Category Archives: News & Archives

Fuel Cells Could Provide Clues to Spark of Life

The origins of life remains one of the greatest mysteries of science. But to simulate the primordial past—and the conditions that could have given rise to the spark of life—some scientists are turning to a technology usually associated with the car of the future: fuel cells. Their usefulness lies in their very basic similarity to…

Using Laser Fingerprinting To Identify Salmonella

Bacteria from the genus Salmonella are a major cause of food poisoning. About 40,000 cases of salmonella food poisoning are reported in the United States every year, but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one million people are actually infected with the bacterium every year. Researchers have now developed a new, more rapid…

30,000 year-old giant virus found in Siberia

A new type of giant virus called "Pithovirus" has been discovered in the frozen ground of extreme north-eastern Siberia by researchers from the Information Génomique et Structurale laboratory (CNRS/AMU), in association with teams from the Biologie à Grande Echelle laboratory (CEA/INSERM/Université Joseph Fourier), Génoscope (CEA/CNRS) and the Russian Academy of Sciences. Buried underground, this giant…

‘Tunnels’ and ‘spheres’ in meteorite revive debate over life on Mars

The discovery of tiny carbon-rich balls and tunnels inside a Martian meteorite has once again raised the possibility that the Red Planet was teeming with primitive life millions of years ago. The meteorite, which fell to Earth during the Stone Age, contains microscopic burrows and spheres that resemble the marks microorganisms leave when they eat…

Mixed genes: Interactive world map of human genetic history reveals likely genetic impacts of historical events

When individuals from different groups interbreed, their offspring's DNA becomes a mixture of the DNA from each admixing group. Pieces of this DNA are then passed along through subsequent generations, carrying on all the way to the present day. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, Oxford University and University…

Found: Rare beetle collected by Darwin 180 years ago

A brightly colored beetlecollected by Charles Darwin more than 180 years ago has been identified as a new species after hiding in museum storage for decades. The discovery of Darwinilus sedarisi whose scientific epithet honors both Charles Darwin and the writer David Sedaris was announced Wednesday (Feb. 12) to coincide with the 205th anniversary of Darwin's birthday. The South…

Scientists identify gene linking brain structure to intelligence

For the first time, scientists at King's College London have identified a gene linking the thickness of the grey matter in the brain to intelligence. The study is published today in Molecular Psychiatry and may help scientists understand biological mechanisms behind some forms of intellectual impairment. The researchers looked at the cerebral cortex, the outermost layer of…

Novel genes determine division of labor in insect societies

Novel or highly modified genes play a major role in the development of the different castes within ant colonies. Evolutionary biologists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) came to this conclusion in a recent gene expression study. Dr. Barbara Feldmeyer and her colleagues at the JGU Institute of Zoology studied the question how the different…

Can Moths Explain Why Sloths Poo On the Ground?

Here’s a memorable encounter between David Attenborough and a three-toed sloth, as shown in Life of Mammals. Sloths normally spend their lives hanging from high branches, but this one ambles down to the ground at the 1:10 mark. “It wants to defecate,” says Attenborough, “and the only place it’s happy doing that, oddly enough, is down on…

Biologists testing for virus in dead pilot whales

Biologists and researchers spent the entire day Friday trying to figure out what caused 25 pilot whales to beach themselves and die. We tracked down the two boaters who first spotted the whales along Kice Island. It was an unforgettable scene. "I had a hard time going to sleep last night. It was going through my mind,"…