Biosentients - Science Biology… etc

n the rat race of life, one thing is certain: there’s no place like home. Now, a study published this week in the journal Molecular Ecology finds the same is as true for rats as for humans. Eventhough inner city rodents appear to roam freely, most form distinct neighborhoods where they spend the majority of their lives……..

Recently, images of melting sea ice and shrinking rainforests have highlighted the world’s biodiversity crisis and made us aware of the need to find a balance between preserving natural ecosystems while still having enough land for human use. “About 10 percent of the world’s land surface is afforded formal protection. We need to manage that 10 percent as best as we possibly can to preserve biodiversity but also be mindful of human needs, such as food and fiber production,” said Lars A. Brudvig, Ph.D., post-doctoral researcher in biology in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis……..

Researchers have called it “junk DNA.” They have long been perplexed by these extensive strands of genetic material that dominate the genome but seem to lack specific functions. Why would nature force the genome to carry so much excess baggage?. Now scientists from Princeton University and Indiana University who have been studying the genome of a pond organism have observed that junk DNA may not be so junky after all. They have discovered that DNA sequences from regions of what had been viewed as the “dispensable genome” are actually performing functions that are central for the organism. They have concluded that the genes spur an almost acrobatic rearrangement of the entire genome that is necessary for the organism to grow……..

The most extensive study of pollutants in marine mammals’ brains reveals that these animals are exposed to a hazardous cocktail of pesticides such as DDTs and PCBs, as well as emerging contaminants such as brominated flame retardants. Eric Montie, the main author on the study currently in press and published online April 17 in Environmental Pollution, performed the research as a student in the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution-MIT Joint Graduate Program in Oceanography and Ocean Engineering and as a postdoctoral fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The final data analysis and writing were conducted at College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, where Montie now works in David Mann’s marine sensory biology lab……..

Using a system of underwater hydrophones that can record sounds from hundreds of miles away, a team of researchers from Oregon State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has documented the presence of endangered North Atlantic right whales in an area they were believed to be extinct……..

Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have discovered a family of green fluorescent proteins (GFPs) in a primitive sea animal, along with new clues about the role of the proteins that has nothing to do with their famous glow. GFPs recently gained international attention with the awarding of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, shared by UC San Diego’s Roger Tsien, as word spread of their extensive presence in nature as well as benefit to researchers. GFPs, originally isolated from a luminous jellyfish, have gained scientific ubiquity in uses ranging from biomedical tracers to probes for testing environmental quality. But while the value of GFPs in biomedicine and bioengineering has become evident, their diversity across the tree of life and their role in nature haven’t been as easily deciphered……..

When the going gets rough, the tough apparently sing slower. As vegetation reclaimed formerly cleared land in California, Oregon and Washington over the last 35 years, male white-crowned sparrows have lowered their pitch and slowed down their singing so that their love songs would carry better through heavier foliage……..

A study of venomous snails on remote Pacific islands reveals genetic underpinnings of an ecological phenomenon that has fascinated researchers since Darwin. The research, by University of Michigan evolutionary biologists Tom Duda and Taehwan Lee, is scheduled to be published online May 20 in the open-access journal PLoS ONE…….

In the developing fetus, cell growth follows a very specific schedule. In the eye’s retina, for example, cones — which help distinguish color during the day — develop before the more light-sensitive rods — which are needed for night vision. But minor differences in the timing of cell proliferation can explain the large differences found in the eyes of two species — owl monkeys and capuchin monkeys — that evolved from a common ancestor……..

Scientists comparing the fetal development of the eye of the owl monkey with that of the capuchin monkey have observed that only a minor difference in the timing of cell proliferation can explain the multiple anatomical differences in the two kinds of eyes. The findings help researchers understand how a structure as complex as the eye could change gradually through evolution, yet remain functional. The findings also offer a lesson in how seemingly simple genetic changes in the brain and nervous system could produce the multiple evolutionary changes seen in more advanced brains, without compromising function……..