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Articles in 'Biology'
British butterfly is evolving to respond to climate change
— 2 Dec 2011 10:50As global temperatures rise and climatic zones move polewards, species will need to find different environments to prevent extinction. New research, published today in the journal Molecular Ecology, has revealed that climate change is causing certain species to move and adapt to a range of new habitats…
Archaeologists find new evidence of animals being introduced to prehistoric Caribbean
— 2 Dec 2011 10:41An archaeological research team from North Carolina State University, the University of Washington and University of Florida has found one of the most diverse collections of prehistoric non-native animal remains in the Caribbean, on the tiny island of Carriacou. The find contributes to our understanding of culture in the region before the arrival of Columbus, and suggests Carriacou may have been more important than previously thought…
Microscopic worms could hold the key to living life on Mars
— 2 Dec 2011 10:26The astrophysicist Stephen Hawking believes that if humanity is to survive we will have up sticks and colonise space. But is the human body up to the challenge?…
Chemical warfare of stealthy silverfish
— 2 Dec 2011 09:53A co-evolutionary arms race exists between social insects and their parasites. Army ants (Leptogenys distinguenda) share their nests with several parasites such as beetles, snails and spiders. They also share their food with the kleptoparasitic silverfish (Malayatelura ponerophila). New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Ecology shows that the silverfish manage to hide amongst the ants by covering themselves in the ant's chemical scent…
Stinky frogs are a treasure trove of antibiotic substances
— 2 Dec 2011 09:47Some of the nastiest smelling creatures on Earth have skin that produces the greatest known variety of anti-bacterial substances that hold promise for becoming new weapons in the battle against antibiotic-resistant infections, scientists are reporting. Their research on amphibians so smelly (like rotten fish, for instance) that scientists term them 'odorous frogs' appears in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research…
Genetic code of first arachnid cracked
— 28 Nov 2011 19:26An international team of scientists - including Ghent VIB scientists - has succeeded in deciphering the genome of the spider mite. This is also the first known genome of an arachnid. This premiere not only brings along new insights into the evolution of arthropods, but also offers new opportunities to develop means of crop protection against the spider mite…
How bats 'hear' objects in their path
— 28 Nov 2011 19:26By placing real and virtual objects in the flight paths of bats, scientists at the Universities of Bristol and Munich have shed new light on how echolocation works. Their research is published today in Behavioural Processes…
Counting cats: The endangered snow leopards of the Himalayas
— 28 Nov 2011 19:26The elusive snow leopard (Panthera uncia) lives high in the mountains across Central Asia. Despite potentially living across 12 countries the actual numbers of this beautiful large cat are largely unknown. It is thought that there might be somewhere between 350 and 500 distributed across Nepal's northern frontier. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Research Notes has used genetic analysis to show that the numbers of snow leopards in the central Himalayas is actually much lower than suggested…
Surprise role of nuclear structure protein in development
— 25 Nov 2011 09:00Scientists have long held theories about the importance of proteins called B-type lamins in the process of embryonic stem cells replicating and differentiating into different varieties of cells. New research from a team led by Carnegie's Yixian Zheng indicates that, counter to expectations, these B-type lamins are not necessary for stem cells to renew and develop, but are necessary for proper organ development. Their work is published 24 November by Science Express…
Pregnancy is a drag for bottlenose dolphins
— 24 Nov 2011 18:58Lumbering around during the final weeks before delivery is tough for any pregnant mum. Most females adjust their movements to compensate for the extreme physical changes that accompany the later stages of pregnancy. However, no one had been able to find a distinct gait change - such as a change in stride length or frequency - associated with the latter stages of pregnancy. Intrigued by the ways that newborn dolphins learn to swim after birth, Shawn Noren from the Institute of Marine Science, University of California Santa Cruz, realised that she had the perfect opportunity to find out how pregnancy affects female dolphins…
The future of sunbathing tree frogs under a cloud
The brain on the edge of chaos