Life
- Life
Vitamin A deficit in the womb hurts immune development
Mice deprived of vitamin A in utero grow up with undersized immune organs.
- Animals
Owl monkeys’ fidelity linked to males’ quality of parenting
The evolution of animals’ sexual fidelity is probably linked to the intensity of male care, the researchers suggest.
- Animals
Like a boomerang, relocated python comes back again
Burmese pythons, which have invaded the Everglades, can find their way home when people move them dozens of kilometers.
- Genetics
Early Polynesians didn’t go to Americas, chicken DNA hints
Contamination of ancient chicken DNA may explain previous report linking Polynesians to South America.
- Genetics
Giant moa thrived before people reached New Zealand
Humans probably caused the extinction of giant wingless birds called moa in New Zealand, DNA evidence suggests.
- Animals
How to count a sea turtle
Trends, not absolute numbers, matter more when it comes to conservation efforts for sea turtles.
- Plants
Moss still grows after 1,500-year deep freeze
After incubating slices of moss that have been frozen for 1,500 years, the plants began to grow again.
- Ecosystems
Do your bit for bumblebees
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and its partners have launched the Bumble Bee Watch website to track sightings. When you see a bee bumbling around, snap a photo.
- Life
The Monkey’s Voyage
By 26 million years ago, the ancestors of today’s New World monkeys had arrived in South America. How those primates reached the continent is something of a conundrum.
- Animals
There’s plenty of bling in the natural world
Beetles that look like solid gold are just the start to jewel-like and metallic looks in nature.
- Life
Protein linked to motor nerve cells being fast or slow
The protein, Delta-like homolog 1, is made in 30 percent of motor neurons and helps to determine at which speed the cells work, research shows.
- Animals
Amphibian diseases flow through animal trade
Discovery of chytrid fungus and ranaviruses in frogs and toads exported from Hong Kong shows how pathogens may spread.
