Researchers from the University of Oxford, Nanjing Agricultural University, and Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (Chinese Academy of Sciences) have finally identified the master regulator in plants that balances root and shoot…
Category: 5. Biology
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Rice gene discovery could cut fertilizer use while protecting yields
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Here’s how honeyeaters and other birds thrive on sugary diets
To eat a sugar-filled diet, birds had to evolve some sweet genetic tricks.
Birds that feed on nectar and fruits have important variants in genes that control metabolism, fat processing and even blood pressure. Findings published…
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Birds achieve sweet success: What adaptations to high-sugar diets reveal about metabolism
Anyone who has seen a hummingbird poking her beak deep into a trumpet creeper blossom, or a honeyeater using its brush-tipped tongue to extract nectar from eucalyptus flowers, has witnessed something that, from a human perspective, is rather…
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Aging Isn’t Random, and It Starts Earlier Than You Think
A massive cell-by-cell map of aging reveals it’s a synchronized, body-wide process—and scientists may finally know where to intervene. As people grow older, their risk of developing conditions such as cancer, heart disease, and dementia rises…
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Hotspots of accelerated North American bird decline linked to agricultural activity
Though previous research has shown that bird populations are declining across North America, a new study is the first to show that the pace of loss has picked up speed since the mid-1980s in three regions: the Midwest, California and Mid-Atlantic…
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How Horses Make Two Sounds at Once
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We’ve all heard a dramatic horse whinny in an exciting scene in a movie, or in…
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Dogs are more like toddlers than cats when it comes to helping humans
Why does your dog rush to “help” when you are searching for something, while your cat seems… eh, less concerned? New research suggests that this difference may stem from deep evolutionary roots—and that, in certain situations, dogs behave…
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Brown recluse spiders rare in Florida and reluctant to bite, study finds
A newly published study co-authored by University of South Florida alum Louis Coticchio and USF integrative biologist Deby Cassill challenges long-standing assumptions about the brown recluse spider, finding the species is both far less common in…
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Challenging assumptions behind Africa's Green Revolution efforts and calls for farmer-centered development models
A new study examining small-scale farming in Tanzania argues that major agricultural development initiatives, including the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), are built on flawed assumptions about how rural households make…
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New system cuts nitrogen, phosphorus in farm drainage
Scientists have developed a new edge-of-field water-treatment system that reduces the load of excess nutrients washing into waterways from farm drainage systems. Their method combines a woodchip bioreactor with a two-step biochar water-treatment…
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