Biosentients - Science Biology… etc

Let’’s see if we can get a small series on plants of Africa going. Thanks again to Eric in SF@Flickr for sharing yet more photographs with BPotD (original 1 | original 2 | BPotD Flickr Group Pool). If you didn'’t visit Eric’’s site a few days ago when linked via the Deppea splendens entry, consider doing it now: PlantWorld. Thanks, ………

In work that reveals important clues in the evolution of genes, an international consortium of MIT scientists and colleagues has analyzed the genomes of twelve species of the fruit fly Drosophila in one of the first large-scale comparisons of multiple animal genomes. The researchers’ approach may also help unlock the secrets of other genomes, including our own……..

When habitat changes, animals migrate. But how do immobile organisms like plants cope when faced with alterations to their environment? This is an increasingly important question in light of new environmental conditions brought on by global climate change. A University of Virginia study, reported in the Nov. 16 issue of the journal Science, demonstrates that plants grown in the same setting as their maternal plant performed almost 3½ times better than those raised in a different environment - indicating that maternal plants give cues to their offspring that help them adapt to their environmental conditions……..

As world leaders prepare to discuss conservation-friendly carbon credits in Bali and a regional initiative threatens a new wave of deforestation in the South American tropics, new research from the University of East Anglia and Brazil’s Goeldi Museum highlights once again the irreplaceable importance of primary rain forest……..

By adding a few modifications to their successful wastewater fuel cell, scientists have coaxed common bacteria to produce hydrogen in a new, efficient way. Bruce Logan and his colleagues at Penn State University had already shown success at using microbes to produce electricity. Now, using starter material that could theoretically be sourced from a salad bar, the scientists have coaxed those same microbes to generate hydrogen……..

To get more out of your next cup of tea, just add juice. A study observed that citrus juices enable more of green tea’s unique antioxidants to remain after simulated digestion, making the pairing even healthier than previously thought. The study compared the effect of various beverage additives on catechins, naturally occurring antioxidants found in tea. Results suggest that complementing green tea with either citrus juices or vitamin C likely increases the amount of catechins available for the body to absorb……..

Tel Aviv University Professor (and alumnus) Hudi Benayahu, head of TAU’s Porter School of Environmental Studies, has observed that soft corals, an integral and important part of reef environments, are simply melting and wasting away. And Prof. Benayahu believes this could mean a global marine catastrophe……..

Some salmon make one heck of a commute. The record holder in the Pacific Northwest, for example, is a steelhead that was tagged in the Clearwater River, Idaho, in April 2003. A year and a half later, it was caught off the southern Kuril Islands near Japan. The most direct route between those two points as the crow flies, as they say is 4,200 miles. Imagine fish that make it that far then turn around and travel back to their home streams in order to spawn……..

A gene has been found in male cichlid fish that evolved to lure female fish so that male cichlids can deposit sperm in the females mouths. A study in the online open access journal BMC Biology reveals that the gene is linked to egg-like markings on the fins of cichlid fishes and uncovers the evolutionary history of these markings, which are central to the success of the fishes’ exotic oral mating behaviour……..

Parasites can decimate amphibian populations, but one University of Georgia researcher believes they might also play a role in spurring the evolution of new and sometimes bizarre breeding strategies. Brian Todd, a researcher at the UGA Odum School of Ecology Savannah River Ecology Lab, explains that most amphibians start their lives in water (tadpoles are a good example), and then make their way onto land as adults and return to the water to breed. But there are other breeding strategies as well. Take, for instance, the Darwin’s frog, the species that swallows its eggs and, a few weeks later, regurgitates its young. Or the marsupial frog, a species that carries its eggs on its back until they hatch. Several species lay eggs in small puddles on land or high up in trees where they hatch as miniature versions of adults, bypassing the larval stage entirely……..