Biologist Experiments With His Own Front Yard
...iversity whose research specialty is thebehavioral evolution of insects, found that his transformed Tempe, Arizona yard was an ideal homelaboratory where he could conveniently study a wide variety of subjects and conduct experiments morning,noon and in the middle of the night. For lab assistant, he had his wif...Transposable Elements May Have Had A Major Role In The Evolution Of Higher Organisms
...suspect, or do they contribute to the function and evolution of the organisms inwhich they reside? No...transposons may play a crucial and central role in evolution and could bethe "missing link" in our understanding of how multicellular and vertebrateorganisms aro...Plants Thrive With Insect-Induced Immune Responses
...is study will provide further informationabout the evolution and ecology of plant defenses and for development ofnon-chemical pest-control systems. Early research elsewhere has identified ahormone that appears to trigger the biochemical chain reaction that constitutesan immune response in plants. One product..."Genes, Vitamins, Homocyst(e)ine And Cardiovascular Diseases"
...lementation may prevent or beneficially affect the evolution ofatherosclerotic diseases. The National Institutes of Health is supporting a current study that maydetermine whether vitamin supplementation will alter the course ofatherosclerotic diseases; results are expected to be available probably w...When To Reproduce? It's All In The Timing
...ave toremember that we're looking at a snapshot of evolution and that not everyspecies is at its heyday. It may be a species that is on its way out, or it maybe one that is recent. We have to keep in mind where it is relative to selectivemechanisms or how well adapted it is to the community it lives in." -30-...Candidate Regulator Of The Temporal Component Of Neurotransmitter Release Identified
...ls recruit proteins that have long been used in evolution into the highly specialized machinery of neurotransmitter release....Food Bacteria-Spice Survey Shows Why Some Cultures Like It Hot
... a good way to seethe interaction between cultural evolution and biological function. "I believethat recipes are a record of the history of the coevolutionary race between usand our parasites. The microbes are competing with us for the same food,"Sherman says. "Everything we do with food -- drying, cooking, s...New Dating Technique May Revise Geologic Time Scale
...e." The study says the different states of evolution among grains in asample may also indicate variable sea levels. Glaucony forms in shallow seawater and this process slows or stops if the ocean is too shallow or too deep.Consequently some grains may form in a sediment millions of years after it wasd......als, and for providing a comprehensive look at the evolution ofEarth’s geographic features. The work is funded by a constortium ofcompanies that has included Amoco, Exxon, Mobile, Total, Elf-Aquitaine andShell, British Petroleum, Conoco and Marathon. More information can be foundat http://plates.uchica......The new discoveryillustrates the complexity of the evolution of birds and hints at the number ofsurprises yet to be uncovered in tracing the development of their lineage. The authors of the Nature paper are: Luis M. Chiappe, Chapman Fellowand research associate in the Museum's Department of Ornitholo...Caribbean Lizards Evolve Independently
...s, theslighted creatures now have Marquee value in evolution and genetics. A team led by Jonathan B. Losos, Ph.D., associate professor of biologyin Arts and Sciences at Washington University, has discovered that remarkablysimilar lizard communities have evolved independently on different islands inthe...Excavations In Prehistoric Chinese Cave Uncover Unusual Collections Of Large Mammals
...reater detail. Schepartz's research focuses on the evolution of complexbehaviors, and the cave findings so far provide evidence thatearly humans in southern China had the ability to thinksymbolically and solve problems. The rhinoceros and Stegodonfindings, however, raised even more questions for Schepartz andh...How Did Life Begin? Biochemical Evolution On Chemical Surfaces
... this mineral could provide thekey to the chemical evolution that led to the origin of life. It's possiblethat mutinaite, which has aluminum in place of silica, loses aluminum at itssurface to become silica-rich through weathering, Smith said. A small amountof remaining aluminum would provide the catalytic c...Learning About Evolution Critical For Understanding Science
...f Sciences (NAS). Teachers are reluctant to teach evolution because of pressures from special-interest groups ...evolution. "The widespread misunderstandings about evolution are of great concern to the scientific community and the Academy," said Bruce Alberts, NAS president...Report On Teaching About Evolution To Be Released At April 9 Public Briefing
...understanding key aspects ofbiology. Yet teaching evolution remains controversial in many of the nation'scommu...dministrators have said theyare reluctant to teach evolution because of pressures from interest groups todownplay or eliminate it as part of the science curricul...Gene Study Shows Mammals Lived Before Extinction Of The Dinosaurs
...pril 30, 1998, issue of the journal Nature. "The evolution of mammals appears to have occurred gradually by the isolation ofbreeding groups when the continents broke apart, not suddenly by the rapidfilling of ecological niches left vacant when the dinosaurs became extinct,"Hedges says. The massive gene stud...New Fossil Discoveries Clinch Ancient Age Of Human Ancestor
... fossils could resolve questions over the age and evolution of a species thought to be the most ancient known...overed so far support a more tree-like picture of evolution for hominids -- the ancient ancestors on the human family tree. "We don't yet have any convincin......ions?" "This relates to questions of human evolution and to understanding howneurons know how or what to connect to. In addition, we are interested in how anew capability or mutation like this is passed along. Some researchers haveargued that for a mutation to be conserved it must confer some kind of...Biochemists Gain Crystal-Clear Insight into 'Ancient' Enzyme
...esent an ancient remnant of an early era in life's evolution whenRNA molecules were the enzymatic workhorses of primordial cells, beforemore versatile proteins evolved to take over the job. The findings also may offer new targets for antibiotic compounds thatcould disrupt this key process in bacteria to kill ......at stardust andmeteorites left over from the early evolution of the solar system, to the fossil record of ancie...ch areas to answer key questions about the origin, evolution anddistribution of life in the solar system: Exploring possible sources for the early ch...