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ScienceDaily: Plants & Animals News |
| Creating order by mechanical deformation in dense active matter Posted: 27 Sep 2021 02:29 PM PDT Living or biological systems cannot be easily understood using the standard laws of physics, such as thermodynamics, as scientists would for gases, liquids or solids. Living systems are active, demonstrating fascinating properties such as adapting to their environment or repairing themselves. Exploring the questions posed by living systems using computer simulations, researchers have now discovered a novel type of ordering effect generated and sustained by a simple mechanical deformation, specifically steady shear. |
| Posted: 27 Sep 2021 02:29 PM PDT Anthrax is an infectious bacterial disease endemic in some parts of Africa. It affects people, livestock as well as wildlife. Using GPS telemetry data, a team of scientists reconstructed a special case of anthrax infection in Namibia: Three free-ranging cheetahs in the Namib Desert died within 24 hours after feeding on a mountain zebra that tested positive for the disease. The zebra is the first described case of a wild animal infected with anthrax in this arid region. The case also shows that there might be previously unknown risks to cheetah populations in the desert. |
| Amazonian protected areas benefit both people and biodiversity Posted: 27 Sep 2021 12:05 PM PDT Highly positive social outcomes are linked to biodiversity efforts in Amazonian Sustainable-Use Protected Areas, according to new research. The study investigated the social consequences of living both inside and outside Sustainable-Use Protected Areas containing aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in Brazil's state of Amazonas. Researchers used data from more than 80 local semi-subsistence communities along a 2,000-km section of the Juruá River, the second-longest tributary of the Amazon River. |
| Late Pleistocene humans may have hatched and raised cassowary chicks Posted: 27 Sep 2021 12:05 PM PDT As early as 18,000 years ago, humans in New Guinea may have collected cassowary eggs near maturity and then raised the birds to adulthood, according to an international team of scientists, who used eggshells to determine the developmental stage of the ancient embryos/chicks when the eggs cracked. |
| Dinosaurs’ ascent driven by volcanoes powering climate change Posted: 27 Sep 2021 12:05 PM PDT The rise of dinosaurs coincided with environmental changes driven by major volcanic eruptions over 230 million years ago, a new study reveals. |
| Withdrawal from psychostimulants restructures functional architecture of brain Posted: 27 Sep 2021 11:36 AM PDT Researchers describe how withdrawal from nicotine, methamphetamine and cocaine alters the functional architecture and patterns in the brains of mice, compared to control animals, a key to developing addiction treatments. |
| Crayfish get more interesting at bigger parties Posted: 27 Sep 2021 10:20 AM PDT In many North American lakes, a tiny clawed creature has become a big bully. The invasive rusty crayfish roams lakebeds, snapping up snails, bivalves, and water plants, cutting off food supplies for native crayfish and other animals. And when they're feeling saucy, some mount daring raids on fish eggs, reducing sport-fish populations. |
| Male giraffes are more socially connected than females Posted: 27 Sep 2021 10:20 AM PDT Although female giraffes have closer 'friends' than male giraffes, male giraffes have more 'acquaintances' than females, according to new research. The study demonstrates that giraffes form a complex multilevel society that is driven by differences in the social connections among individuals, which could have conservation implications for the endangered giraffes. |
| Watching SARS-CoV-2 spread in animal models in real time Posted: 27 Sep 2021 09:12 AM PDT New 'reporter viruses' developed by researchers make it much easier to observe SARS-CoV-2 and its variants in cells and live animals in the lab, enabling faster screening of potential anti-viral drugs, vaccines and neutralizing antibodies. |
| Answering a century-old question on the origins of life Posted: 27 Sep 2021 08:05 AM PDT The missing link isn't a not-yet-discovered fossil, after all. It's a tiny, self-replicating globule called a coacervate droplet, developed by researchers to represent the evolution of chemistry into biology. |
| Hyena scavenging provides public health and economic benefits to African cities Posted: 27 Sep 2021 08:05 AM PDT Hyenas are frequently vilified and often feared. Hemingway once described the hyena as a stinking, foul devourer of the dead, with jaws that crack the bones the lion leaves. |
| Hungry or full: It comes down to the atomic details Posted: 27 Sep 2021 08:05 AM PDT A protein - measuring just a few nanometers in size - acts as a molecular switch with a crucial role in determining whether we feel hungry or full. By determining of the protein's 3D structure, researchers were able to visualize the molecular structures of the hormones with which this protein -- melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) -- interacts. |
| Taking the guesswork out of genetic engineering Posted: 27 Sep 2021 08:04 AM PDT If necessity is the mother of invention, frustration is the father. When scientists kept running into aggravating problems with the existing tools and methods they were using to perform genetic engineering experiments, they decided to make better ones. They teamed up and created an integrated pipeline called STAMPScreen that combines novel algorithms, a new gene cloning technique, and powerful next-generation sequencing technology to help scientists get from a database to results quickly, easily, and frustration-free. |
| Learning helps tobacco hawkmoths to select a nectar source and oviposition site more efficiently Posted: 27 Sep 2021 07:26 AM PDT Researchers have gained new insights into the learning ability of tobacco hawkmoths. In two recent publications, they report that learning odors does not only play a role in foraging, but that female moths are also influenced by previously learned odors when choosing a host plant to lay their eggs. In this context, a single deposited egg on a certain plant is sufficient for the moth's choice to visit the same plant species again even after 24 hours. In contrast, the moth's second nose, the tip of the proboscis on which olfactory sensory cells have also been identified, does not appear to play a role in learning odors and making odor-guided foraging decisions. The results provide clues to the adaptability of these insects to their environment. |
| Thinning moderates forest fire behavior even without prescribed burns – for a while Posted: 27 Sep 2021 07:25 AM PDT Mechanical thinning alone can calm the intensity of future wildfires for many years, and prescribed burns lengthen thinning's effectiveness. |
| 25-million-year-old ancient eagle ruled the roost in Australia Posted: 27 Sep 2021 07:25 AM PDT A 25-million-year-old eagle fossil found in South Australia adds to the long evolutionary history of raptors in Australia. |
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