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Science Ticker
Dolphins use sponges to dine on different grub
Some bottlenose dolphins sport cone-shaped sea sponges in their beaks, a behavior that may help the animals hunt. New research confirms the idea, showing that sponging dolphins have different fatty acids and therefore different diets than...04/23/2014 - 12:12 Animals, Physiology -
Science Ticker
New antibiotic resistance genes found in cow manure
Dairy cow waste harbors more antibiotic resistance genes from the animals' gut bacteria than scientists expected.Because manure is used as a farm soil fertilizer, the waste may be a potential source of...04/22/2014 - 12:30 Genetics -
Scicurious
Bingeing rats show the power of food habits
Many of us have experienced that depressing sight: The bottom of the ice cream pint. You get to the end of your favorite movie and suddenly realize the ice cream is gone — and you’re far too full for comfort. We’re left wondering why we did it. But when it comes to forgetting ourselves and bingeing on the pint, the power of habit can be strong.It could be that our previous eating experiences make...04/21/2014 - 17:28 Neuroscience, Nutrition, Mental Health -
Wild Things
Cheetahs, but not wild dogs, manage to live with lions
Lions rule. Every kid knows that. Out on the plains of Africa, lions are the top predators. But they’re not the only predators that roam the Serengeti. These lesser mesopredators include cheetahs and...04/21/2014 - 15:14 Conservation, Animals -
Wild Things
Little thylacine had a big bite
In the northeast corner of Queensland lies one of Australia’s great treasures — the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, home to more than 250 sites that are rich in fossils. In that region, some 24 to 11.6 million years ago, as many as five relatives of the extinct Tasmanian tiger, or...04/20/2014 - 14:00 Animals, Paleontology -
Reviews & Previews
War's ecological effects laid bare in 'A Window on Eternity'
Starting in the late 1970s, Mozambique spent more than a decade embroiled in a brutal civil war that left millions dead or displaced. The effects of the human conflict echoed through the natural world. Soldiers encamped in Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park, an area rich in flora and fauna, hunted elephants, zebras, Cape buffalo and other animals for food. Populations of the big mammals...04/20/2014 - 12:00 Ecology -
Feature
Unsolved drugs
Penicillin attacks with a calculated strike, splitting open cell walls. Kanamycin sends a bacterium’s protein assembly line into mayhem. Ciprofloxacin dices a microbe’s DNA into a genetic hash. Like trained snipers, each of these common antibiotics seems to dispatch bacteria with a simple tactic: Target a high-profile molecule crucial to survival and, with a single, clean shot, defeat the whole...04/18/2014 - 15:00 Biomedicine, Health -
Feature
The name of the fungus
To a visitor walking down, down, down the white cinder block stairwell and through metal doors into the basement, Building 010A takes on the hushed, mile-long-beige-corridor feel of some secret government installation in a blockbuster movie.It’s not open to sightseers, but it’s far from secret. No jut-jawed military escort leads the way; biologist Shannon Dominick wears a striped sweater as she...04/18/2014 - 13:55 Fungi -
Science Ticker
Gene variant, processed meat linked to boost in cancer risk
Eating processed meat is associated with an increased risk of developing colon cancer in people who have the gene variant rs4143094, researchers report April 17 in PLOS Genetics. One in three people have this altered gene, which is found on the same...04/18/2014 - 09:00 Health, Genetics -
News
Most extreme female penis is found on cave lice
The most dramatic genital-shape reversal known — females with long, insertable organs and males with corresponding pouches — has turned up in bark lice living in Brazilian caves.A female in each of the four Neotrogla species extends a skinny structure up to 15 percent the length of her body into a genital pocket in the male’s body, reports entomologist Kazunori Yoshizawa of Hokkaido...04/17/2014 - 13:17 Animals, Evolution