PHYSorg · Page 21

Several varieties of wild spinach that originated in Central Asia show resistance to a destructive soil-borne pathogen that beleaguers growers of spinach seed in the Pacific Northwest—a finding that can be used to breed hardier crops.

Cats have a long history with humans, going back more than 9,000 years. Attracted to human settlements by the rodents that plagued (sometimes literally) our ancestors, cats ingratiated themselves as useful mousers and slowly domesticated themselves.

African elephants are the largest land animals on Earth and significantly larger than their relatives in Asia, from which they are separated by millions of years of evolution. Nevertheless, Asian elephants have a 20% heavier brain, as scientists from…

To better understand the circadian clock in modern-day cyanobacteria, a Japanese research team has studied ancient timekeeping systems. They examined the oscillation of the clock proteins KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC (Kai-proteins) in modern cyanobacteria, comparing…

Ultrastructural studies of centipede and other myriapod ovaries reveal direct soma-germline contact across the basement membrane, a structure typically regarded as a cellular barrier.

Researchers from the lab led by Prof. Joris De Wit (VIB-KU Leuven) have discovered an important clue to how connections between brain cells, known as synapses, mature. These new findings, published in Developmental Cell, demonstrate how two different proteins,…

New research published in BioScience reveals that climate change is rapidly emerging as a third major threat to Earth's wild animals, joining habitat alteration and overexploitation in what scientists call a shift from "twin to triple threats."

A Monash University researcher at the forefront of animal cognition and behavioral studies is shining a light on how the field plays a critical role in driving forward societal innovation.

When you test more than 200,000 soil samples in a year, you not only learn something about how Arkansans grow crops, gardens and lawns, but also the value of recommendations that result from soil test results.

On the eighth annual "World Bee Day," around 400,000 bees in urban rooftop hives in Cologne, Germany, were busy at work making honey.

New research from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, has revealed that puff adders (Bitis arietans) can be highly efficient at controlling rodent populations that threaten agricultural production on the continent.

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have developed a computational imaging system that borrows techniques from astronomy to reconstruct 4D videos of freely moving small model organisms, like zebrafish and fruit fly larvae. By using a concave mirror and an…

We know that noisy reefs are healthy, but carefully listening to the sounds made by fish, invertebrates and humans underwater can help us understand the details better, such as changing diversity, distribution and abundance of species. There might even be new…

A recent study, published in Papers in Palaeontology, discusses the reanalysis of the only known Idiorophus patagonicus specimen.

A new species of flapjack octopus, with massive eyes and blood-red tentacles, has been discovered from a deep-sea canyon off the coast of Australia.

The spotted lanternfly, a leaf-hopping invasive pest first detected in the U.S. a decade ago, has steadily spread across the East Coast and into the Midwest with little getting in its way.

Using third-generation metagenomics, researchers from the Department of Plant Production and Microbiology at the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) have uncovered the genomic basis behind the evolutionary success of the SAR11 marine bacteria, the most…

May is peak watermelon season in North Florida, and farmers are busy tending to their crops as they anticipate harvesting around Memorial Day. Rather than painstakingly twisting water valves, however, an ever-growing number are relying on automated irrigation,…

It turns out humpback whales' epic migrations to tropical waters aren't as essential as previously thought for giving birth: calves can be born as far south as Tasmania or New Zealand, 1,500 km further south than previously known.

Wetlands are essential ecosystems that provide a variety of ecological functions, including carbon sequestration, water purification, climate regulation, and biodiversity maintenance. As global warming intensifies, environmental factors such as changes in…