ScienceDaily: Plants & Animals News

Biologists partner bacterium with nitrogen gas to produce more, cleaner bioethanol Posted: 02 Feb 2015 06:21 PM PST Biologists believe they have found a faster, cheaper and cleaner way to increase bioethanol production by using nitrogen gas, the most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere, in place of more costly industrial fertilizers. The discovery could save the industry millions of dollars and make cellulosic ethanol -- made from wood, grasses and inedible parts of plants -- more competitive with corn ethanol and gasoline.

RNA: The unknotted strand of life Posted: 02 Feb 2015 01:06 PM PST It had never been verified before: unlike other biopolymers, RNA, the long strand that is 'cousin' to DNA, tends not to form knots.

Mercury levels in Hawaiian yellowfin tuna increasing Posted: 02 Feb 2015 12:12 PM PST Mercury concentrations in Hawaiian yellowfin tuna are increasing at a rate of 3.8 percent or more per year, according to a new study that suggests rising atmospheric levels of the toxin are to blame.

Tree species influence boreal forest fire behavior, subsequent effects on climate Posted: 02 Feb 2015 11:48 AM PST For a better understanding of how forest fires behave and interact with climate, scientists are turning to the trees. A new study shows that differences in individual tree species between Eurasia and North America alter the continental patterns of fire -- and that blazes burning the hottest actually cool the climate.

Toward the next biofuel: Secrets of Fistulifera solaris Posted: 02 Feb 2015 11:11 AM PST Biofuels are an attractive alternative to fossil fuels, but a key challenge in efforts to develop carbon-neutral, large-scale methods to produce biofuels is finding the right organism for the job. One emerging candidate is the microalga Fistulifera solaris. An international collaboration of scientists has revealed the genome of F. solaris and provided exciting hints at the roots of its ability to grow and produce oil at the same time.

Orangutans take the logging road Posted: 02 Feb 2015 10:26 AM PST 'Foot' travel by Borneo's shaggy apes may be evolving more than initially thought, researchers have discovered. The Bornean orangutan not only regularly walks Wehea Forest floors to travel, but also hits newly constructed logging roads, researchers have observed.

Friend, foe or queen? Study highlights the complexities of ant perception Posted: 02 Feb 2015 10:26 AM PST Researchers report that trap-jaw ants recognize the unique odor of a fertile queen only if the queen also shares the workers' own chemical cologne -- a distinctive blend of dozens of smelly, waxy compounds that coat the ants' bodies from head to tarsus. The discovery offers new insights into how social animals evolved and communicate with others in their group, the researchers say.

Getting yeast to pump up the protein production Posted: 02 Feb 2015 10:26 AM PST Researchers have genetically modified yeast to prevent it from metabolizing protein, leading to higher yields of an industrially useful product, they say. A unicellular microorganism, yeast is a top candidate for producing protein because it grows rapidly and needs few resources to thrive. But until now, the scientific community did not realize that yeast reabsorbs more than half of the protein it secretes.

Shrinking range of pikas in California mountains linked to climate change Posted: 02 Feb 2015 09:37 AM PST The American pika, a small animal with a big personality that has long delighted hikers and backpackers, is disappearing from low-elevation sites in California mountains, and the cause appears to be climate change, according to a new study. Pika populations were most likely to go locally extinct at sites with high summer temperatures and low habitat area.

You can be a coward or a fighter -- just pick one and stick with it, says study Posted: 02 Feb 2015 08:45 AM PST When the chips are down, having a strong personality may be the difference between thriving and failing, according to new research that studied how aphids reacted when faced with predatory ladybirds. The study suggests that committing to a consistent behavioural type in times of crisis results in the best overall outcome in terms of fitness and reproductive success.

Scientists view effect of whisker tickling on mouse brains Posted: 02 Feb 2015 08:41 AM PST Researchers have succeeded in peering into the brains of live mice with such precision that they were able to see how the position of specific proteins changed as memories were forged.

Cyanobacterium found in algae collection holds promise for biotech applications Posted: 02 Feb 2015 07:57 AM PST Cyanobacteria are attractive organisms for the bio-production of fuels, chemicals and drugs but have the drawback that most strains in common use grow slowly. Scientists now report that they have recovered a fast-growing strain of cyanobacteria from a stored culture of a cyanobacterium originally discovered in a creek on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin in 1955.

Turning up heat on plants could help grow crops of the future Posted: 02 Feb 2015 07:56 AM PST Crops that can thrive in warming climates are a step closer, thanks to new insights into how temperature and light affect plant development. Scientists studied the effect of light and temperature on seedlings of a small cress plant known as Arabidopsis. They were surprised to find that at high temperatures, light causes seedling stems to develop in the same way that they normally would in shade or darkness.

