ScienceDaily: Plants & Animals News

Drug-resistant bacteria lurk in subway stations, high school students discover Posted: 05 Feb 2015 02:49 PM PST Forget commuters and rats, New York City's subway system is crowded with microbes. After spending her vacation swabbing benches and turn styles beneath the city, high school students found bacteria impervious to two major antibiotics.

Organic food reduces pesticide exposure Posted: 05 Feb 2015 02:48 PM PST A new study is among the first to predict a person’s pesticide exposure based on information about their usual diet.

Another breastfeeding benefit: Preparing baby's belly for solid food Posted: 05 Feb 2015 02:46 PM PST Researchers found that a baby’s diet during the first few months of life has a profound influence on the composition, diversity, and stability of the gut microbiome. These factors influence the baby’s ability to transition from milk to solid foods and may have long-term health effects.

Tiny termites can hold back deserts by creating oases of plant life Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:29 AM PST Termite mounds can help prevent the spread of deserts into semi-arid ecosystems and agricultural lands. The results of a new study not only suggest that termite mounds could make these areas more resilient to climate change than previously thought, but could also inspire a change in how scientists determine the possible effects of climate change on ecosystems.

Carnivorous mushroom reveals human immune trick: How we punch our way into cancer cells Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:29 AM PST Edible oyster mushrooms have an intriguing secret: They eat spiders and roundworms. And they do so using proteins that can punch their way into cells, leaving tidy but deadly holes. It's a trick that our immune cells also use to protect us, destroying infected cells, cancerous cells, and bacteria.

Why do new strains of HIV spread slowly? Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:29 AM PST Most HIV epidemics are still dominated by the first strain that entered a particular population. New research offers an explanation of why the global mixing of HIV variants is so slow.

Genetics lab unravels mystery whale killing at sea Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:12 AM PST Fisheries scientists happened onto a killer whale attack too late to tell what species had been the target. So they recovered all that was left -- a whale lung -- and probed its DNA to for clues to where it came from. It turned out to be the first documentation of killer whales attacking a rarely seen pygmy sperm whale.

Improving genome editing with drugs Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:12 AM PST Scientists have discovered a way to enhance the efficiency of CRISPR genome editing with the introduction of a few key chemical compounds. This has important potential implications for correcting disease-causing genetic mutations.

Similar statistics play role in decision-making and World War II code breaking Posted: 05 Feb 2015 10:12 AM PST "The brain reaches a decision by combining samples of evidence in much the way a good statistician would," says a researcher. He demonstrates this theory by monitoring the decision-making process in rhesus monkeys to determine how much and what information they need to confidently choose a correct answer.

Microbiome linked to type 1 diabetes: Shift in microbiome species diversity prior to disease onset Posted: 05 Feb 2015 09:30 AM PST In the largest longitudinal study of the microbiome to date, researchers have identified a connection between changes in gut microbiota and the onset of type 1 diabetes. The study, which followed infants who were genetically predisposed to the condition, found that onset for those who developed the disease was preceded by a drop in microbial diversity -- including a disproportional decrease in the number of species known to promote health in the gut.

After merger, chimpanzees learned new grunt for 'apple' Posted: 05 Feb 2015 09:30 AM PST Chimpanzees have special grunts for particular types of foods, and their fellow chimps know exactly what those calls mean. Now, by studying what happened after two separate groups of adult chimpanzees moved in together at the Edinburgh Zoo, researchers have made the surprising discovery that our primate cousins can change those referential grunts over time, to make them sound more like those of new peers.

Norwegian lemmings dress loudly and scream even louder to survive Posted: 05 Feb 2015 06:51 AM PST Researcher looks at why the Norwegian lemming is so boldly colored and brave. The conspicuous, bold colors of the Norwegian lemming's fur and its loud barks serve as warnings to predators that it is not a creature to be messed with. This ferocity makes it unique among small rodents.

Lyme disease costs up to $1. 3 billion per year to treat, study finds Posted: 05 Feb 2015 06:50 AM PST New research suggests that a prolonged illness associated with Lyme disease is more widespread and serious in some patients than previously understood.

15-million-year-old mollusk protein found Posted: 05 Feb 2015 05:37 AM PST Scientists have found 'beautifully preserved' 15-million-year-old thin protein sheets in fossil shells from southern Maryland. The team collected samples from Calvert Cliffs, along the shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay, a popular fossil collecting area. They found fossilized shells of a snail-like mollusk called Ecphora that lived in the mid-Miocene era.

Octopus robot makes waves with ultra-fast propulsion Posted: 05 Feb 2015 05:30 AM PST Scientists have developed an octopus-like robot, which can zoom through water with ultra-fast propulsion and acceleration never before seen in human-made underwater vehicles. Most fast aquatic animals are sleek and slender to help them move easily through the water but cephalopods, such as the octopus, are capable of high-speed escapes by filling their bodies with water and then quickly expelling it to dart away. Inspired by this, scientists built a deformable octopus-like robot with a 3D printed skeleton with no moving parts and no energy storage device, other than a thin elastic outer hull.

Shade coffee is for the birds Posted: 05 Feb 2015 05:29 AM PST The conservation value of growing coffee under trees instead of on open farms is well known, but hasn't been studied much in Africa. So biolgists studied birds in the Ethiopian home of Arabica coffee and found that "shade coffee" farms are good for birds, but some species do best in forest.

Record keeping helps bacteria's immune system fight invaders Posted: 04 Feb 2015 11:45 AM PST Bacteria have a sophisticated means of defending themselves, and they need it: more viruses infect bacteria than any other biological entity. Two experiments provide new insight at the heart of bacterial adaptive defenses in a system.

Mapping of the canary genome Posted: 04 Feb 2015 09:59 AM PST Nature lovers are fascinated by the increasing number of singing birds when spring is approaching. Scientists also take advantage of this seasonal phenomenon because they are able to investigate the underlying mechanism; however the evolutionary and molecularbiological background is largely unknown. Biologists have now sequenced the genome of the canary.

Attention: How eyes reveal the brain's focus Posted: 04 Feb 2015 09:58 AM PST A primate's ability to pay attention to, or tune out, particular sights and sounds is crucial for success and survival. Researchers looked into monkeys' eyes for insight into how the brain processes distractions. They found that neural activity and changes to pupil size in response to distractors can predict how well the brain helps focus on a goal.

Visual system primed to see objects in discrete units Posted: 04 Feb 2015 04:52 AM PST Human beings are born with a visual system already predisposed to see (and mentally representing) objects as discrete perceptual units. Movement is an important visual feature, but how early in a child’s development is it represented independently from the object itself? And what function does this skill serve in the development of cognitive abilities? New research shows that this skill develops very early in infancy. In fact, its presence in mice suggests a genetic basis for it.

Caterpillar to butterfly: New light shed on diet, steroid hormones and development Posted: 04 Feb 2015 04:52 AM PST Researchers have discovered an exciting new link between nutrition and development in fruit flies that involves a direct association between the brain and parts of the insect organ secreting the important hormone. It helps to explain when and how caterpillars turn into butterflies and may help us to understand how and when children develop into adults.

Puget Sound salmon face more ups and downs in river flows Posted: 03 Feb 2015 12:59 PM PST Climate change projections predict increased climate variability, which is already appearing in the form of more pronounced fluctuations in salmon rivers around Puget Sound, Wash. That poses increased risks for threatened Chinook salmon, a new study finds.

Milk allergy? Making milk easier to digest Posted: 03 Feb 2015 06:43 AM PST Spanish scientists have designed a type of lactose protein which is easier to digest by humans, and which could lower the allergenicity of milk. They have done this without at all altering its functional properties.