ScienceDaily: Plants & Animals News

First detailed microscopy evidence of bacteria at the lower size limit of life Posted: 27 Feb 2015 03:13 PM PST Scientists have captured the first detailed microscopy images of ultra-small bacteria that are believed to be about as small as life can get. The existence of ultra-small bacteria has been debated for two decades, but there hasn't been a comprehensive electron microscopy and DNA-based description of the microbes until now. The cells have an average volume of 0.009 cubic microns (one micron is one millionth of a meter). About 150 of these bacteria could fit inside an Escherichia coli cell and more than 150,000 cells could fit onto the tip of a human hair.

Research of plain wren duets could help further understand fundamentals of conversation Posted: 27 Feb 2015 03:13 PM PST Known for their beautiful singing duets, plain wrens of Costa Rica perform precise phrase-by-phrase modifications to the duration between two consecutive phrases, achieving careful coordination as their songs unfold. A new study shows that these songbirds achieve precise coordination by adjusting the period between two consecutive phrases (inter-phrase intervals), depending on whether their song is answered, the phrase type used in the duet and the position of the inter-phrase interval within the duet.

Mystery of the reverse-wired eyeball solved Posted: 27 Feb 2015 10:10 AM PST Counter-intuitively, in vertebrates photoreceptors are located behind the neurons in the back of the eye. Now physicists explain why the neural wiring seems to be backwards.

Cryptochrome protein helps birds navigate via magnetic field Posted: 27 Feb 2015 10:10 AM PST Researchers have found one one possible explanation for some birds' ability to sense the earth's magnetic field and use it to orient themselves: a magnetically sensitive protein called cryptochrome that mediates circadian rhythms in plants and animals.

Modern logging techniques benefit rainforest wildlife Posted: 27 Feb 2015 08:26 AM PST The value of a modern logging technique has been revealed for maintaining biodiversity in tropical forests that are used for timber production. The most comprehensive study of Reduced-Impact Logging (RIL) to date has been completed, surveying wildlife communities over a five-year period before and after timber harvesting.

Untangling DNA with a droplet of water, a pipet and a polymer Posted: 27 Feb 2015 08:26 AM PST Researchers have long sought an efficient way to untangle DNA to study its structure -- neatly unraveled and straightened out -- under a microscope. Now, researchers have devised a simple and effective solution: they inject genetic material into a droplet of water and use a pipet tip to drag it over a glass plate covered with a sticky polymer.

The biobattery: Turning sewage sludge into electricity and engine oil Posted: 27 Feb 2015 08:25 AM PST Sewage sludge, green waste, production residue from the food industry, straw or animal excrement – with the biobattery‘s modular concept a much larger range of biomass can be utilized for energy recovery than previously. Researchers show that they can convert organic residues into electricity, heat, purified gas, engine oil and high quality biochar using this process.

Feast-and-famine diet could help extend life, study suggests Posted: 27 Feb 2015 08:25 AM PST Think of it as interval training for the dinner table. Fasting has been shown in mice to extend lifespan and to improve age-related diseases. But fasting every day, which could entail skipping meals or simply reducing overall caloric intake, can be hard to maintain. In a new study, researchers looked at intermittent fasting. They measured participants' changes in weight, blood pressure, heart rate, glucose levels, cholesterol, markers of inflammation and genes involved in protective cell responses over 10 weeks. They found that intermittent fasting caused a slight increase to SIRT 3, a well-known gene that promotes longevity and is involved in protective cell responses.

Transient details of HIV genome packaging captured Posted: 27 Feb 2015 08:25 AM PST Once HIV-1 has hijacked a host cell to make copies of its own RNA genome and viral proteins, it must assemble these components into new virus particles. The orchestration of this intricate assembly process falls to a viral protein known as Gag. For one thing, Gag must be able to discern viral RNA from the host cell’s and squirrel it away inside new viral particles — no easy task considering only two to three percent of the RNA found in the cytoplasm is from HIV-1. Exactly how Gag selectively packages viral RNA has been widely speculated but never directly observed.

Strait of Georgia: Salish Sea seagull populations halved since 1980s Posted: 27 Feb 2015 05:47 AM PST The number of seagulls in the Strait of Georgia is down by 50 per cent from the 1980s and researchers say the decline reflects changes in the availability of food.

Newly discovered algal species helps corals survive in the hottest reefs on the planet Posted: 27 Feb 2015 05:47 AM PST A new species of algae has been discovered in reef corals of the Persian Gulf where it helps corals to survive seawater temperatures of up to 36 degrees Celsius -- temperatures that would kill corals elsewhere.

Quick test for quality beer, milk Posted: 27 Feb 2015 05:46 AM PST To guarantee a high quality of their beer, breweries monitor the production process very closely. With a new polymer powder, this monitoring will be able to be faster and simpler in the future. Manufacturers can also test drinks such as milk, juice, cola and red wine with the quick check.

DNA evidence shows surprise cultural connections between Britain and Europe 8,000 years ago Posted: 27 Feb 2015 05:45 AM PST DNA evidence shows surprise cultural connections between Britain and Europe 8,000 years ago. Researchers found evidence for a variety of wheat at a submerged archaeological site off the south coast of England, 2,000 years before the introduction of farming in the UK.

Antibiotic resistant salad: Resistant Listeria monocytogenes not as widespread as thought Posted: 27 Feb 2015 05:45 AM PST Antibiotic-resistant strains of the food-poisoning microbe Listeria monocytogenes in unprocessed salad products is not quite as widespread as scientists originally suspected. A new study reveals that strains of the microbe falling into six distinct groups can all be found on such products, but 82 percent of those strains succumb to at least one of sixteen common antibiotics used in veterinary and human listeriosis treatment.

Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease reversed in rats Posted: 26 Feb 2015 11:49 AM PST A controlled-release oral therapy has been developed by scientists that reversed type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease in rats, according to a study. "Given these promising results in animal models of NAFLD/NASH and type 2 diabetes we are pursuing additional preclinical safety studies to take this mitochondrial protonophore approach to the clinic," said the researchers.

Altering perception of feeding state may promote healthy aging Posted: 26 Feb 2015 10:20 AM PST Targeting mechanisms in the central nervous system that sense energy generated by nutrients might yield the beneficial effects of low-calorie diets on healthy aging without the need to alter food intake, suggests new research.

How rare antibody targets Ebola and Marburg virus Posted: 26 Feb 2015 09:23 AM PST Scientists have captured the first images showing how immune molecules bind to a site on the surface of Marburg virus and have described an antibody that binds to both Marburg and Ebola viruses, pointing to new antibody treatments to fight an entire family of viruses.