Bowhunting may have fostered social cohesion during the Neolithic Posted: 02 Feb 2015 07:55 AM PST Bowhunting during the Neolithic period may have been one of the pillars of unity as a group of primitive human societies. This is one of the main conclusions reached by a team of Spanish archaeologists that has analyzed the Neolithic bows found in the site of La Draga (Girona, Spain).

Area-wide management a must for Asian citrus psyllid Posted: 02 Feb 2015 07:55 AM PST The Asian citrus psyllid can travel at least two kilometers in a twelve-day period, and they are able to traverse potential geographic barriers such as roads and fallow fields, research shows.

Improving health of marine life, coastal economies Posted: 02 Feb 2015 07:53 AM PST Sea turtles and coral reefs may hold the keys to improving Florida's offshore health and economy. Scientists are getting in on the ground floor of a new alliance that aims to improve the health of Tampa Bay's waters.

Fewer viral relics may be due to a less bloody evolutionary history Posted: 02 Feb 2015 05:19 AM PST Humans have fewer remnants of viral DNA in their genes compared to other mammals, a new study has found. This decrease could be because of reduced exposure to blood-borne viruses as humans evolved to use tools rather than biting during violent conflict and the hunting of animals.

New technique captures real-time diagnostic 3-D images Posted: 02 Feb 2015 05:07 AM PST A new technique uses Optical Projection Tomography, which is “similar to X-rays, but uses light,” explains a researcher.  With this technique, it is possible to use optical markers which are often used with transgenic animals.  One such marker is green fluorescent protein.  Thanks to this substance, one can observe the anatomy and functions of living organisms like flies or very small fish.

Urban taste for bushmeat poses threat to Amazonian wildlife Posted: 02 Feb 2015 05:07 AM PST Alarming evidence of an under-reported wild-meat crisis in the heart of Amazonia has been uncovered by researchers who interviewed households in two Brazilian 'prefrontier' cities -- cities which are surrounded by more than 90 per cent of their original forest cover. They found virtually all urban households in these cities consumed wildlife for food, including fish (99%), bushmeat (mammals and birds; 79%), turtles and tortoises (48%) and caimans (28%).

Mini synthetic organism instead of test animals Posted: 02 Feb 2015 05:06 AM PST In medical research, animal-based experiments have thus far been a necessary evil. Now researchers have developed a highly promising alternative, however: They are developing a mini-organism inside a chip. This way, complex metabolic processes within the human body can be analyzed realistically.

Protein, skin care and biopesticide products developed from fish filleting residue, rapeseed press cakes Posted: 02 Feb 2015 05:06 AM PST Food industry co-streams could be upgraded to more valuable products than the original ones ending up as animal feed, scientists say after developing gentle methods to make good use of fish filleting residues and rapeseed press cakes.

Transforming biochar into activated carbon Posted: 30 Jan 2015 09:16 AM PST It's about transforming corn stover, dried distillers grain solids and even native grasses into a product more than 1,000 times more valuable--graphene. A team of researchers is converting biochar into graphene which they hope can one day be used in place of expensive, activated carbon to coat the electrodes of supercapacitors.

Picking up on the smell of evolution: Researchers discover changes that let a species drastically change its lifestyle Posted: 29 Jan 2015 02:04 PM PST Some of the changes in genes, physiology and behavior that enable a species to drastically change its lifestyle in the course of evolution have been discovered by researchers.

Understanding cellular aging Posted: 29 Jan 2015 09:55 AM PST The physical structure of the nuclear landscape has been mapped in unprecedented detail to understand changes in genomic interactions occurring in cell senescence and aging.

Mechanism that controls localization of protein Rac1 in the cell nucleus identified Posted: 29 Jan 2015 09:55 AM PST The prolonged presence of Rac1 in the nucleus leads to changes in nuclear morphology that are important in cell migration. The existence of nuclear Rac1 has been known for a few years, but mystery has surrounded how this localization is regulated and what function it plays.

Tracking fish easier, quicker, safer with new injectable device Posted: 29 Jan 2015 09:54 AM PST A new acoustic fish-tracking tag is so tiny it can be injected with a syringe. It's small size enables researchers to more precisely and safely record how fish swim through dams and use that information to make dams more fish-friendly.

Home is a safe haven for female deer Posted: 29 Jan 2015 07:41 AM PST Intimate knowledge about home ranges helps female black-tailed deer survive in the wild, new research confirms. To female black-tailed deer, their home turf provides a safe haven and a refuge against possible predation by pumas. Those that venture into unchartered territory are four times more likely to fall prey to these cats. After tracking deer in California's coastal mountains, a team of researchers has proven that the old adage 'home sweet home' holds true for deer.