Lobster sniffing: how lobsters' hairy noses capture smells from the sea
...Many sea creatures use them for swimming, and tiny insects use them to fly. "While engineers need to design structures to perform specific functions, we are studying organisms that already have a structure, and our job is to figure out how they function," she said.......e flavor to us, but they are toxic or repellant to insects feeding on them." Some enzymes produce cyanide when plants are attacked, he said. As we understand these genes and what their product enzymes do," Esen said, "through genetic engineering, we can produce plants that defend themselves without pesticid...Exposing insects' sense of smell
...The discovery could lead to insecticides that stop insects from communicating through chemical signals. Usin...them precisely onto sensitive nerve endings. Many insects depend on pheromones to communicate with each other, whether searching for food or finding a mate, s...... ideas for use in robotics. "Invertebrates such as insects and crustaceans achieve similar movement and sensory outcomes to humans. For example, finding food and selection of appropriate mates and nesting sites. Where humans use millions of neurons to achieve such outcomes, invertebrates do it with thousan...USDA establishes Honeybee Genetics and IPM Center
...g solutions to the two major threats to honeybees, insects that are responsible for agricultural pollination valued in the billions of dollars. The director is Nicholas W. Calderone, Cornell assistant professor of entomology, assisted by project scientists Walter S. Sheppard of Washington State University ......ural inducers have remarkably similar functions in insects and humans as highlighted by the fact that one can inject Sog into the region of a frog embryo that normally would give rise to epidermis and induce the formation of a second frog nervous system at that position, says Bier. Neural inducers also have ...Insect bites on plants reduce photosynthesis, imaging device shows
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. When insects feed on plants, they get nourishment and the plant...s never-before-seen injury extending far beyond an insects bite. The results of the first experiments with the tool done in a University of Illinois laborator...Outside-in conservation: What's around an area
...y used ants as an indicator of biodiversitybecause insects are the most diverse group of species and ants comprisemost of the insect mass in the tropics. The reserve is a forest fragmentthat lies between two types of coffee farms: a shady, organic farmoverplanted primarily with native trees, and a sunnier, c...New theory of the evolution of bird flight linked to parental care
...eathers, first developed to conserve heat, to swat insects from the air. On the other hand, the parental-care theory is consistent with both the physical and behavioral changes that appear to have occurred as reptiles evolved into winged dinosaurs and finally into modern birds, Carey says. He suggests that m...Satellites vs. mosquitoes: Tracking West Nile Virus in the U.S.
...eaks by showing where conditions are right for the insects to thrive and where the disease appears to be spre.... In the south, where temperatures are higher, the insects are more dependent on the availability of moisture for survival. Lush vegetation provides a good ind...Chemical evidence proves the old adage, Birds of a feather flock together
...t is, the carbon 13: carbon 12 ratio in plants and insects consumed by warblers decreased in northern latitudes, as did the deuterium: hydrogen 1 ratio in lakes and rivers. Conservation implications In their Science study, researchers collected feathers from nearly 700 black-throated blue warblers. In North...Mating molds provide new insights into speciation and human reproduction
... other organisms that reproduce sexually - plants, insects and even people. One example is oogenesis in women - a biological process in the ovary that results in the formation of eggs. "Human oogenesis is, at first glance, a bizarre process," Metzenberg wrote in Cell, noting that, at birth, a girl already wi...Battle of the sexes leads to evolutionary arms race
... the first time a sexual "arms race" in a group of insects - the water strider. Professors Locke Rowe of the University of Toronto's zoology department and Goran Arnqvist of the University of Uppsala in Sweden offer a new and quite different look at the fundamental conflicts of interest between the sexes. "M...New species clarifies bird-dinosaur link
...nformation on the evolution of dinosaurs, mammals, insects and flowering plants, he says. I hope to find even more primitive specimens than Sinovenator changii....Chinese tallow tree invades Texas prairies
...ns this tree has been able to grow so well is that insects have left it alone and munched on other foliage. Siemann said this is particularly peculiar because unlike the slow-growing tallow tree found in China, the American variety lets its defenses down. The Chinese variety has chemicals in its leaves th...Proliferation of Argentine ants in California linked to decline in coastal horned lizards
...Case showed that baby horned lizards fed a diet of insects typical of a community after invasion of Argentine...line in weight. But when their diet is switched to insects typical of an uninvaded community, the scientists found that the baby horned lizards grow normally. ...Undergraduate unraveling genetic mysteries in fruit flies
...embryos to identify the cells that are forming the insects salivary gland. Under a high-powered microscope she was able to see how a genetic mutation can distort the shape of the developing gland and impair its ability to move into proper position within the growing embryo. Comeaux received a Provosts Unde...Endangered freshwater mussels saved
... releasing the rest into mucus strings. Some water insects feed on these strings, and the mussels themselves serve as a food source for raccoons, muskrats, river otters, and diving ducks. Virginia's freshwater mussels live up to 70 years. They are fertile for their entire life span, after beginning reproduct...Movement without senses coded into neurons, says University of Toronto researcher
...f a developing baby or the crawling and walking of insects - is intrinsic, not dependent on sensory stimulation, says a University of Toronto neurobiologist. "All animals, from worms to humans, have rhythmic movements that underlie locomotion," says Max Suster, a post-doctoral fellow at U of T at Mississauga......nformation on the evolution of dinosaurs, mammals, insects and flowering plants," he says. "I hope to find even more primitive specimens than Liaoceratops."...