Did pterosaurs feed by skimming?
...ually unlikely skim feeders, as they lack the many adaptations of the neck and skull shown in modern skimming birds. The paper overturns the untested assum ption that drag is an unimportant cost of flight, offering, in turn, an explanation for the relative rarity of the skim-feeding strategy; found only in three...Study identifies energy efficiency as reason for evolution of upright walking
...fossil record and see whether fossil hominins show adaptations that would have reduced bipedal energy expenditure...said Raichlen. We and many others have found these adaptations [such as slight increases in hindlimb extension or length] in early hominins, which tells us that en...What determines the speed at which birds fly?
...study suggests that there are different functional adaptations affecting flight differently among different types of bird, and that there exists a diversity of cruising flight characteristics among birds that remain to be explored and understood....Microscopic jets, diamonds unlikely on Uranus, and amazing mosquito legs
... moment to ponder its impressive and versatile leg adaptations -- then squish it before it sucks your blood. - JR......cts and earthworms. Phylogenetic studies show that adaptations for snail feeding led to the diversification of beetle heads. Interestingly, it has been demonstrated that the same trade-off diversifies shell morphology in studies of freshwater snails, where elongate shells are adaptive in protecting against entry...Burning fat and carbohydrate during exercise
...not occur. Helge et al.s findings show that the adaptations in the rest of the body are the key to this fuel s...e the marathon, and they have implications for the adaptations made in middle-aged adults who are using exercise to prevent or treat conditions like diabetes and o...Human ancestors learned to walk upright in the trees, say experts
...combination of short legs and long arms, which are adaptations for moving amongst tree tops, with hindlimbs adapted for walking on two legs. To understand why bipedalism walking on two legs would be necessary for the tree-living ancestors of humans, scientists studied the movement of the only completely arbo...Asexual worm quickly adapts to soil contamination
Soil contaminants lead to rapid genetic adaptations in the nematode Acrobeloides nanus. The worms from contaminated soil live longer and lay more eggs under polluted conditions than the worms from unpolluted soil. Dutch-sponsored researcher Agnieszka Doroszuk demonstrated this in her study into the lo...'Supermap' of avian flu yields new info on source/spread
...ions appeared by chance, or whether they were true adaptations of the virus as it spread." Flu viruses are classified according to several criteria: whether they come from animals or humans, and the activity of two key proteins that sit on the surface of the virus, hemaglutinin (HA), and neuraminidase (NA). H...How to manage forests in hurricane impact zones
...bance ecology unit based in Athens, GA. "But those adaptations only go so far in the face of a major hurricane. Forest owners and natural resource managers need strategies to deal with hurricane damage to coastal forests." In early fall 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused what may be the most costly natu...Can a taste for poison drive speciation?
...anoic acid toxins have mostly degraded. Behavioral adaptations between herbivores and their hosts tend to involve changes in genes linked to taste and odor perception. With over 50 Obp genes in the D. melanogaster genome, researchers have a rich resource for studying the ecological contributions to speciation....UF scientists discover new genus of frogmouth bird in Solomon Islands
...thers reduce maneuverability. "These are island adaptations that work to keep the bird on the island," Steadman said. Second, it has distinct barring on the primary wing feathers and tail feathers, where other frogmouths are more uniform. Its speckles are larger, and the white spots on its breast and under...Ancient amphibians evolved a bite before migrating to dry land
...rom the aquatic realm to land involved a series of adaptations to facilitate changes in locomotion, respiration, ...cies Acanthostega revealed that, while it had many adaptations to an aquatic lifestyle, it was more likely a biter than a sucker," Markey says. "The analysis sugge...Life-long learning -- nature provides natural inspiration for education
... be wrong and scientists are observing Natures own adaptations to find solutions to human problems. This relatively new field of Biology is called Biomimetics and Biologists have been investigating its application to fabric development, new structural materials, even behaviour in organisations and education. Res...What is wrong with intelligent design?
...at it is unfalsifiable and that the many imperfect adaptations found in nature refute the hypothesis of intellige...ary processes cannot produce "irreducibly complex" adaptations merely changes the subject, Sober argues. "When scientific theories compete with each other, the ...Birth rate, competition are major players in hominid extinctions
...cavenge, kill small animals and forage." Cultural adaptations helped these opportunists to take advantage of whatever food was available. But culture did not seem to help the Neandertal. Tremendously successful from about 200 to 50 thousand years ago, they suffered a gradual decrease and extinction from about...Researchers untangle nature of 'regressive evolution' in cavefish
...cent issue of the journal Current Biology. Cave adaptations have evolved in many species independently, and each cave species can be considered a replicate of the same evolutionary experiment that asks how species change in perpetual darkness. This makes cavefish a rich source for the examination of the evolu...Articles on animal migration published in BioScience
...Wingfield describe morphological and physiological adaptations involved in seasonal migrations. They note that the control mechanisms that regulate migration and coordinate it with local conditions are largely unknown, and that the potential for disruption by climate change is great. Robert A. Cheke and Jamie A.......rs we studied various aspects of the physiological adaptations of the fish egg to the marine environment. It is most satisfying that Dr. Finn has been able to tie the threads together in molecular and evolutionary terms with their impressive, comparative sequence alignment study of the involved yolk genes and pr...National Science Foundation supports UCR study of polar lake life forms
...h as super-efficient metabolisms and other genetic adaptations that allow them to live under extremely adverse ecological conditions. In the 1960s, Russian scientists suspected that water lay beneath the ice sheet based on results from seismic soundings. In the 1970s, a joint U.S.-U.K.-Danish airborne radar ma...