http://www.biosentients.com Article & News for biology information Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:30:35 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The lettuce cut and packaged for food service and salad mixes is an increasingly important component of the produce industry. Lettuce is highly perishable, and the cutting mandatory in processing further shortens its shelf life. Packaging cut lettuce and other fresh produce in semipermeable plastic films extends shelf life ... http://www.biosentients.com/biology-information/good-breeding-increases-shelf-life/ The invasion of predatory lionfish in the Caribbean region poses yet another major threat there to coral reef ecosystems a new study has observed that within a short period after the entry of lionfish into an area, the survival of other reef fishes is slashed by about 80 ... http://www.biosentients.com/biology-information/lionfish-decimating-tropical-fish-populations/ In studying how animals change size as they evolve, biologists have unearthed several interesting patterns. For instance, most species are small, but the largest members of a taxonomic group -- such as the great white shark, the Komodo dragon, or the African elephant are often thousands or millions ... http://www.biosentients.com/biology-information/predicting-the-distribution-of-creatures-great-and-small/ The sense of smell might indeed be as important to birds as it is to fish or even mammals. This is the main conclusion of a study by Silke Steiger (Max Planck Institute for Ornithology) and her colleagues. The sense of smell in birds was, until quite recently, believed ... http://www.biosentients.com/biology-information/do-birds-have-a-good-sense-of-smell/ Endangered black-footed ferrets, like children, aren't exactly lining up to be stuck with a vaccine, but in an effort to help control an extensive outbreak of plague in South Dakota, some of the ferrets are getting dosed with a vaccine given by biologists. This is the first time the ... http://www.biosentients.com/biology-information/vaccine-offers-hope-for-endangered-ferrets/ Recent research by Michigan State University doctoral student Jennifer Smith has shed new light on the way spotted hyenas live together and - more importantly - hunt for their food alone. In a paper recently reported in the journal Animal Behaviour, Smith, a student in MSU's Department of Zoology, ... http://www.biosentients.com/biology-information/spotted-hyenas-can-increase-survival-rates-by-hunting-alone/ A type of wild rice that only grows in a small stretch of the San Marcos River is likely so rare because it plays the sexual reproduction game poorly, a study led by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin has revealed. The ... http://www.biosentients.com/biology-information/pollination-habits-of-endangered-texas-rice/ Two of the world's largest environmental programs in China are generally successful, eventhough key reforms could transform them into a model for the rest of the world, as per research results published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Jianguo "Jack" Liu, a scientist ... http://www.biosentients.com/biology-information/environmental-programs-in-china-successful/ Coat color of wild and domestic animals is a critical trait that has significant biological and economic impact. As per a research findings published online in Genome Research (www.genome.org), scientists have identified the genetic basis for black coat color, and white, in a breed of domestic sheep........ http://www.biosentients.com/biology-information/genetic-basis-for-the-black-sheep-of-the-family/ Good pollen makes bees hot, biologists at UC San Diego have found. Wasps warm up too when they find protein-rich meat, a separate experiment has shown. In both cases warmer flight muscles likely speed the insects' trips home, allowing them to quickly exploit a valuable resource before competitors arrive, ... http://www.biosentients.com/biology-information/wasps-and-bumble-bees-heat-up/