|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Public Release: 19-Jun-2013
 Ecology LettersBiological fitness trumps other traits in mating game When a new species emerges following adaptive changes to its local environment, the process of choosing a mate can help protect the new species' genetic identity and increase the likelihood of its survival. But of the many observable traits in a potential mate, which particular traits does a female tend to prefer? 
National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis
Contact: Catherine Crawley
Public Release: 19-Jun-2013
Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesScientists date prehistoric bacterial invasion still present in today's cells How long ago did bacteria invade the one-celled ancestors of plants and animals to become energy-producing mitochondria and photosynthesizing chloroplasts? Two UC Berkeley doctoral candidates developed a statistical way to analyze the variation in genes common to mitochondria, chloroplasts and the eukaryotic nucleus to more precisely date these events. They found that the cyanobacterial invasion of plants took place millions of years more recently than thought.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Robert Sanders
Public Release: 19-Jun-2013
AntiquityUniversity of Tennessee professor finds prehistoric rock art connected; maps cosmological belief Recently, the discoveries of prehistoric rock art have become more common. With these discoveries comes a single giant one by a University of Tennessee professor -- all these drawing and engravings map the prehistoric peoples' cosmological world. Contact: Whitney Heins
Public Release: 19-Jun-2013
Nature GeneticsNew research backs theory that genetic 'switches' play big role in human evolution A Cornell University study offers further proof that the divergence of humans from chimpanzees some 4 million to 6 million years ago was profoundly influenced by mutations to DNA sequences that play roles in turning genes on and off.
The Packard Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health
Contact: John Carberry
Public Release: 19-Jun-2013
Proceedings of the Royal Society BThe rhythm of the Arctic summer Our internal circadian clock regulates daily life processes and is synchronized by external cues, the so-called Zeitgebers. The main cue is the light-dark cycle, whose strength is largely reduced in extreme habitats such as in the Arctic during the polar summer. Using a radiotelemetry system a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology have now found, in four bird species in Alaska, different daily activity patterns ranging from strictly rhythmic to completely arrhythmic. Contact: Dr. Bart Kempenaers
Public Release: 19-Jun-2013
PLOS ONESnail genetic tracks reveal ancient human migration Some snails in Ireland and the Pyrenees are genetically almost identical, perhaps because they were carried across the Atlantic during an 8000-year-old human migration. The snail genetics tie in with studies of human genetics and the colonization of Ireland, according to the research published June 19 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Angus Davison and colleagues from the University of Nottingham, UK. Contact: Jyoti Madhusoodanan
Public Release: 18-Jun-2013
PrimatesPersonality test finds some mouse lemurs shy, others bold In the last 10 years the study of animal personality has gained ground with behavioral ecologists. Researchers at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center and the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, N.C., have now found distinct personalities in the grey mouse lemur, the tiny, saucer-eyed primate native to the African island of Madagascar. Contact: Robin Ann Smith
Public Release: 18-Jun-2013
Global Change BiologyCity slicker or country bumpkin The origins of a young animal might have a significant impact on its behavior later on in life. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell, Germany, have been able to demonstrate in hand-reared blackbirds that urban-born individuals are less curious and more cautious about new objects than their country counterparts. Contact: Dr. Jesko Partecke
Public Release: 18-Jun-2013
Proceedings of the Royal Society BOrigins of 'The Hoff' crab revealed The history of a new type of crab, nicknamed 'The Hoff' because of its hairy chest, which lives around hydrothermal vents deep beneath the Southern Ocean and Indian Ocean, has been revealed for the first time. Contact: University of Oxford Press Office
Public Release: 18-Jun-2013
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series BOlder males make better fathers says new research on beetles Researchers at the University of Exeter found that older male burying beetles make better fathers than their younger counterparts. The study found that mature males, who had little chance of reproducing again, invested more effort in both mating and in parental care than younger males.
Natural Environment Research Council
Contact: Jo Bowler
Public Release: 16-Jun-2013
Nature MethodsMapping translation sites in the human genome John Chaput and his colleagues at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute have produced the first genome-wide investigation of cap-independent translation, identifying thousands of mRNA sequences that act as Translation Enhancing Elements, which are RNA sequences upstream of the coding region that help recruit the ribosome to the translation start site. Contact: richard.harth@asu.edu
Public Release: 16-Jun-2013
Nature GeoscienceGlobal cooling as significant as global warming International study confirms the link between global cooling and a crash in the marine ecosystem similar to that witnessed as a result of global warming. Contact: Thomas Wagner
Public Release: 15-Jun-2013
BioScienceTeaching complete evolutionary stories increases learning Evolution is often thought to be a difficult subject to teach. A novel teaching approach in which undergraduates studied two integrative evolutionary scenarios all the way from the molecular level via the genetic and organismal levels to the population level improved the students' ability to explain and describe evolutionary principles. The results suggest that wider use of such integrated accounts in teaching could improve students' comprehension of evolution.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Tim Beardsley
Public Release: 13-Jun-2013
ScienceStudy: Context crucial when it comes to mutations in genetic evolution New research led by evolutionary biologist Jay Storz of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has found that whether a given mutation is good or bad is often determined by other mutations associated with it. In other words, genetic evolution is context-dependent.
