Mimetic races of Heliconius erato (left) and Heliconius melpomene (right) from the Tarapoto area of Peru.
How two butterfly species have evolved exactly the same striking wing colour and pattern has intrigued biologists since Darwin’s day. Now, scientists at Cambridge have found “hotspots” in the butterflies’ genes that they believe will explain one of the most [...]
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How the Butterflies Got Their Spots
Second ‘Quantum Logic Clock’ Based on Aluminum Ion Is Now World’s Most Precise Clock
NIST postdoctoral researcher James Chin-wen Chou with the world’s most precise clock, based on the vibrations of a single aluminum ion (electrically charged atom).
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have built an enhanced version of an experimental atomic clock based on a single aluminum atom that is now the world’s most [...]
Migrating Insects Fly in the Fast Lane
A new study sheds light on the flight behaviours that enable insects to undertake long-distance migrations, and highlights the remarkable abilities of these insect migrants.
A study published in Science, by researchers at Rothamsted Research (an institute of the BBSRC), the Met Office, the Natural Resources Institute, and the Universities of Exeter, Greenwich and York, sheds [...]
Did Bacteria Developed Into More Complex Cells Much Earlier in Evolution Than Thought?
Artist’s rendering of cell structure.
Monash University biochemists have found a critical piece in the evolutionary puzzle that explains how life on Earth evolved millions of centuries ago.
Growing Cartilage: Bioactive Nanomaterial Promotes Growth of New Cartilage
3D illustration of the knee. Damaged cartilage can lead to joint pain and loss of physical function and eventually to osteoarthritis.
Northwestern University researchers are the first to design a bioactive nanomaterial that promotes the growth of new cartilage in vivo and without the use of expensive growth factors. Minimally invasive, the therapy activates the bone [...]
Australian Retirement Village Is Exclusively for Cats
Such a fine place for old pussies to hang out!
Homeleigh retirement village is a perfect place to spend the twilight years, with staff to clean and cook, a garden and immaculate quarters. But forget about signing up – unless you are a cat.
Inside a fully functional house next to Keysborough Animal Shelter in outer Melbourne, [...]
Klencke Atlas – The Largest Book in the World
The British Library has announced that the Klencke Atlas will have its first-ever public showing this summer as part of a map exhibition.
It is almost absurdly huge – 1.75 metres (5ft) tall and 1.9 metres (6ft) wide – and was given to [Charles II] by Dutch merchants and placed in his cabinet of curiosities.
Swordfish Attack Angolan Oil Pipeline
A swordfish attack punctured an oil loading pipe in Angola recently, causing a three-day delay in tanker shipments of Girassol crude. Total, the French oil company which operates the pipeline, declared force majeure on shipments. Total later said that swordfish had damaged a flexible loading pipe. Declaring force majeure frees an operator from supply obligations [...]
Hackers Screw Our Planet By Stealing Millions in Carbon Credits
Credit card numbers are so passe. Today’s hackers know the real powerhouse data to steal is emission certificates.
That’s exactly what hackers went after last week when they obtained unauthorized access to online accounts where companies maintain their carbon credits, according to the German newspaper Der Spiegel.
The hackers launched a targeted phishing attack against employees of [...]
German Government to Buy Stolen Records from HSBC to Track Tax Evaders
Customer records were stolen from
British bank HSBC’s operation in Switzerland
The German government says it plans to buy a CD containing customer data apparently stolen from British bank HSBC’s operation in Switzerland. The move has enraged Swiss officials, but it already appears to be bearing fruit. Berlin expects a wave of tax evaders to turn themselves [...]
Spherical Cows Help to Dump Metabolism Law
According to a new mathematical analysis, the mysterious “3/4 law of metabolism” — proposed by Max Kleiber in 1932 and later described as “extended to all life forms” from bacteria to whales — is wrong.
Apparently, the mysterious “3/4 law of metabolism” — proposed by Max Kleiber in 1932, printed in biology textbooks for decades, explained [...]
‘Good’ Bacteria Keep Immune System Primed to Fight Future Infections
Bacteria (Streptococcus pneumoniae, red) under attack by a neutrophil (blue).
Scientists have long pondered the seeming contradiction that taking broad-spectrum antibiotics over a long period of time can lead to severe secondary bacterial infections. Now researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine may have figured out why.
