Tag: biology

It Sent Shivers Down My Neurons

How is it that a sound can send a chill down your spine? By observing individual brain cells of mice, scientists are understanding how sound incites fear....

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Gigantic Mammal ‘Cousin’ Discovered

The discovery of Lisowicia changes our ideas about the latest history of dicynodonts, and also raises more questions about what made them and dinosaurs so large....

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The Neurobiology of Social Aggression

Research shows signalling mechanism in the brain shapes social behaviour, with implications for understanding social hierarchy, bullying and aggression. ...

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Humans Cause of Sixth Mass Extinction

If current conservation efforts are not improved, so many mammal species will become extinct during the next five decades that nature will need 3–5 million years to recover....

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Find The Fish

For the first time, locations on the human genome have been identified that can explain differences in meaning in life between individuals. ...

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Invasive Snakes Hitchhiking With US Military

A research team has been studying why a type of cat-eyed snake has been so effective at devastating native bird populations on the island of Guam....

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We’re Not In Kansas Any More, Toto

Sleep is known to allow animals to re-energise and consolidate memories. Now, scientists have identified a pair of genes that regulate how much REM and non-REM sleep an animal experiences. ...

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Escaping Fear: You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science have discovered a circuit in the brain that is necessary for unlearning fear....

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Snuggle or Die: Sociable Monkeys More Likely to Survive Winter

A new study is the first to show that social huddling may be a mechanism that connects social bonding to higher fitness....

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Arachnophobes, Rejoice: Kim the Jumping Spider Has Training

Scientists at the University of Manchester have successfully trained a spider to jump on demand to discover the secrets of animal movement....

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Why Do We Have Eyebrows? Finally We Have an Evolutionary Explanation

Why expressive brows might have mattered in human evolution...

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Could This Be The End For Testing On Animals?

MIT engineers have developed new technology that could be used to evaluate new drugs and detect possible side effects before the drugs are tested in humans. ...

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Humans and Fruit Flies Hit Snooze Button in Synch

Fruit Flies Create Buzz Around Body Clock Research....

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Count Yourself Confident! Self-Esteem in Numbers

Discovered: The equation that can map self esteem in the brain...

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How Do Your Gut Microbes Control You?

Gut microbes may talk to the brain through cortisol ...

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Genehunters: Genome Sequencing While you Wait

Kew Scientists sequence a whole genome on a Welsh mountainside to identify a plant species within hours...

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The Biology of Colour (and Why There are No Purple Cows)

Study explores advances and challenges in the field of animal coloration...

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Crispy Jellyfish: Coming Soon to a Buddha Bowl Near You

New methods of preparation mean jellyfish may soon be accepted as a healthy snack...

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Know Your Moles: The Star-Nosed Mole

Strange-looking creature yields surprising insights about nerves, brains and extreme adaptation...

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Born Slippy: The Freaky Chemistry of the Pacific Spiny Dogfish Shark

How sharks recycle toxic ammonia to keep their skin moist ...

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‘A thousand thousand slimy things…’: Sea Snakes in Iran

Iranian coastal waters: New home to a rarely seen venomous sea snake ...

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The Key to Circadian Sunflower Salutations

Plant biologists discover how sunflowers use internal circadian timing to follow the sun...

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Old Dog, New Trick, No Thanks? How Declining Dopamine Levels Affect Decision Making

Brain chemistry may explain why older people take fewer risks ...

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Mellow Yellow, Pretty in Pink. The Science of Flower Colour

With customary Dutch horticultural knowhow, University of Groningen researcher explains the anatomy of flower color ...

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Spuds in Space: How to (Really) Grow Potatoes on Mars

Crop harvested under Red Planet conditions will set course for Martian farming...

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All in the Pipes: Birds sing the same way we do

The very same physical mechanisms are at play when a bird sings and a human speaks....

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Kissy Kissy Icky Icky. Why kids don’t snog

A hardwired signal in the brain accounts for young children’s temporary aversion to bestowing physical affection on the opposite sex. It takes at least a decade of marriage to make the...

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Will We Cope With Martian Flu?

Spaceflight may be associated with a process of accelerated aging of the immune system....

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Ah Feels it In Me Bones: How Whales Hear

Bone conduction is likely the predominant mechanism for hearing in fin whales and other baleen whales...

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What is Fun, and Why Do We Need It?

Play is an effective mechanism for encouraging creativity since creativity also involves breaking away from established patterns of thought and behavior...

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