What we can learn from the biggest extinction in the history of Earth
...the causes of this extinction. However, nearly all explanations cite the high levels of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, low levels of oxygen in the oceans and high levels of toxic gases. Siberian Traps In 1991, scientists reported that the largest known volcanic event in the past 600 million yea...High rates of HIV infection documented among young Nepalese girls sex-trafficked to India
... Silverman and his team suggest several likely explanations for the observed high risk for HIV infection among the youngest trafficked girls. Previous research on male brothel clients in India suggests that these men prefer very young girls, often presented as virgins, due to fear of HIV and other infection, ...Call for EU to launch major project to map out all our proteins
... Aebersold pointed out, there are several possible explanations for this apparent anomaly. The simplest explanation is simply a lack of sensitivity of proteomics methods, which may as a result have failed so far to identify specific classes of proteins. However given the increasing sensitivity of proteomics metho...Scientists to make news at Computational Biology Conference
...r parallel tracks, as well as in the main meeting, explanations are inclusive and the focus is on work of interest to the broadest community. The application of computational methods can solve problems of great biological and human significance, and a broader public is sure to benefit." A brief summary of the key...Foxes get frisky in the far north
...ent graduate from the U of Asays there are various explanations for polyandry and the multiple paternity associated with it. Multiple paternity allows a female to increase the genetic variation contained in a single seasons reproductive output, says Carmichael. This increase in variation might improve the odds...Pre-implantation genetic screening reduces both ongoing pregnancy and live birth rates in over 35s
...nvestigators believe that there may be a number of explanations for the failure of PGS to improve IVF outcomes in older women. It is possible that the biopsy of a cell from an early embryo on day 3 after conception hampers the potential of an embryo to successfully implant, said Mr. Mastenbroek, though the effec...Mule deer moms rescue other fawns
...e. The behaviour of mule deer defies traditional explanations that parental care, kin selection or reciprocity play a part in the defence of fawns other than their own. But while the study's findings seem to point to mule deer as superior mothers, the motivation for looking out for other fawns is likely based n...New petroleum-degrading bacteria found at Rancho La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles
...hrough the soil via a subterranean oil flow, other explanations are possible. "Probably there has also been genetic exchange and natural selection of new species over the thousands of years the bacteria have been living in the asphalt," Crowley said. To identify the bacteria and their enzymes, Kim and Crowley a...Genetic roots of bipolar disorder revealed by first genome-wide study of illness
...se genes have on brain-cell function could lead to explanations of how they contribute to the condition and how it might be better prevented or treated. "Treatments that target just a few of these genes or the proteins they make could yield substantial benefits for patients. Lithium is still the primary treatm...University of Alberta researchers unravel intricate animal patterns
...e success in proposing rather complex and detailed explanations for how specific species form into groups, says Lewis. "What Raluca's work does is show that very simple and straightforward sets of rules can produce the complex kinds of patterns seen in nature," says Lewis, also from the Department of Biological S...Maternal beef diet could impact sperm counts, UR study suggests
...found no association with semen quality. Several explanations for the findings are possible, Swan said, including pesticides and other contaminants in cattle feed, as well as lifestyle factors during pregnancy that may correlate with greater beef consumption. Swan acknowledged that the mothers beef recall is su...Some caterpillers just don't want to grow up
...ther they have compiled various potential adaptive explanations for the evolution of such strategies into a general and quantitative model. "The problem was not the lack of, but multitude of alternative mechanisms principally capable to explain the evolution of delayed development," Dr. Thomas Hovestadt, the proj......type of nocturnal color change, but the biological explanations behind the phenomenon have received scant attention in the science world. "The scarcity of studies on visual predator/prey interactions at night constitutes a major gap in sensory and behavioral ecology," he says. Using a Remotely Operated Vehicle ...Improved predictions of warming-induced extinctions sought
...ent models need to be more rigorously tested, that explanations of extinction other than climate change need to be more thoroughly considered, and that better data should be brought to bear on the problem, especially information from the fossil record of Quaternary ice ages. The authors acknowledge, however, that...Neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky will discuss stress, health, Feb. 17 at AAAS meeting
...he Mormon church provides extended social support, explanations for why things are and structure. You can't ask for more than that. And next door is Nevada, where people are keeling over dead from all of their excesses. It's very interesting." Typically, observant Mormons and other religious people are less likel...Researchers untangle nature of 'regressive evolution' in cavefish
...ressive evolution, they focused on two alternative explanations for regression: natural selection, in which beneficial DNA mutations become more common over time, and genetic drift, in which the frequencies of these mutations can rise or fall over time due solely to statistical variation. Their results suggeste...Fighting to keep Darwin in the classroom
...ent design." The battle to keep religiously based explanations of the history of lifeespecially human lifeout of the science curriculum continues unabated. And though a number of educational institutions and organizations have had notable success in combating intelligent design in the classroom, what is needed ...How does one sex grow larger than the other?
...exes were generally more dominant. Three potential explanations for why female arthropods can grow faster than males are discussed. The most intriguing of these explanations is that, although it is generally cheaper to produce (small) sperm than (large) eggs, it may be cost...Central and peripheral signals set the circadian liver clock
...he liver, however the authors considered two other explanations for the observed mPer2 activity: either the mice that didnt eat Dox still harbored enough BMAL1 to drive cyclic mPer2 expression or oscillating systemic signals were responsible. To distinguish between these, they analyzed temporal mPer2 expression i......ed a previously unrecognized factor to the list of explanations (such as age, gender, diet and genetics) for this common problem of individual variability in response to drugs. Jeffrey P. Krise and Ryan S. Funk, at the University of Kansas, are reporting that variations in the body's production of hydrogen pero...