Turns out Big bird is in on it , and Gansta street is angry!
Like gangsters running a protection racket, drongos in the Kalahari Desert act as lookouts for other birds in order to steal a cut of their food catch.
Continue reading… “Gangster Birds Running Protection Racket!”
“Malaria No More” plans on destroying all malaria by 2015!
At a global scale, the sickle cell gene is most commonly found in areas with historically high levels of malaria, adding geographical support to the hypothesis that the gene, while potentially deadly, avoids disappearing through natural selection by providing protection against malaria.
Continue reading… ““The Sickle Cell Gene” Supports ‘Malaria Hypothesis””
A new strain of mosquitoes in which females cannot fly may help curb the transmission of dengue fever, according to UC Irvine and British scientists.
Continue reading… “Flightless Mosquitoes Developed to Help Control Dengue Fever”
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 new light on the flight behaviours that enable insects to undertake long-distance migrations, and highlights the remarkable abilities of these insect migrants.
Continue reading… “Migrating Insects Fly in the Fast Lane”
The parasite that causes malignant malaria in humans has been detected in gorillas, along with two new species of malaria parasites, reports a study co-authored by UC Irvine biologist Francisco Ayala.
Continue reading… “Gorillas Carry Malignant Malaria Parasite, Study Reports”
Scorpions deliver a powerful, paralyzing venom — a complex cocktail of poisonous peptides — that immobilize animal prey on the spot. Some of the toxins in this cocktail damage only insects, which is why a Tel Aviv University researcher is harnessing them to create a safe and ecologically sound pesticide.
Continue reading… “Deadly Scorpion Provides Safe Pesticide”
Although plants have the ability to sense and respond to other plants, their ability to recognize kin and act altruistically has been the subject of few studies. The authors explored kin recognition in Impatiens pallida (yellow jewelweed). By moving their resources into leaves, these plants not only positively affected their own growth, but also negatively affected their competitors’ growth. This is the first instance where researchers demonstrated that a plant’s response to an aboveground cue is dependent upon the presence of a belowground cue.
Continue reading… “Can A Plant Be Altruistic?”
When pondering the demise of a famous dinosaur such as ‘Sue,’ the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex whose fossilized remains are a star attraction of the Field Museum in Chicago, it is hard to avoid the image of clashing Cretaceous titans engaged in bloody, mortal combat.
Continue reading… “Was Mighty T. Rex ‘Sue’ Felled By A Lowly Parasite?”
Like the man-eating plant in Little Shop of Horrors, carnivorous plants rely on animal prey for sustenance. Fortunately for humans, carnivorous plants found in nature are not dependent on a diet of human blood but rather are satisfied with the occasional fly or other insect. The existence of carnivorous plants has fascinated botanists and non-botanists alike for centuries and raises the question, “Why are some plants carnivorous?”
Continue reading… “For Carnivorous Plants, Slow But Steady Wins The Race”
A large international research team has decoded the genome of the notorious organism that triggered the Irish potato famine in the mid-19th century and now threatens this season’s tomato and potato crops across much of the US. Continue reading… “Genome Of Irish Potato Famine Pathogen Decoded”
The coevolutionary struggle between a New Zealand snail and its worm parasite makes sex advantageous for the snail, whose females favor asexual reproduction in the absence of parasites, say Indiana University Bloomington and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology biologists in this week’s Current Biology
Continue reading… “Parasitic Worms Make Sex Worthwhile”
Home gardeners beware: This year, late blight — a destructive infectious disease that caused the Irish potato famine in the 1840s — is killing tomato and potato plants in gardens and on commercial farms in the eastern United States. In addition, basil downy mildew is affecting plants in the Northeast. Continue reading… “Late Blight — Irish Potato Famine Fungus — Attacks U.S. Northeast Gardens And Farms Hard”
