Chickadee, nutchatch presence in conifers increases tree growth, says CU-Boulder study
...the effects of birds on pine with their effects on dwarf mistletoe, a parasitic plant on ponderosas throughout the West. Mooney said the activity of the birds also was shown to change the chemical "flavor" of the trees, which may have implications for infestations by damaging insects like bark beetles t...Microscopic jets, diamonds unlikely on Uranus, and amazing mosquito legs
...carbon rich layers of the gas giant planets. White dwarf stars, according to the study, are veritable diamo...sistent with the 2004 discovery of a cooling white dwarf star that appears to have a solid diamond core 4000 kilometers across. Although diamond formation...First all-African produced genetically engineered maize is resistant to maize streak virus
... Disease caused by similar geminiviruses, Wheat dwarf virus (WDV) and various sugarcane streak viruses, also affect other crops, including barley, wheat, oats, sugarcane, and millet. Thus, the technology developed for MSV could potentially be adapted to develop resistance in these other crops. Virol...Will lemmings fall off climate change cliff?
...h can coat much of the lemmings' foods (sedges and dwarf shrubs) in ice. Lemming predators also have to adapt to these changes. Predators that specialize on eating lemmings, such as snowy owls and arctic foxes, may suffer if lemmings are no longer so productive. Other predators may benefit. For exam...Disease opened door to invading species in California
...e it not for a plant pathogen called barley yellow dwarf virus, which reduces plant growth, lowers seed production and increases mortality. In the absence of this pathogen, the native plants would have been able to rebuff the invaders and persist, rather than being overtaken, the study concluded. "Not o...These legs were made for fighting
... black gibbons, siamang gibbons, olive baboons and dwarf guenon monkeys. Carrier used data on aborigines because they are a relatively natural population. For the aborigines and each primate species, Carrier used the scientific literature to obtain typical hindlimb lengths and data on two physical featu...Researchers learn what sparks plant growth
... originates in the epidermis by experimenting with dwarf Arabidopsis plants and the expression of brassinos...ressed and taken up by receptors in the epidermis, dwarf plants grew to their full size. Savaldi-Goldstein and Chory also found that when a gene is expressed...Plant size morphs dramatically as scientists tinker with outer layer
...nd function. Among their discoveries is a class of dwarf plants whose size is about one-tenth the size of a...hory's laboratory and others have shown that these dwarf plants are defective in making or responding to a steroid hormone called brassinolide. Among the gen...New study suggests special cocoa may lead to sustained improvement in blood vessel function
...n 30 patents held by Mars scientists numbers that dwarf the combined research efforts of all other companies in this promising area of health science. Scientists at Mars, Incorporated developed a patented process called Cocoapro that helps retain more of the naturally occurring flavanols in cocoa. Cocoa...Spiders: Chastity belts stop cuckoos in the nest
...reventing competitors from having intercourse: the dwarf spider produces a viscous secretion in its genital which it spurts after the sperm. This mucus plug blocks the female genital aperture so effectively that rivals can no longer copulate. Whether a mucus plug or the tip of the genital organ is used, th...Study suggests evolutionary link between diet, brain size in orangutans
... that the small-brained specimen represented a new dwarf early human species that somehow survived until fairly recently. Critics argue that it actually is a modern human afflicted with microcephaly, a genetic disorder characterized by an abnormally small head and an underdeveloped brain....New dwarf buffalo discovered by chance in the Philippines
...s turned out to be an extremely unusual species of dwarf water buffalo, now extinct. The new species, descr...evolved from a large-sized continental ancestor to dwarf size in the oceanic Philippines, is the first well-supported example of "island dwarfing" among catt...New hominid species may be early version of Homo sapiens
...sion was that H. floresiensis was a new species, a dwarf derived from Home erectus. In the current article, Professor Robert D. Martin of The Field Museum in Chicago, IL, and colleagues painstakingly analyze the anatomy of the remains in order to put forth the case that they are H. sapiens that had suffe...Yale scientists to hold press conference on planetary discoveries, extraterrestrial life
...tutes a planet and led to the demotion of Pluto to dwarf status. As a member of the team that built the Pal...tical orbits, how they got that way, and why these dwarf planets are drifting away from the sun. He regrets the demotion of Pluto to dwarf status. Ruth Bl...Islands spark accelerated evolution
...mote islands today, but only fossils remain of the dwarf hippopotami, elephants, and deer that once lived on islands in Indonesia, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific Ocean. The fossil record suggests that these size changes occur rapidly after species become isolated on islands, but this long standing assu...First surveys of Tanzanian mountains reveal 160+ animal species, including new & endemic
...s. The phototraps captured mammals like a Mountain dwarf galago (Galagoides orinus) and a red duiker (Cepha...range. Among these eleven species are the Mountain dwarf galago, two chameleons, the checkered elephant shrew (Rhynchocyon cirnei) and several birds. The Eas...Sensational find: The mini-dinosaurs from the Harz Mountains
...when they died.' The newly discovered species is a dwarf compared with the other giant dinosaurs: the anima...Shetlands which within a short time evolved into a dwarf species of deer. On the Indonesian islands of Floresthere used to be a miniature version of the elep...Scientists scuttle claims that 'Hobbit' fossil from Flores, Indonesia, is a new hominid
...ll. Initially, H. floresiensis was claimed to be a dwarf derived from Homo erectus ("upright man"), a human ancestor that lived as far back as 1.8 million years ago. This seemed like an appealing explanation because islands are known to play tricks on the evolution of animals, sometimes causing them to shr...No-mow grass may be coming to your yard soon
...hat grow in specified ways. "We might be able to dwarf grass and keep it green by limiting brassinosteroids or increase the yield of rice by having more brassinosteroids in seeds," Chory said. Another recent study by Makoto Matsuoka's group in Japan, she said, showed that limiting brassinosteroids in ric...'Scent of a woman' tells male redback spiders to find a mate
...widow spiders and the marble-sized female redbacks dwarf the males, who are about the size of a grain of rice. While the females can live for up to two years, males live for only four to eight weeks. Initially, they remain on the web where they were born, but soon disperse when wind conditions are appropri...