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Wild Biology News - November 2007 Archives
 | Some baleen whales, in their powerful feeding lunges, gulp a volume of water equal to a school bus, according to new calculations by biologists at the University of British Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley. ...> Full Article |
 | A recent study indicates that mother squirrels have personalities, and they are essential for the growth rate and survival of her pups. ...> Full Article |
 | Imagine a lamb at its first pasture potluck, and you'll see how Montana lambs are learning to eat a noxious weed called Dalmatian toadflax. ...> Full Article |
Tiny roundworms called Caenorhabditis elegans have a rather uncomplicated method for finding food: They wriggle and turn and explore new territory until they find something edible, and then they stay the course until the food disappears. But despite the worm's simple nervous system, researchers have been unable to figure out exactly how a stimulus such as food odor gets converted into a more complex, long-lasting behavior like foraging. Now, using tools borrowed from the computer industry, Rockefeller University researchers have created tiny devices that allow them to watch in real time as information travels from one worm neuron to another. Their findings - that one of the long-studied olfactory neurons has a totally different mode of operation than expected - uncover a surprising similarity between the worm's neural network and our own.
...> Full Article
 | 38-year-old researcher Kasper Thorup, University of Copenhagen, has come a step closer to unravelling the secret of how migration birds navigate across large distances. He has followed the birds' passage across USA from small sports planes. The results are now being published in the scientific journal PNAS. ...> Full Article |
 | Next time you see a mole digging in tree-root-filled soil in search of supper, take a moment to ponder the mammal's humerus bones. When seen in the lab, they are nothing like the long upper arm bones of any other mammal, says Samantha Hopkins, a paleontologist at the University of Oregon. ...> Full Article |
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Ancient DNA from rare fossil reveals that polar bears evolved recently and adapted quickly
'Anaconda' meets 'Jurassic Park': Study shows ancient snakes ate dinosaur babies
Scientists locate apparent hydrothermal vents off Antarctica
Mars Express heading for closest flyby of Phobos
Artificial bee silk a big step closer to reality
Predicting the fate of stem cells
Artificial foot recycles energy for easier walking
New fiber nanogenerators could lead to electric clothing
What drives our genes? Researchers map the first complete human epigenome
Juggling enhances connections in the brain
Tracking down the human 'odorprint'
Fill 'er up - with algae
Scientists discover quantum fingerprints of chaos
Researchers help identify cows that gain more while eating less
American pika are thriving in the Sierra Nevada and southwestern Great Basin
Decoding the long calls of the orangutan
Barnacles prefer upwelling currents, enriching food chains in the Galapagos
Bringing bison back to North American landscapes
If bonobo Kanzi can point as humans do, what other similarities can rearing reveal?
Pesticide atrazine can turn male frogs into females
How can accidental captures of loggerhead turtles be reduced?
A convincing mimic: Scientists report octopus imitating flounder in the Atlantic
Study shows natural antioxidants give top barn swallows a leg on competitors
Fish can recognize a face based on UV pattern alone
New clues found linking larger animals to colder climates
The bigger the animal, the stiffer the 'shoes'
A magnetometer in the upper beak of birds?