African grey parrots spontaneously ‘lend a wing’
Reading Time: 2 minutesPEOPLE and other great apes are known for their willingness to help others in need, even strangers. Now, researchers reporting in Current Biology on January 9 have shown for the first time that some birds — and specifically African grey parrots — are similarly helpful. “We found that African grey parrots voluntarily and spontaneously help […]
Prolonged breath-holding helps in radiotherapy treatment of heart arrhythmias
Reading Time: 2 minutesA TECHNIQUE that enables patients suffering from heart conditions to hold their breath safely for over 5 minutes could have potential as part of a new treatment for cardiac arrhythmias, say researchers at the University of Birmingham. In a new study, published in Frontiers in Physiology, researchers initially proposed the technique as a new means […]
Human-caused biodiversity decline started millions of years ago
Reading Time: 2 minutesTHE human-caused biodiversity decline started much earlier than researchers used to believe. According to a new study published in the scientific journal Ecology Letters the process was not started by our own species but by some of our ancestors. The work was done by an international team of scientists from Sweden, Switzerland and the United […]
Genes controlling mycorrhizal colonisation discovered in soybean
Reading Time: 2 minutesLIKE most plants, soybeans pair up with soil fungi in a symbiotic mycorrhizal relationship. In exchange for a bit of sugar, the fungus acts as an extension of the root system to pull in more phosphorus, nitrogen, micronutrients, and water than the plant could on its own. Mycorrhizal fungi occur naturally in soil and are […]
The scientist who enabled the precise measurement of weather
Reading Time: < 1 minuteAnna Mani (23 August 1918 – 16 August 2001) was an Indian meteorologist who contributed significantly to the understanding of solar radiation, ozone and wind energy by developing a wide range of measurement tools. One of India’s pioneering female scientists, Mani excelled in the male-dominated area of meteorology and became the Deputy Director-General of the […]
Through the eyes of animals
Reading Time: < 1 minutePHD candidate Cedric van den Berg from UQ’s School of Biological Sciences said that, until now, it has been difficult to understand how animals really saw the world. “Most animals have completely different visual systems to humans, so — for many species — it is unclear how they see complex visual information or colour patterns […]
Lab-evolved bacteria consume C02
Reading Time: < 1 minuteOVER the course of several months, researchers in Israel created Escherichia coli strains that consume CO2 for energy instead of organic compounds. This achievement in synthetic biology highlights the incredible plasticity of bacterial metabolism and could provide the framework for future carbon-neutral bioproduction. The work appears in the Nov 27th issue of the journal Cell.
Mystery of how early animals survived ice age
Reading Time: 2 minutesHOW did life survive the most severe ice age? A McGill University-led research team has found the first direct evidence that glacial meltwater provided a crucial lifeline to eukaryotes during Snowball Earth, when the oceans were cut off from life-giving oxygen, answering a question puzzling scientists for years. In a new study published in the […]
Study: Ancient Egyptians sacrificed birds for mummification
Reading Time: 2 minutesIN ancient Egypt, Sacred Ibises were collected from their natural habitats to be ritually sacrificed, according to a study released Nov 13, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Sally Wasef of Griffith University, Australia and colleagues. Egyptian catacombs are famously filled with the mummified bodies of Sacred Ibises. Between around 664BC and 250AD, […]
Rats are more social than we thought
Reading Time: < 1 minuteRATS are amazing at avoiding dangers. What is their secret? Could empathy be a contributing factor? Or is this too far-fetched? This is what a group of researchers from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience tried to investigate. Their study, to be published on December 5th in PLoS Biology, shows that rats can use other rats […]