Beavers (Castor canadensis in North America; the Eurasian beaver is Castor fiber) are fantastic ecosystem engineers, but their populations were decimated because they were hunted for their fur, meat, and…
Category: Life
‘Jet packs’ and ultrasounds could reveal secrets of pregnant whale sharks
How do you know if the world’s largest living fish is expecting babies? Not by her bulging belly, it turns out. Scientists thought that an enlarged area on the undersides…
Viewpoint: Do you believe in magic? Many nutritional supplements are impure, ineffective, unsafe — and unregulated, and that needs to change
Herbal dietary supplements (also known as nutritional supplements, but correctly called botanicals), once dismissed as hippie fare, are now widely advertised for their supposed potential to cure a variety of…
Invasive yellow crazy ants create male ‘chimeras’ to reproduce
Yellow crazy ants break the rules of reproduction. Every male ant contains separate populations of cells from two distinct genetic lineages, making them “chimeras,” researchers report in the April 7…
Flowers of a South African succulent plant predict tomorrow’s weather, synchronizing flower opening with pollinator activity Functional s
In this new post Matthew Gilbert—Associate Professor at University of California, Davis, CA, USA—presents his recently published paper “Flowers of a South African succulent plant predict tomorrow’s weather, synchronizing flower…
WWF campaign targets wild meat consumption to protect public health and nature | Stories
These three countries have some of the highest observed levels of wild meat consumption, which often brings wild mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians into the marketplace and restaurants. Wild meat…
Impaired Autophagic-Lysosomal Fusion in Parkinson’s Patient Midbrain Neurons Occurs through Loss of ykt6 and Is Rescued by Farnesyltransferase Inhibition
Abstract Macroautophagy is a catabolic process that coordinates with lysosomes to degrade aggregation-prone proteins and damaged organelles. Loss of macroautophagy preferentially affects neuron viability and is associated with age-related neurodegeneration.…
A new method to model the distribution of extremely rare species
Post provided by Pasquale Raia (he/him), Alessandro Mondanaro (he/him), Mirko Di Febbraro (he/him), Marina Melchionna (she/her) and Silvia Castiglione (she/her) Back in 2001 Sally Duncan, a quite prolific science writer,…
How some beetles ‘drink’ water using their butts
Some beetles “drink” using their butts, and scientists are starting to understand how. Red flour beetles, a major agricultural pest, open their anus to get water vapor in the air…
Capybaras thrive, even near humans, because they’re not picky eaters
Capybaras, the world’s largest rodent, naturally live in vast grasslands, wetlands and rivers throughout South America. Their name literally means grass eater in the Tupi language, which is indigenous to…
