Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Environmental: Biodiversity Geoscience: Geography Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Found at last: Bizarre, egg-laying mammal finally rediscovered after 60 years      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A long-beaked echidna named after Sir David Attenborough and last seen by scientists in 1961 has been photographed for the first time in an Indonesian tropical forest. An international team of researchers worked with local communities to deploy over 80 camera traps to film the elusive animal. Besides rediscovering the echidna, the team uncovered a wealth of species completely new to science, including beetles, spiders, and a remarkable tree-dwelling shrimp.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals
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Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides detected in New York state beeswax      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An analysis of beeswax in managed honeybee hives in New York finds a wide variety of pesticide, herbicide and fungicide residues, exposing current and future generations of bees to long-term toxicity.

Biology: General Biology: Zoology
Published

Desert birds lay larger eggs when they have more helpers      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Desert birds lay larger eggs when they have more helpers to feed their chicks, new research shows.

Biology: General Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: General
Published

Palaeo-CSI: Mosasaurs were picky eaters      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Mosasaurs, those large marine reptiles from the long-gone Cretaceous world, were quite picky in their choice of diet. Researchers came to this conclusion after studying the wear marks on mosasaur teeth.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Zoology
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Poison dart frogs: Personality determines reproductive strategies      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Unlike their relatives, individuals of the poison frog Allobates femoralis are not poisonous but are captivating due to their different behavioral profiles: They successfully reproduce with different strategies depending on whether they are bold, aggressive or explorative. In addition, certain character traits are already present in this species at the tadpole stage.

Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science
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'Alien' wasps thriving in tropical forests      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers say they have discovered high diversity of Darwin wasps in a tropical rainforest in Brazil, wasps which were previously thought to thrive more in cooler habitats.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology
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The metabolism of bacteria under the microscope: New method reveals host-microbe interactions      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The fascinating world of bacteria that live as symbionts or parasites in animal hosts often remains a mystery to researchers. A research team has made a breakthrough that provides insights into this mysterious micro-world.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology
Published

French love letters confiscated by Britain finally read after 265 years      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Over 100 letters sent to French sailors by their fianc es, wives, parents and siblings -- but never delivered -- have been opened and studied for the first time since they were written in 1757-8.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Developmental Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Zoology Chemistry: Biochemistry
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Video technology could transform how scientists monitor changes in species evolution and development      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research combines microscope and video technology to analyze how different species develop, and how changes in the timings of any developments can be tracked. A detailed analysis of the Energy Proxy Traits (EPTs) that result from these processes has provided researchers with the first evidence that traditionally measured timings of developmental events are associated with far broader changes to the full set of an embryo's observable characteristics.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Chemistry: Biochemistry Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Two fins are better than one: Fish synchronize tail fins to save energy      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

They say two heads are better than one. But in the world of fish, it appears two fins are better than one. Researchers have produced a theoretical model that demonstrates the underlying mechanisms behind how fish will synchronize their fin movements to ride each other's vortices, thereby saving energy.

Anthropology: Cultures Archaeology: General Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology
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Long-distance weaponry identified at the 31,000-year-old archaeological site of Maisières-Canal      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The hunter-gatherers who settled on the banks of the Haine, a river in southern Belgium, 31,000 years ago were already using spearthrowers to hunt their game. The material found at the archaeological site of Maisières-Canal permits establishing the use of this hunting technique 10,000 years earlier than the oldest currently known preserved spearthrowers. This discovery is prompting archaeologists to reconsider the age of this important technological innovation.

Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Biodiversity Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Threatened sharks and rays caught off Cyprus      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Sharks and rays from threatened species are being caught off northern Cyprus, according to a new study by scientists who are working with local authorities and fishers to protect the animals.

Anthropology: General Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals
Published

New secrets about cat evolution revealed      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

By comparing genomes of several cat species, the project has helped researchers understand why cat genomes tend to have fewer complex genetic variations (such as rearrangements of DNA segments) than other mammal groups, like primates. It also revealed new insights into which parts of cat DNA are most likely to evolve rapidly and how they play a role in species differentiation.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Zoology Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Rats have an imagination, new research suggests      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a novel system to probe a rat's thoughts, finding that animals can control their brain activity to imagine remote locations.  

Geoscience: Earthquakes Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology
Published

Hebrew prayer book fills gap in Italian earthquake history      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The chance discovery of a note written in a 15th century Hebrew prayer book fills an important gap in the historical Italian earthquake record, offering a brief glimpse of a previously unknown earthquake affecting the Marche region in the central Apennines.  

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Marine Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology Ecology: Sea Life Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Where is a sea star's head? Maybe just about everywhere      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study that combines genetic and molecular techniques helps solve the riddle of sea star (commonly called starfish) body plans, and how sea stars start life with bilateral body symmetry -- just like humans -- but grow up to be adults with fivefold 'pentaradial' symmetry.