National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation
Contact: Jay Storz
Public Release: 13-Jun-2013
SciencePutting flesh on the bones of ancient fish Scientists present for the first time miraculously preserved musculature of 380 million year old armored fish discovered in north-west Australia. This research will help scientists to better understand how neck and abdominal muscles evolved during the transition from jawless to jawed vertebrates. The findings are published in SCIENCE. Contact: Claus Habfast
Public Release: 13-Jun-2013
SciencePutting flesh on the bones of ancient fish This week in the journal Science, Swedish and Australian researchers present the miraculously preserved musculature of 380 million year old fossil fishes, revealed by unique fossils from a locality in north-west Australia. The finds will help scientists to understand how neck muscles and abdominal muscles -- "abs" -- evolved. Contact: Per Ahlberg
Public Release: 13-Jun-2013
ScienceStudy shows how diving mammals evolved underwater endurance Scientists at the University of Liverpool have shed new light on how diving mammals, such as the sperm whale, have evolved to survive for long periods underwater without breathing.
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Contact: Samantha Martin
Public Release: 13-Jun-2013
PLOS Computational BiologyResearchers conclude that what causes menopause is -- wait for it -- men After decades of laboring under other theories that never seemed to add up, a team of McMaster University biologists has concluded that menopause is actually an unintended outcome of natural selection generated by men's historical preference for younger mates.
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Contact: Wade Hemsworth
Public Release: 13-Jun-2013
PLOS Computational BiologyMale preference for younger female mates identified as likely cause of menopause A study published in this week's PLOS Computational Biology reports that menopause is an unintended outcome of natural selection caused by the preference of males for younger female mates. While conventional thinking has held that menopause prevents older women from continuing to reproduce, the researchers, from McMaster's University, concluded that it is the lack of reproduction that has given rise to menopause. Contact: Rama Singh
Public Release: 12-Jun-2013
Global Change BiologyRapid adaptation is purple sea urchins' weapon against ocean acidification In the race against climate change and ocean acidification, some sea urchins may still have a few tricks up their spiny sleeves, suggesting that adaptation will likely play a large role for the sea creatures as the carbon content of the ocean increases. Contact: Sonia Fernandez
Public Release: 12-Jun-2013
Proceedings of the Royal Society BResearch shows male guppies reproduce even after death Performing experiments in a river in Trinidad, evolutionary biologist David Reznick at the University of California, Riverside and colleagues have found that male guppies -- small freshwater fish -- continue to reproduce for at least ten months after they die, living on as stored sperm in females, who have much longer lifespans than males. While it is well known that guppies store sperm, Reznick and his team had never before thought of the extent of the storage.
National Science Foundation, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
Contact: Iqbal Pittalwala
Public Release: 12-Jun-2013
Biology LettersFraternal singing in zebra finches The song of songbirds is usually transmitted from one generation to the next by imitation learning and is thought to be similar to the acquisition of human speech. Although song is often learnt from an adult model, there is some evidence of active vocal learning among siblings. Contact: Dr. Manfred Gahr
Public Release: 12-Jun-2013
NatureResearchers unravel reasons of global success in the calcified alga Emiliania huxleyi In collaboration with an international team of researchers, scientists at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, have sequenced the genome of the calcified alga Emiliania huxleyi and have found an explanation for the enormous adaptive potential and global distribution of this unicellular alga. Contact: Sina Löschke
Public Release: 12-Jun-2013
ZooKeysHigh diversity of flying reptiles in England 110 million years ago Pterosaurs are an extinct group of flying reptiles that are only abundant in very few deposits. One of these is situated in England, where hundreds of fossils of these animals, that covered the skies some 110 million years ago, have been unearthed. Paleontologists have re-analyzed these fossils and discovered that they had a much higher diversity of groups than previously thought. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys. Contact: Dr. Taissa Rodrigues
Public Release: 12-Jun-2013
PLOS ONEFossil kangaroo teeth reveal mosaic of Pliocene ecosystems in Queensland The teeth of a kangaroo and other extinct marsupials reveal that southeastern Queensland 2.5-5-million-years ago was a mosaic of tropical forests, wetlands and grasslands and much less arid than previously thought. The chemical analysis of tooth enamel that suggests this diverse prehistoric habitat is published June 12 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Shaena Montanari from the American Museum of Natural History and colleagues from other institutions. Contact: Jyoti Madhusoodanan
|
|
|
||||
|
|
 |
|
