Articles in the Category: Biology

Where’s Winter?

Where’s Winter?
Today famed groundhog Punxsutawney Phil poked his head out of his burrow and saw his shadow, meaning (according to the old German superstition) that we can expect six more weeks of winter. But the crowd gathered in Pennsylvania to see the rodent’s prediction stood in pre-dawn temps hovering just...

Snakes on a Glade

Snakes on a Glade
Florida has been wrestling with its python problem for years. Thanks to the tropical temps in south Florida the Everglades National Park has become a dumping ground for unwanted reptiles, particularly the non-native Burmese python. Wildlife officials have been battling the snakes for about twenty years....

Project Runway: Spider Edition

Project Runway: Spider Edition
Golden orbweaver spiders from Madagascar secrete the only spider silk that is gold in color, not white. And now a five-year project to create a cape is finished and on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. This is the first spider silk textile made since the late 19th Century.Nicholas...

Bird Flu Flies to Top of the Pathogen Pile

Bird Flu Flies to Top of the Pathogen Pile
After several deaths of people in Cambodia, Vietnam and China recently, the bird flu is making a comeback in public discourse. Concerns are growing about the H5N1 strain of the influenza virus. A few years ago the world-sweeping swine flu stole headlines but the bird flu, which is much more virulent...

Strong Mussels Land Student in Intel Science Finals

Strong Mussels Land Student in Intel Science Finals
Samantha Garvey wants to be a marine biologist and the science-focused 17 year old is now one of 61 finalists from Long Island in the Intel Science & Engineering Fair for her pioneering work with mussels. But the real story of this scientist-in-training is that she is able to excel in the classroom...

Tiniest Vertebrate Hops into the Limelight

Tiniest Vertebrate Hops into the Limelight
Every few years biologists struggling to understand the evolutionary constraints placed on the largest and smallest of animals happen upon — usually by accident– a new contender. But that little creature then gets replaced by the next littlest critter. The competition goes on and biologists...

Gene Mapping Reaches Major Milestone

Gene Mapping Reaches Major Milestone
For years, scientists have been talking about the era of personalized medicine. While many preparations are underway, the biggest hurdle to widespread adoption has been the prohibitive cost to read a person’s entire DNA. Our genetic code provides a full road map to preventing and treating disease....

Christmas Count Turns Birders into Citizen Scientists

Christmas Count Turns Birders into Citizen Scientists
If it’s December it’s time to count the birds. For 112 years the National Audubon Society has been documenting the avian world with its annual Christmas Bird Count. The oldest citizen science (and longest running) project now utilizes the bird-spotting expertise of over 60,000 volunteers...

Rosie Redfield — Tyrant Queen of Science

Rosie Redfield — Tyrant Queen of Science
Rosie Redfield is no shrinking violent. The outspoken University of British Columbia microbiologist always seems to have a wild hair about something. This year it ran the gamut from a fight over mailing flu cells to England using FedEx to her efforts showing scientific journals acting irresponsibly by...

Frankincense Shortage on the Horizon

Frankincense Shortage on the Horizon
It’s almost Christmas and the value of the gifts of the Three Wise Men is on the rise. For those not remembering the Nativity story the Three Wise Men brought three items, gold, frankincense and myrrh to the birth of baby Jesus. Quite valuable way back when, the three items are still quite rare...

Is Metal the New Building Block of Life?

Is Metal the New Building Block of Life?
The focus of Lee Cronin’s work is understanding and controlling self-assembly and self-organisation in chemistry to develop functional molecular and nano-molecular chemical systems; linking architectural design with function and recently engineering system-level functions.Lee Cronin's Lab Searches...

Arctic Region Warms into New Climate State

Arctic Region Warms into New Climate State
In 2006, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began monitoring the Arctic region, creating an annual report card to mark rapid change occurring there. Five years in and the news isn’t good. The 2011 Arctic Report Card shows that the entire region is changing dramatically. Ice, both...

Dead Sea Teems with Tiny Life

Dead Sea Teems with Tiny Life
It turns out the Dead Sea isn’t so dead after all. Microscopic life is thriving in the super salty environment, according to new findings by a German and Israeli team of scientists. They found new species of life in freshwater fissures in the seafloor. Fresh, bubbling water containing the ingredients...

X Prize Opens Centenarian Genome Competition

X Prize Opens Centenarian Genome Competition
The first scientific team to sequence the genomes of 100 one-hundred year olds wins $10 million. It’s the latest offering from the science competition organization, X Prize Foundation, a non-profit designed to spur science and technology by awarding big cash prizes for significant breakthroughs. Their...

Nature by Numbers

Nature by Numbers
Nature has been doing things for billions of years without issue. Over time plants and animals have refined the way they live to reflect the optimal situation given the conditions they have to endure. This is the nature of evolution. The fittest survive but what fit means to nature may be different...

Genetically Modified Foods Abound in U.S.

Genetically Modified Foods Abound in U.S.
Jeffrey Smith has written the book on genetically modified foods (GMOs). Now he’s on a crusade to rid the U.S. of unhealthy food hybrids that not even animals choose to eat. He tells the story of a farmer who was growing corn for his cows. The farmer grew non-GMO corn next to corn that had been...

Outgrowing the Plague

Outgrowing the Plague
Every year about 10-15 people in the U.S. contract the plague. Just the sound of the world plague sounds ominous. But the illness is much less of a death sentence than it was during the Dark Ages. Now, a quick dose of antibiotics and the plagued person is right as rain. After completing the first reconstruction...

Music Meets Science in Biophilia

Music Meets Science in Biophilia
The voice of nature Sir David Attenborough is featured explaining Iceland musician Bjork’s latest venture — Biophilia. It’s part music album reflecting the connection points between sound, nature and technology. It’s an app for iPhones and iPads. It’s a creation generator...

Ig Nobel Prizes Take a Lighter Look at Science

Ig Nobel Prizes Take a Lighter Look at Science
Pee pressure, beer bottle-humping beetles and a wasabi-flavored fire alarm were among the top prizes awarded at Harvard University’s 21st Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, a more laid back version of the Nobel Prize ceremony. Nobel Prize laureates present the Ig Nobels to scientists and philosophers...

Nobel Prize in Medicine Goes to Immunologists

Nobel Prize in Medicine Goes to Immunologists
A pioneering researcher was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Monday, three days after dying of pancreatic cancer without ever knowing he was about to be honored for his immune system work that he had used to prolong his own life. Ralph Steinman, 1943-2011 Cell biologist Ralph Steinman...

Performance Art Demonstrates Origin of Life

Performance Art Demonstrates Origin of Life
Science and art collide (sometimes literally) in Group Intelligence, a new flash mob performance art piece that asks the question, “How did life begin?” Out of Hand Theater in Atlanta combined forces with the NASA/NSF Center for Chemical Evolution to explore the formation of molecules. But...

Snail Invasion Poses Health Risks

Snail Invasion Poses Health Risks
It may be the fastest invasion of a slow-moving creature but people in Miami-Dade County are taking care not to mess with the new snail in town. The east African land snail is making a home in south Florida and causing all sorts of problems. They reproduce at an exponential rate and grow fast. They...

Citizen Scientists Discover Key HIV Protein

Citizen Scientists Discover Key HIV Protein
For years, scientists have been saying that some of the biggest discoveries in science will come from non-scientists. And now that prediction is showing promise as two teams of online video game players have helped solve the structure for an important enzyme found in the HIV virus. After medical researchers...

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