Preterm birth remains a global epidemic linked to a lifetime of potential health complications. It also is difficult to study in living creatures -- especially the uniquely precise biology of preterm birth in humans.
Researchers report in PLoS Biology successfully inserting just enough human DNA into transgenic laboratory mice that it allowed the team to study...
How the African elephant cracked its skin to cool off
An intricate network of minuscule crevices adorns the skin surface of the African bush elephant. By retaining water and mud, these micrometer-wide channels greatly help elephants in regulating their body temperature and protecting their skin against parasites and intense solar radiation. Today, researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, and the SIB Swiss Institute...
Giraffe babies inherit spot patterns from their mothers
Some features of a giraffe's spot pattern are passed on from mother to baby, according to a new study led by researchers from Penn State. The study also reveals that survival of young giraffes is related to spot pattern, which may help provide camouflage from predators. The new study, published October 2 in the journal...
Set in amber, fossil ants help reconstruct evolution of fungus farming
Some 50 million years before humans figured it out, agriculture arrived in the world in a seemingly unlikely place: an ant hill.
Eschewing wheat or rice for feathery white fungus, the ants cultivated their fungal crop, providing it with care in exchange for nourishment. But like their human counterparts who would come after them, the ants...
Songbird data yields new theory for learning sensorimotor skills
Songbirds learn to sing in a way similar to how humans learn to speak -- by listening to their fathers and trying to duplicate the sounds. The bird's brain sends commands to the vocal muscles to sing what it hears, and then the brain keeps trying to adjust the command until the sound echoes the...
Bold male birds fall faster and harder for their partners
Research from Oxford University has revealed that bold male birds focus on forming strong relationships with their future breeding partners while shy male birds play the field.
A new study from the Department of Zoology, Oxford University, has found that the individual personalities of male great tits influences how they bond with their future breeding partner.
The...