A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience
An adult La loma tree frog (Hyloscirtus colymba) Now you know!
As frogs around the world continue to disappear — many killed by a rapidly spreading disease called chytridiomycosis, which attacks the skin cells of amphibians — one critically endangered species has received an encouraging boost.
Continue reading… “Critically Endangered Tree Frog Bred for First Time”
Two Dartmouth biologists have found that brown anole lizards make an interesting choice when deciding which males should father their offspring. The females of this species mate with several males, then produce more sons with sperm from large fathers, and more daughters with sperm from smaller fathers. The researchers believe that the lizards do this to ensure that the genes from large fathers are passed on to sons, who stand to benefit from inheriting the genes for large size.
Continue reading… “Lizard Moms Choose the Right Genes for the Right Gender Offspring”
The King Cobra continues to weave its charm with researchers identifying a protein in its venom with the potential for new drug discovery and to advance understanding of disease mechanisms.
Scorpion venom is notoriously poisonous — but it might be used as an alternative to dangerous and addictive painkillers like morphine, a Tel Aviv University researcher claims.
Continue reading… “Pinch Away the Pain: Scorpion Venom Could Be an Alternative to Morphine”
New research on lizards supports an old idea about how species can originate. Morphologically distinct types are often found within species, and biologists have speculated that these “morphs” could be the raw material for speciation. What were once different types of individuals within the same population could eventually evolve into separate species.
Continue reading… “Evolutionary Game of Rock-Paper-Scissors May Lead to New Species”
Amphibians, for years considered a leading indicator of environmental degradation, are not uniquely susceptible to pollution, according to a meta-analysis to be published in Ecology Letters.
Continue reading… “Amphibians as Environmental Omen Disputed”
The fact that they eat a lot – and often – may explain why most people and other mammals are protected from the majority of fungal pathogens, according to research from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.
Continue reading… “Do Three Meals A Day Keep Fungi Away? Protective Effect Of Being Warm-blooded”
Alligators display the same loyalty to their mating partners as birds reveals a study published today in Molecular Ecology. The ten-year-study by scientists from the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory reveals that up to 70% of females chose to remain with their partner, often for many years.
Continue reading… “Loyal Alligators Display Mating Habits Of Birds”
The world’s largest living lizard species, the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), is vulnerable to extinction and yet little is known about its natural history. New research by a team of palaeontologists and archaeologists from Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia, who studied fossil evidence from Australia, Timor, Flores, Java and India, shows that Komodo Dragons most likely evolved in Australia and dispersed westward to Indonesia.
Sometimes to see something properly, you have to stand farther back. This is true of Chuck Close portraits where a patchwork of many small faces changes into one giant face as you back away.
Continue reading… “Frog Fungus Hammering Biodiversity Of Communities”
Whether baby lizards will turn out to be male or female is a more complicated question than scientists would have ever guessed, according to a new report published online on June 4th in Current Biology. The study shows that for at least one lizard species, egg size matters.
Continue reading… “Boy Or Girl? In Lizards, Egg Size Matters”
Frogs and salamanders, those amphibious bellwethers of environmental danger, are being killed in Yellowstone National Park. The predator, Stanford researchers say, is global warming.
Continue reading… “Global Warming Killing Frogs And Salamanders”
