Recent Posts by Joseph

How male dragonflies adapt wing color to temperature

New research from Case Western Reserve University in how dragonflies may adapt their wing color to temperature differences might explain color variation in other animals, from lions to birds.

Further, the findings could also provide evolutionary biologists clues about whether rising global temperatures might adversely affect some species.

Michael Moore, a graduate biology student, and Ryan Martin,...

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Unique camera enables researchers to see the world the way birds do

Using a specially designed camera, researchers at Lund University in Sweden have succeeded for the first time in recreating how birds see colours in their surroundings. The study reveals that birds see a very different reality compared to what we see.

Human colour vision is based on three primary colours: red, green and blue. The colour...

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Bird beaks did not adapt to food types as previously thought

A study, led by the University of Bristol, has shed some new light on how the beaks of birds have adapted over time.

The observation that Galapagos finch species possessed different beak shapes to obtain different foods was central to the theory of evolution by natural selection, and it has been assumed that this form-function relationship...

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Emerging significance of gammaherpesvirus and morbillivirus infections in cats

Emerging infectious diseases comprise a substantial fraction of important human infections, with potentially devastating global health and economic impacts. A 2008 paper in Nature described the emergence of no fewer than 335 infectious diseases in the global human population between 1940 and 2004. In the veterinary field, just as in the medical field, advanced molecular...

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Human mutation rate has slowed recently

Researchers from Aarhus University, Denmark, and Copenhagen Zoo have discovered that the human mutation rate is significantly slower than for our closest primate relatives. The new knowledge may be important for estimates of when the common ancestor for humans and chimpanzees lived -- and for conservation of large primates in the wild.

Over the past million...

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Having stressed out ancestors improves immune response to stress

Having ancestors who were frequently exposed to stressors can improve one's own immune response to stressors, according to Penn State researchers. The results suggest that family history should be considered to predict or understand the health implications of stress.

"Prolonged stress typically suppresses immune function within an individual," said Tracy Langkilde, professor and head of biology...

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