New Research Rejects 80-Year Theory of ‘Primordial Soup’ as the Origin of Life
In rejecting the soup theory the researchers turned to the Earth’s chemistry to identify the energy source which could power the first primitive predecessors of living organisms: geochemical gradients across a honeycomb of microscopic natural caverns at hydrothermal vents. These catalytic cells generated lipids, proteins and nucleotides which may have given rise to the first [...]
Some Morbidly Obese People Are Missing Genes, Shows New Research
A small but significant proportion of morbidly obese people are missing a section of their DNA, according to new research.
A small but significant proportion of morbidly obese people are missing a section of their DNA, according to research published February 3 in Nature. The authors of the study, from Imperial College London and ten other [...]
Behold! The Cell Phone With The Built In Cigarette Lighter.
Straight out of China comes “The Machismo!” – billed as “the world’s hottest cigarette lighter mobile phone.” Does that mean there’s more than one? Like, are there other, lesser, not-as-hot cell phones with built-in cigarette lighters? Nothing would surprise me after seeing this.
According to the product description on Chinavasion.com…
Abandoned Detroit Home Encased In Ice
An Icey New Idea
An abandoned home has been encased in ice in an effort to draw attention to the housing crisis in the US.
Gregory Holm, a photographer, and Matthew Radune, a New York architect, picked a house in Detroit which had been slated for demolition, from the state’s land bank.
In return, they agreed to pay [...]
A Corporation Has Announced It Will Run For Congress
Just what we need. Murray Hill Incorporated has just announced its intention to run for Congress in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District.
Murray Hill Inc. is believed to be the first “corporate person” to exercise its constitutional right to run for office. As Supreme Court observer Lyle Denniston wrote in his SCOTUSblog, “If anything, the decision in Citizens United [...]
Forests Are Growing Faster, Ecologists Discover; Climate Change Appears to Be Driving Accelerated Growth
Forest in Maryland.
Speed is not a word typically associated with trees; they can take centuries to grow. However, a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found evidence that forests in the Eastern United States are growing faster than they have in the past 225 years. The study offers a [...]
SIDS Linked to Low Levels of Serotonin
Model of a human brain, with the cerebellum, medulla and brain stem visible at lower left.
The brains of infants who die of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) produce low levels of serotonin, a brain chemical that conveys messages between cells and plays a vital role in regulating breathing, heart rate, and sleep, reported researchers funded [...]
Genetic Test for ‘Speed Gene’ in Thoroughbred Horses
New research identifies the ’speed gene’ contributing to a specific athletic trait in thoroughbred horses.
Groundbreaking research led by Dr Emmeline Hill, a leading horse genomics researcher at University College Dublin’s (UCD) School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine has resulted in the identification of the ’speed gene’ in thoroughbred horses.
Fossils Show Earliest Animal Trails
Fossil showing 565 million-year-old animal trail.
Trails found in rocks dating back 565 million years are thought to be the earliest evidence of animal locomotion ever found.
Internet Over Use Linked To Depression
There is a strong link between heavy internet use and depression, UK psychologists have said. The study, reported in the journal Psychopathology, found 1.2% of people surveyed were “internet addicts”, and many of these were depressed.
The Leeds University team stressed they could not say one necessarily caused the other, and that most internet users did [...]
Barefoot Running: How Humans Ran Comfortably and Safely Before the Invention of Shoes
“Running barefoot or in minimal shoes is fun but uses different muscles,” said Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman. “If you’ve been a heel-striker all your life, you have to transition slowly to build strength in your calf and foot muscles.”
New research is casting doubt on the old adage, “All you need to run is a [...]
Rotting Fish Heads: Novel Studies of Decomposition Shed New Light on Our Earliest Fossil Ancestry
These are three rotting fish heads.
Decaying corpses are usually the domain of forensic scientists, but palaeontologists have discovered that studying rotting fish sheds new light on our earliest ancestry.
Magnesium Supplement Helps Boost Brainpower
Increasing magnesium intake may be a valid strategy to enhance cognitive abilities.
New research finds that an increase in brain magnesium improves learning and memory in young and old rats. The study, published in the January 28th issue of the journal Neuron, suggests that increasing magnesium intake may be a valid strategy to enhance cognitive abilities [...]
