are dangerous. The study also looks into what happens when these neurons are tampered with, offering insight into how conditions such as PTDS, panic attacks and anxiety disorders can be treated.
Schistosoma mansoni might not as famous as other nasty parasitic worms like flatworms or roundworms, but outside the U.S. this pesky bugger infests more than 200 million people. Symptoms range from rash to organ damage to paralysis. For years, patients have had to rely on drugs that ward off the infection, but for remote or communities in the developing world this may be out of the question. There's a widely available remedy found almost anywhere in the world though, according to Egyptian researchers. And it's so cheap that it literally grows in the ground: garlic.
A new study, performed at Howard University Medical Center found that practicing the transcendental meditation technique seems to stimulate the production of telomerase, an enzyme associated with reduced blood pressure and heart disease. This correlates well with earlier research which found that meditation techniques reduce rates of high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke, as well as slowing of biological aging.
Research has confirmed that Henry Mountains of southern Utah are home to a rare, genetically pure bison herd. This is the only genetically pure bison herd we know of, after all other surviving members of the species were crossbred with cattle. The team that confirmed their genetic heritage included Utah State University scientists. Dr. Johan du Toit, […]
Lions are listed under the Endangered Species Act, five months after a famous lion was lured away from a protected national park in Zimbabwe and killed by an American dentist. The decision announced by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is aimed to help with lion conversation as it will make it increasingly difficult for hunters to bring back trophies from Africa. While it doesn't ban the import of trophies (which would've been ideal), the new ruling has been met with great enthusiasm by environmental groups around the world.
It's the bigger or charismatic of animals that get targeted by human hunters. These give off more meat, more pelt and make for better trophies. The effects of over-hunting and poaching are well documented. Most markedly, this results in extinction and ecosystem destabilization. A new study, however, adds a new frighting dimension to hunting: climate change acceleration through loss of carbon storage.
Sharing and other voluntary acts of kindness are what we regard as part of our humanity – but this type of behavior exists in other creatures as well. Now, scientists working in Austria have shown for the first time that dogs exhibit prosocial behavior, if they know the other dogs. Different types of personality have […]
For more than 200,000 years humans and face mites trace a common history. There’s no human that doesn’t feed these tiny arachnids with some of our delicious face oils, which might startle some. Fret not since these are mostly harmless (though some people are more sensitive to the mites and get rosacea and blepharitis). What’s startling […]
Blue-banded bees employ a head on approach to pollination, a group of researchers at Adelaide University showed. While other bees use their mandibles and wings to shake the pollen, this Australian native insect is all "no-hands" and bangs its head against the flowers 350 times per second -- considerably faster than any bee noticed so far.
Northwestern University neuroscientists have developed a method that allows them to pinpoint communicating neurons in a living fly's brain -- effectively paving the way for mind-reading. Their mapping of specific neural connection patterns could provide insight into the computational processes that underlie the workings of the human brain.
Scientists from the University of Ferrara, Italy collaborating with the Beijing Genomics Institute have isolated a gene that, when mutated, causes muscle tissue to become significantly weakened and damaged. Their findings, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, show how the gene, dubbed Popeye domain containing-1, has a role in ‘gluing’ muscles cells together.
The craziest thing you'll see all day -- predicting what you look like from DNA.
Researchers from the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment claim that plants aren't keeping up with CO2 levels.
It all starts with a lucky spermatozoon and one egg. When the two merge, a genetically unique entity is formed shortly thereafter, called a zygote which has half of its DNA from the sperm, and the other half from the egg. The zygote first divides into two identical cells, called blastomeres. Five days after conception, the grouping of cells are now called a blastocyst. A cavity appears in its center. It has an inner group of cells which will become the embryo and later the fetus, and still later the newborn. In between, there's a lot of things happening and this fantastic animated infographic designed by Eleanor Lutz does a great job summing things up visually.
The island nation has recently announced that it will resume whaling operations in the Antarctic Ocean with the purpose of collecting "scientific data." The decision was met with outrage and heavy criticism by other countries and conservation groups.
A massive, 200 million yuan (over $31 million) commercial animal cloning facility will be built in the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area with the sole purpose of cloning China's cattle.
Earlier this month, researchers started noticing that a mysterious purple goo was taking over Norway's coast.
It basically looks like a weapon: the fossil of a worm-like animal from the Cambrian period has been presented by scientists, and it’s as armored as it gets. The Cambrian was definitely one of the strangest geological and biological stages in Earth’s history; it’s not only that it was 500 million years ago, but the […]
It sounds like a plot from Frankenstein, but apparently there's no limit to how versatile flatworms can be. Previously, researchers at Tufts University determined that the small, yellow worm can retain its memories after it head was severed. As a reminder, flatworms can regrew new heads following decapitation. Now, the same team yet again guillotined some flatworms and interrupted gap junctions, which are protein channels that enable cells to communicate with each other by passing electrical signals back and forth - just to see what would happen. Yes, the flatworm grew a new head, but it was that of another flatworm species. They eventually induced the same flatworm species to grow the heads and brains of multiple other, closely related species. There's a lot of biology and behaviour encoded in genes, but these findings show that tweaking physiological mechanisms in a live body can actually cause new anatomical developments. We might have uncovered a new form of epigenetics.
An University of Queensland study of mantis shrimp discovered a new form of light communication employed by the animals, the findings having potential applications in satellite remote sensing, biomedical imaging, cancer detection, and computer data storage.
Also known as the water bear, the tardigrade has a lot to be proud of -- this tiny organism is nigh-indestructible, known to have survived in extreme temperatures ( -272C to +151C / -457.6F to 303.8F) and to be the only animal that can brave the vacuum of space unprotected and live to tell the tale.
Once with the advent of agriculture, and its spread to Europe from the Near East, human society was transformed forever. Resources became more plentiful, communities could stay in one place and develop, and humans were free to pursue other activities. Agriculture turbo boosted the division of labor, an essential prerequisite to any civilization. Agriculture not only transformed human society, it also modified our DNA. A first of its kind study compared the DNA of ancient humans who lived between 8,500 and 2,300 years ago. The analysis revealed that humans underwent widespread genetic changes that influence height, immune system, digestion and skin colour once agriculture was introduced.
According to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine, human cellular development appears to depend on the actions of genetic material left over from ancient viral infections.
