Ecology & Zoology

Zoonoses is Not to be Confused with Zoo Noses

The word zoonoses…. seeing that on my screen makes me wonder how many of us giggle at the idea of zoo noses. You know, like an elephant’s trunk or the orangutan’s smooshed up nose? But zoonoses doesn’t have a space in the middle and it is a really serious ...

Blog Post - Janice Person - Aug 6 2013 - 1:55pm

Dolphins Retain Social Memories, Even After 20 Years

Dolphins can recognize the whistles of former tank mates even after being separated for more than 20 years; that's the longest social memory known outside people. This adds to evidence that dolphins have a level of cognitive sophistication comparable ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 7 2013 - 7:30am

Climate Change Implicated In Collapse Of Bronze Age Civilizations

Some of the ancient civilizations that flourished in regions of the Eastern Mediterranean- Aegean, Egyptian, Syro-Palestinian, and Hittite civilizations- collapsed during the late Bronze Age.  Hieroglyphic and cuneiform text remains portray invasions of t ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 14 2013 - 6:08pm

Eating Quality And The Best Blueberry Lines- The Science

The University of Florida's Blueberry Breeding Program has been developing successful blueberry lines for more than 60 years and those lines are credited with helping to create a Florida blueberry industry that was valued at $48 million in 2010 and f ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 5 2013 - 10:54am

Hibernating Is Not The Only Unique Thing About This Primate

Fat-tailed dwarf lemurs are the only primates that hibernate- and their sleep patterns during hibernation are different from other animals that hibernate, like ground squirrels, which also hibernate at similar temperatures.  During hibernation, dwarf lemu ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 4 2013 - 9:43pm

Science Has Improved Food In Multiple Ways

When people think about the benefits of science to agriculture, they often think about American dematerialization. Farmers are producing far more food on far less land with far less ecological footprint than dreamed about 30 years ago. ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 8 2013 - 8:08pm

No, The Dingo Didn't Eat Your Baby

Dingoes have been unfairly blamed for the extinctions of the Tasmanian tiger (thylacine) and the Tasmanian devil, a new study has found. The Australian dingo is commonly blamed for the demise of thylacines and devils on the mainland about 3,000 years ago ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 10 2013 - 10:46am

Busseola Fusca Caterpillars Resistant To GM Maize

Like many other transgenic crops, Bt maize synthesises its own pesticide- a toxic protein produced in its leaves and stems, which kills pests in a matter of days. It's perfect, except, as will eventually happen in all pest control instances, when ins ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 20 2013 - 11:03am

Genetically Modified Rice Brings Benefit To Wild Neighbors

Rice containing a transgenic modification that makes it resistant to a common herbicide can pass that genetic trait to weedy rice, prompting powerful growth even without a weed-killer to trigger the modification benefit, new research shows. Previously, sc ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 25 2013 - 1:15pm

Akawaio Pena: South America's 'Lost World' Reveals New Genus Of Electric Fish

  Akawaio penak,  a previously unknown genus of thin, eel-like electric fish, was discovered in the shallow, murky waters of the upper Mazaruni River is northern Guyana. University of Toronto Scarborough professor Nathan Lovejoy. ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 25 2013 - 12:05pm