Want to build a really tough robot? Forget about Terminator. Instead, watch a tadpole turn into a frog.
Or at least that’s not too far off from what University of Vermont roboticist Josh Bongard has discovered, as he reports in the January 10 on…
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers report that they are the first to show in molecular detail how one gene evolved two competing functions that eventually split up — via gene duplication — to pursue their separate destinies.
The study, in th…
It’s long been accepted by biologists that environmental factors cause the diversity — or number — of species to increase before eventually leveling off. Some recent work, however, has suggested that species diversity continues instead of entering…
In the latest of a series of related papers, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in Austria and elsewhere, present a new and more definitive explanation of how fibrotic cells form, multiply …
Plants that “lose the battle” during competitiveness for light because they are shaded by larger neighbours, counteract. They adapt by rapid shoot elongation and stretch their leaves towards the sun. The molecular basis of this so-called shade avoid…
TEMPE, Ariz. — Enormous uncertainty. These two words describe the condition of Phoenix’s climate and water supply in the 21st century. Reservoirs have dipped to their lowest levels, continuous drought has plagued the state and forecasts for even w…
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — There has been controversy about whether life originated in a hot or cold environment, and about whether enough time has elapsed for life to have evolved to its present complexity.
But new research at the University of North C…
This Thanksgiving, when you bite into the cranberry sauce and the tartness smacks your tongue as hard as that snide comment from your sister, consider the power of sour.
Neurobiology researchers at the University of Southern California have made a …
You may think of your love for your mate as the noble emotion of a pure heart, but some primitive parts of your brain are taking a decidedly more pragmatic approach to the subject, according to Stanford biologists.
In experiments with African ci…
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — University of Illinois researchers are using a new kind of microsensor to answer one of the weightiest questions in biology — the relationship between cell mass and growth rate.
The team, led by electrical and computer engin…
COLUMBIA, Mo. — In modern culture, it is not considered socially acceptable for married people to have extramarital sexual partners. However, in some Amazonian cultures, extramarital sexual affairs were common, and people believed that when a woma…
A new study using a pig model of cystic fibrosis (CF) suggests that low levels of a growth promoting hormone at or before birth may contribute to growth defects in patients with CF.
The study, led by University of Iowa researchers and published…