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Categories: Biology: Evolutionary, Computer Science: Encryption
Published The rediscovery of an ethereal fairy lantern brightly illuminates their mysterious past
(via sciencedaily.com) After more than 30 years, botanists have rediscovered Thismia kobensis, a type of mysterious-looking rare plant commonly referred to as 'fairy lanterns'. Thismia kobensis was presumed extinct and the surprise rediscovery of this Japanese variety has illuminated hidden aspects of fairy lanterns that have puzzled and fascinated botanists for centuries.
Published Ancient proteins offer new clues about origin of life on Earth
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source By simulating early Earth conditions in the lab, researchers have found that without specific amino acids, ancient proteins would not have known how to evolve into everything alive on the planet today -- including plants, animals, and humans.
Published How birds got their wings
(via sciencedaily.com) Modern birds capable of flight all have a specialized wing structure called the propatagium without which they could not fly. The evolutionary origin of this structure has remained a mystery, but new research suggests it evolved in nonavian dinosaurs. The finding comes from statistical analyses of arm joints preserved in fossils and helps fill some gaps in knowledge about the origin of bird flight.
Published Deadly waves: Researchers document evolution of plague over hundreds of years in medieval Denmark
(via sciencedaily.com) Scientists who study the origins and evolution of the plague have examined hundreds of ancient human teeth from Denmark, seeking to address longstanding questions about its arrival, persistence and spread within Scandinavia.
Published Insect bite marks show first fossil evidence for plants' leaves folding up at night
(via sciencedaily.com) Plants can move in ways that might surprise you. Some of them even show 'sleep movements,' folding or raising their leaves each night before opening them again the next day. Now, researchers offer convincing evidence for these nightly movements, also known as foliar nyctinasty, in fossil plants that lived more than 250 million years ago.
Published A labyrinth lake provides surprising benefits for an endangered seal
(via sciencedaily.com) The endangered Saimaa ringed seal is an Ice Age relict living in the highly labyrinthine Lake Saimaa, Finland. The newly published work shows that although individual seals have greatly reduced genetic variation, the loss of variation has been complementary, preserving the adaptive potential of the whole population.
Published Single gene causes sea anemone's stinging cell to lose its sting
(via sciencedaily.com) When scientists disabled a single regulatory gene in a species of sea anemone, a stinging cell that shoots a venomous miniature harpoon for hunting and self-defense shifted to shoot a sticky thread that entangles prey instead, according to a new study.
Published A new model offers an explanation for the huge variety of sizes of DNA in nature
(via sciencedaily.com) A new model offers a possible solution to the scientific question of why neutral sequences, sometimes referred to as 'junk DNA', are not eliminated from the genome of living creatures in nature and continue to exist within it even millions of years later.
Published Geckos know their own odor
(via sciencedaily.com) Geckos can use their tongue to differentiate their own odor from that of other members of their species, as researchers have shown in a new experimental study. The findings show that geckos are able to communicate socially, meaning that they are more intelligent than was previously assumed.
Published Biodiversity engine for fishes: Shifting water depth
(via sciencedaily.com) Fish, the most biodiverse vertebrates in the animal kingdom, present evolutionary biologists a conundrum: The greatest species richness is found in the world's tropical waters, yet the fish groups that generate new species most rapidly inhabit colder climates at higher latitudes. A new study helps to explain this paradox. The researchers discovered that the ability of fish in temperate and polar ecosystems to transition back and forth from shallow to deep water triggers species diversification. Their findings suggest that as climate change warms the oceans at higher latitudes, it will impede the evolution of fish species.
Published Genetic switch makes the eyes of male bees large and of female bees small
(via sciencedaily.com) Bee researchers have identified a new gene in honeybees, which is responsible for the dimorphic eye differentiation between males and females of the species. The researchers have now presented this gene and the evolutionary genetic conclusions they have drawn from it.
Published Chromo-encryption method encodes secrets with color
(via sciencedaily.com) In a new approach to security that unites technology and art, E researchers have combined silver nanostructures with polarized light to yield a range of brilliant colors, which can be used to encode messages.
Published Yellow evolution: Unique genes led to new species of monkeyflower
(via sciencedaily.com) Monkeyflowers glow in a rich assortment of colors, from yellow to pink to deep red-orange. But about 5 million years ago, some of them lost their yellow. Botanists now explain what happened genetically to jettison the yellow pigment, and the implications for the evolution of species.
Published How giants became dwarfs
(via sciencedaily.com) In certain Lake Tanganyika cichlids breeding in empty snail shells, there are two extreme sizes of males: giants and dwarfs. Researchers have analyzed the genomes of these fish and found out how the peculiar sizes of males and females evolved in conjunction with the genetic sex determination mechanism.
Published 'We're not all that different': Study IDs bacterial weapons that could be harnessed to treat human disease
(via sciencedaily.com) When it comes to fighting off invaders, bacteria operate in a remarkably similar way to human cells, possessing the same core machinery required to switch immune pathways on and off, according to new research.
Published Surprises in sea turtle genes could help them adapt to a rapidly changing world
(via sciencedaily.com) Around 100 million years ago, a group of land-dwelling turtles took to the oceans, eventually evolving into the sea turtles that we know today. However, the genetic foundations that have enabled them to thrive in oceans throughout the world have remained largely unknown.
Published How species partnerships evolve
(via sciencedaily.com) Biologists explored how symbiotic relationships between species evolve to become specific or general, cooperative or antagonistic.
Published 319-million-year-old fish preserves the earliest fossilized brain of a backboned animal
(via sciencedaily.com) The CT-scanned skull of a 319-million-year-old fossilized fish, pulled from a coal mine in England more than a century ago, has revealed the oldest example of a well-preserved vertebrate brain.
Published With rapidly increasing heat and drought, can plants adapt?
(via sciencedaily.com) As deserts expanded their range over the past 5-7 million years, many plants invaded the new biome and rapidly diversified, producing amazing adaptations to drought and heat. Can plants continue to adapt to increasing aridity caused by climate change? A new study that addressed the origins of desert adaptation concluded that one group of desert plants, rock daisies, came preadapted to aridity, likely helping them survive desert conditions. Not all plants may be so lucky.
Published When bugs swipe left
(via sciencedaily.com) A single protein called Gr8a is expressed in different organs in male and female flies and appears to play an inhibitory role in mating decision-making. The findings point to one of the ways that flies could put up behavioral barriers to protect against mating with the wrong kind of partner.