Climate change plus human pressure caused large mammal extinctions in late Pleistocene
.... In Europe and parts of Asia, mammals such as the giant Irish deer or Irish elk died out broadly toward th... as well as the armadillo-like glyptodonts and the giant ground sloths (Megatheriadae), all disappeared from the North American continent. "Humans and climat...'Most recent common ancestor' of all living humans surprisingly recent
...d horses on the steppes of the Ukraine, who hunted giant sloths in the forests of North and South America, and who labored to build the Great Pyramid of Khufu." The results can also work backwards, into the future. According to Chang, "Within two thousand years, it is likely that everyone on earth will...Maine-based biophysics institute gets funding for first US-based 4Pi nanoscale microscope
...tory and the University of Maine. "Physicists have giant particle accelerators to isolate the fundamental elements of energy and matter. Now researchers in genetics and biology have an advanced tool to examine the very structure of the mouse, human and other genomes." The 4Pi microscope is manufactured b...JGI announces community sequencing program portfolio
...ax adhaerens. With a superficial resemblance to a giant amoeba, Trichoplax has the smallest animal genome, less than 50 million base pairs. Other organisms in the CSP queue include the cold water-dwelling microbes, Crenarchaeota, which offers another important foray into environmental genomics, according ......ject is not a singular event. The genome project's giant leap for mankind is coming not with a single small step taken on one summer's night but with thousands of small steps spread out over the course of several years. The importance of solving the human genome and the genomes of other species is that ...Growing pains: T. Rex was teenage giant
...a new one developing every year. But there was one giant obstacle to counting the rings: Most of the big, meat-eating dinosaurs' bones remodeled themselves as they grew and become hollow, erasing much of the growth record. A possible solution to this dilemma came to Erickson about four years ag...For Africa's valuable mahoganies, it's the soil, stupid
...ife Conservation Society has revealed how Africa's giant mahoganies, the ancient trees driving the tropical logging industry, require specialized, poorly understood soil conditions results that could have huge implications on how Africa's tropical forests are managed. The study, appearing in the latest is...Endangered turtles' trek along ocean currents revealed by satellite
...osed to leatherbacks by deep-sea fishing. These giant reptiles - known to reach 2.1 metres in length and weigh in at 365 kg - briefly come ashore to lay their eggs on beaches across French Guiana and neighbouring Suriname, the turtles' last remaining major nesting sites in the Atlantic Ocean. Around nin...Forest fire sensor inspired by nature
...ntists only know of some snakes the pit viper and giant constrictor that have genuine IR-sensing organs. In fact, since the beginning of last year a snake experts, Dr. Guido Westhoff, has been collaborating with Helmut Schmitz at Bonn's Institute of Zoology. He is examining the heat sense of reptiles in ...90 million year old dino tracks found on resort island
...e island of Hvar,Croatia. The tracks belong to giant long-necked dinosaurs called sauropods, and more specifically, the last of the giant sauropods, the majestic titanosaurs. The tracks of these giant dinosaurs were made while they wal...Noah's modern ark: The role of ART in conserving endangered species
Berlin, Germany: Killer whales, giant pandas, cheetahs and black-footed ferrets are just...other disciplines. For example, in our studies of giant pandas, we work closely with veterinarians, behaviourists, nutritionists, pathologists, population b...Earth, sky tapped in unique global climate change study
... data collection began. The system includes eight giant shelters built to exclude rainfall but allow a free flow of air so as not to create greenhouse-like conditions. Under each canopy, 10 6-foot-square plots with various combinations of the three species resemble a booklet of green, leafy postage stamps...The Hunter's Breath tells a story of adventure and discovery in Antarctica
...hemselves on small Antarctic silverfish, attacking giant Antarctic cod, and fighting with other seals over access to breathing holes in the ice. Weddell seals are among the extreme athletes of the animal world, descending from their breathing holes to search out, stalk, chase, catch, kill, and eat their pr...Rensselaer receives NIH grant to develop virtual surgery simulator
...sion," he said, "is to develop a palpable human--a giant database of human anatomy that provides real-time interactivity for a variety of uses, from teaching anatomy to evaluating injuries in a variety of scenarios. In the long run, a better simulator could even help in the design of new surgical tools and...Conservation International & SC Johnson invest in Ecuador's rainforest to offset climate impacts
...l cat species, the long wattled umbrella bird, the giant anteater and the threatened mantled Howler monkey. "It is our responsibility as a global company to make good choices for business and the environment," said SC Johnson Chairman Dr. Fisk Johnson. "From our efforts to reduce carbon dioxide and other ...UF study: Barren Siberia, of all places, may be original home to animal life
...rs to modern continents began splitting off from a giant supercontinent at the South Pole about 580 million years ago, migrating north toward the equator for about 80 million years. The scientists' analysis suggests that a prominent theory holding that the continents moved far more rapidly is wrong. It als...Too good eyes for living below ground
... species, Ansell's mole-rat Cryptomys anselli, the giant mole-rat C. mechowi, and the naked mole-rat Heterocephalus glaber, and have discovered some astonishing features. The retinae were anatomically well-developed and showed no obvious deficits. To the contrary, the researchers found an unusually high pr...As obesity skyrockets, Joslin Diabetes Center urges action to stem the tide of type 2 diabetes
... caloric information, like reporting calories on a giant cookie snack assuming the portion eaten will be only one quarter of the cookie. And the health care and health insurance industries must not only increase study of the fundamental mechanisms of obesity and diabetes, but also the focus on public educa...Crucial brain development gene identified
...enter have discovered that a gene known as "lethal giant larvae 1" (a.k.a. Lgl1) plays a critical role in shaping cell behavior during embryonic brain development. Lgl1 was initially identified in the fruit fly Drosophila, where it regulates cell polarity (the overall directionality of a cell) as well as c......s yeast to achieve evolutionary innovations in one giant leap instead of baby steps. It may account for up to 80 percent of flowering plant species and could explain why fish are the most diverse of all vertebrates. "The results here suggest that it may also be fruitful to search for similar genomic signat...