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Category: Biology

The Pando aspen clone as seen from a distance (green foreground and middle -- not yellow). The photo captures about ½ the total grove. A close look reveals many dead trees on the ground. Foreground depicts successful regeneration; middle green shows dying forest with little new growth. (Lance Oditt, Studio 47.60° North - with permission)

Earth’s Largest Organism is Deteriorating

October 19, 2018

Researchers in Utah say what many consider to be the world’s largest living organism is dying but could be saved with what they call a ‘mega-conservation’ effort. The Pando aspen clone looks like a forest of trees, but since each of the trees is linked by common genetic markers and possibly one giant root system, […]

This diagram depicts the circadian patterns typical of someone who rises early in morning, eats lunch around noon, and sleeps at night (10 p.m.). (Yassine Mrabet via Wikimedia Commons)

New Blood Test Tells Your Body’s Time

September 11, 2018

Each of Earth’s life forms, from animals (including humans), plants, fungi, and even cyanobacteria, has a built-in biological clock that functions over a 24-hour cycle. This so-called circadian clock is a well-structured biological process, which helps keep our bodies healthy and working by regulating tasks such as sleeping, waking, hormone release, body temperature, and other […]

Fall armyworm larvae have caused an estimated $2.5 billion to $6.2 billion in damage annually to maize in sub-Saharan Africa since the pest arrived there in 2016. (John C. French Sr., Retired, Universities:Auburn, GA, Clemson and U of MO, Bugwood.org)

Smartphone App Helps Farmers Fight Pest

July 19, 2018

Since being spotted in Nigeria in 2016, a fast-spreading agricultural pest called Spodoptera frugiperda, or the fall armyworm, has been threatening the food security of people who live in countries across sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, this pest can cause significant damage to many hectares of […]

A zebrafish egg cell divides. (Fengzhu Xiong and Sean Megason/Harvard Medical School)

Scientists Trace Process Of How One Cell Can Develop into Complex Lifeforms

April 30, 2018

All forms of multicellular life here on Earth begin with just a single cell. From this one cell springs a stream of specialized cells that go on to serve needed functions to create and keep a new life-form alive. This complex process is one of nature’s greatest mysteries. A zebrafish egg cell forms a complex […]

This is an artist's impression of the i-motif DNA structure inside cells, along with the antibody-based tool used to detect it. (Chris Hammang)

New DNA Structure Observed in a Living Cell

April 25, 2018

When you visualize a DNA structure, you probably think about the well-known ‘double helix’ that was revealed in 1953 by Cambridge University scientists James Watson and Francis Crick. The duo, along with physicist and molecular biologist Maurice Wilkins, won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for what the Nobel Foundation described as their […]

Tongue and taste buds. (Saurabh R. Patil/Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported via Wikimedia Commons)

Obesity May Dull Sense of Taste

March 23, 2018

A new study published in the journal PLOS Biology supports past research that suggests the more weight you gain the less you are able to taste the food you eat. The study, based on research with mice, suggests that obesity-driven inflammation actually reduced the number of their taste buds on their tongues. There are 50 […]

Platypus, at Eungella National Park, Queensland, Australia (Christine Ferdinand, Creative Commons 4.0 via Wikimedia)

Platypus Milk Helps Fight Antibiotic Resistance

March 20, 2018

The platypus is a mammal, yet instead of ‘live birth’ it lays eggs, it’s got a bill and webbed feet that looks like a duck, a tail like a beaver and is venomous. At first glance, the platypus looks like an animal that could be the product of a creative imagination. Yet, despite its odd […]

Stress (Porsche Brosseau via Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0)

Can Stress From Others Affect Your Brain?

March 14, 2018

Are you stressed out? If so, a new Canadian study hints that you may want to take care when you’re among others who are stressed too. The new study published in the journal, Nature Neuroscience, shows that stress conveyed to you by others may change your brain in the same way as your own stress does. […]

In a photo that is thought to have been taken on June 6, 1937 at Parnamerim airfield, Natal, Brazil, is American aviator Amelia Earhart standing by her Lockheed Electra. Her flight navigator, Fred Noonan, can be seen getting into the plane in the background. (Flickr's the Commons)

Forensic Analysis May Have Solved Amelia Earhart Mystery

March 9, 2018

The 1937 disappearance of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, as she was attempting a grueling equatorial flight to circumnavigate the world, has been one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of our time. Professor emeritus Richard Jantz, of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville conducted a forensic analysis that suggests bones found on the South Pacific Island of […]

The researchers found that the Danger Islands have 751,527 pairs of Adélie penguins--more than the rest of the entire Antarctic Peninsula region combined. (Michael Polito, ©Louisiana State University)

Scientists Spot Penguin “Supercolony”

March 7, 2018

Penguins are among the most common birds in Antarctica. Of all the Antarctic penguin species, only two – the Adélie and Emperor are known to breed along the shorelines and islands that surround the entire continent. A new study led by researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution outlines the discovery of a previously unknown […]

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