Large-scale forces shape local ocean life, global study shows
... the poles to coral reefs and leave few places for creatures to hide, so estimates would be comparable and highly accurate.To get a true snapshot of the diversity of these species around the world, Witman and his team chose 12 distinct biogeographic regions and randomly sampled at a total of 49 sites within th...Ancient sea spider fossils discovered in volcanic ash
...ient sea life in this location rapidly encased the creatures making a concrete-like cast of the bodies. The cavity later filled in with carbonate solids so we have a fossil record to study now." To create a picture of the fossils, the specimens were ground away a few microns at a time, each slice digitally ima...... forbidding the consumption of fish and underwater creatures without fins or scales, among other dietary restrictions. Throughout the world in different cultures and religions, a variety of dietary restrictions exist. The origin of these rules is often debated. For Alpina Begossi, Natalia Hanazaki and Rossan...Economics and ecology combine at UGA in NSF-funded study of evolutionary game theory
...eory to the conflict between that most rational of creatures humans and the viruses causing human disease, such as AIDS. While not outwardly rational, viruses mutate and reproduce with alarming speed," he said. "By using an explicitly game theoretic framework, we can simultaneously capture how humans respond...ORNL project earns top honor from Southeast tech transfer group
...e MicroCAT technology enables mice and other small creatures to be screened for tumors and genetic study while they are still alive. The technology provides three-dimensional images of the subject being studied. The device saves time and money because biologists can screen subjects individually for internal mu...Ancient creature fossilized by the bacteria that ate it
... fundamental questions in paleontology -- why some creatures fossilize even though they lack the mineral-rich b...non called exceptional preservation, in which soft creatures such as insects and other arthropods -- which normally cannot fossilize -- are somehow preserved. No...Extinction in ocean's mud presages key ecological changes
...iment you are able to mix up." And while the creatures that inhabit the mud at the bottom of the ocean may seem remote and unimportant, Cardinale pointed out that oceans cover 70 percent of the Earth's surface, and that the productivity of the sea is intricately linked to sediments that generate nutrient...How the sea urchin grows new spines
...rs, but by a wide variety of spiny and shelled sea creatures like mollusks and corals. In addition, the idea of growing single crystals by first creating the material in an amorphous phase might prove useful to material scientists and engineers who want to produce and shape sophisticated synthetic materials th...Researchers probe marine mysteries off the Alaskan coast
...the seeps, a process known aschemosynthesis. These creatures contain bacteria that provide nutrition for the "host" animal, while the host provides a home and chemicals from the seep for the bacteria. "At several thousand meters deep, we would notice sparse evidence of animal life, but then all of a s...Scientists achieve self-assembly of spider silk fiber in insect cells
...e more closely related to each other than to those creatures with which prior experiments were conducted, we felt that we would be able to produce spider fibers using these insects," said Dr. Gat. "For this purpose, we developed a methodology for producing great quantities of the appropriate proteins, which is...Census of Marine Life - Discoveries and Highlights 2004: Scientists add 4m+ records, 13,000 species
...ually unexplored ocean realm, we know many unusual creatures await discovery," says Dr. Ron O'Dor, Chief Census Scientist, based in Washington DC. Integrating Data, Creating Information A new super-portal is serving as a model for ecosystem-based marine management worldwide. Layers of biological, phys...How city dwellers and living things put the green into our urban open spaces
...hings, the benefits of interaction between people, creatures and plants in activities such as allotment gardening, hedge-laying and landscaping. Professor Whatmore said: "Our research has highlighted the ecological and social diversity of urban landscapes, tracking some of the flora and fauna of cities. Thes...MBL scientists embark on international effort to uncover microbial diversity in world's oceans
... biomass. For more than three billion years, these creatures have mediated critical processes that shaped the planet's habitability. The goal of ICoMM is to report what is known, what is unknown but knowable, and what may never be known about the biodiversity of marine microorganisms by 2010. In addition t...Researchers discover direct link between agricultural runoff and massive algal blooms in the sea
...leted dead zone at the bottom of the sea where few creatures can survive. A massive dead zone appears every summer in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana and Texas. Scientists believe that agricultural runoff from the Mississippi River plays a pivotal role in creating this annual dead zone, which mea...NASA finds trees and insect outbreaks affect carbon dioxide levels
...anet's carbon dioxide level is that the six-legged creatures eat and kill trees and other vegetation. When the amount of greenery is reduced on Earth, the remaining plants take in less carbon dioxide. As a result, say scientists, more of this gas remains in the air, instead of being trapped in wood, fiber, lea...Science's Breakthrough of the Year: Salty, acidic soup could have supported life on Mars
... salty, acidic waters that regularly dried up, but creatures capable of surviving or even thriving under such extreme conditions live here on Earth. An international team of scientists outfitted the two identical Rovers with "eyes" that see in color, a magnifying glass, a grinding wheel for exposing fresh rock...The death of a very special chimpanzee
...many opportunities. It's a damn shame." Like other creatures whose genomes have been sequenced, including entre... are especially important for genetically variable creatures such as chimps. Most of the other animals being sequenced come from highly inbred lines, meaning tha...Spleen may be source of versatile stem cells
...ver, the protein has an intriguing function: when creatures like newts regenerate a lost limb or tail, production of Hox11 is radically increased. As reported in their SAGE KE article, the MGH team did find that Hox11 was produced in the spleens of adult mice by the same cells that regenerated the islets in...Falling ants glide back to trunk to avoid dangers of forest floor
...Dudley, a UC Berkeley expert on flying and gliding creatures ranging from hummingbirds and lizards to moths and bees. "Apparently, it's fairly common among a lot of tropical canopy ants." Yanoviak, Dudley, a professor of integrative biology at UC Berkeley, and zoologist Michael E. Kaspari, an ant ecologist at ......t's animal biodiversity, is a risky place. Canopy creatures live on the edge of a very long fall. For an ant, a 30 m fall to the forest floor is akin to me falling 3.5 miles. An ant falling to the forest floor enters a dark world of mold and decomposition, of predators and scavengers, where the return trip ...