Ecology & Zoology

Flower Scents Given A Genetic Boost, Even In Plants Without One

Smell plays an important role in our lives: It influences the way in which we choose fruit and vegetables, perfume, and even a partner. And yet, smell is not just what we smell with our noses, it's also what we taste, explains Prof. Alexander Vainstei ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 7 2008 - 11:53am

Why Happy As A Lark? Singing Causes Dopamine Release In Birds, Says Study

Feeling down? Wondering how to cheer up? Well perhaps all you have to do is sing a song. Hey, it works for birds. Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan have recently uncovered a breakthrough in animal behavior. In their recent study, th ...

Article - Erin Richards - Dec 15 2008 - 1:41am

Real Life Journey To The Center Of The Earth Finds First Ecosystem With A Single Species

The first ecosystem ever found having only a single biological species has been discovered 2.8 kilometers (1.74 miles) beneath the surface of the earth in the Mponeng gold mine near Johannesburg, South Africa. There the rod-shaped bacterium Desulforudis au ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 9 2008 - 4:26pm

'Tidbit' The Shark Was Not Just Pregnant- It Was A Virgin Birth

Scientists have confirmed the second-ever case of a 'virgin birth' in a shark, further confirming that female sharks can reproduce without mating and that many female sharks may have this incredible capacity. Lead author Dr. Demian Chapman, shark ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 10 2008 - 12:33am

Fish Is Good For You, But The World Can't Harvest Enough Sustainably- Yet

The President of SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture, Karl Andreas Almås, crouches over his laptop, opens one of his presentations and finds an illustration. It shows one red curve and one blue one. He then indicates the point where they meet each other, then ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 13 2008 - 11:56pm

Carbon Nanotubes? Spiderman? It's All Gecko To Me

A Gecko's ability to climb sheer walls has long caught the attention of scientists and they've been trying for years to duplicate this strange talent. Major universities such as UC Santa Barbara, Georgia Institute of Technology and the University ...

Article - Ashley Cox - Oct 15 2008 - 2:22am

Tiktaalik Roseae 'Fishapod' Reveals Head Structure Of First Land Animals

Newly exposed parts of Tiktaalik roseae--the intermediate fossil between fish and the first animals to walk out of water onto land 375 million years ago--are revealing how this major evolutionary event happened. A new study in Nature provides a detailed lo ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 15 2008 - 2:00pm

Convicts And Ecology- Using Prisoners To Monitor Growing Moss

Nalini Nadkarni of Evergreen State College currently advises a team of researchers who sport shaved heads, tattooed biceps and prison-issued garb rather than the lab coats and khakis typically worn by researchers. Why is Nadkarni's team composed of su ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 20 2008 - 4:35pm

US Ecologist Tells 1.5 Million Displaced Chinese Peasants To Find A Silver Lining In Three Gorges Dam

China's farmers and merchants should take advantage of new agricultural and business opportunities that could help mitigate some effects of the annual flooding behind the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, according to an Ohio State University wet ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 24 2008 - 1:02am

Cute Science- White Rhino Baby Born Using Artificial Insemination And Frozen Sperm For The First Time

A world-first: birth of a white rhino after artificial insemination with frozen sperm. The rhino baby, a male, was born at 4:57am in the Budapest Zoo on the 22nd of October 2008. In June 2007, scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Rese ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 25 2008 - 10:15am