Life sciences
02 Sep 2019
Cometh the hourglass: Why do men prefer a low waist-to-hip ratio?
Waist-to-hip ratio can signal sex, age, pregnancy, parity — as well as capacity for offspring brain development; Frontiers in Psychology
427 news posts in Life sciences
Life sciences
28 Aug 2019
Exploring the origins of the apple
The wild apples in the Tien Shan Mountains represent the main ancestral population for our modern apple. These trees produce large fruits, which are often red when ripe and have a varying array of flavors. These were the ancestors of the trees that people first started to cultivate and spread along the Silk Road. Image: Shutterstock. Apples originally evolved in the wild to entice ancient megafauna to disperse their seeds; more recently, humans began spreading the trees along the Silk Road with other familiar crops; dispersing the apple trees led to their domestication — by Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History Recent archaeological finds of ancient preserved apple seeds across Europe and West Asia combined with historical, paleontological, and recently published genetic data are presenting a fascinating new narrative for one of our most familiar fruits. In this study, Robert Spengler of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History traces the history of the apple from its wild origins, noting that it was originally spread by ancient megafauna and later as a process of trade along the Silk Road. These processes allowed for the development of the varieties that we know today. Origins of […]
Life sciences
15 Aug 2019
Winter is coming: a stark divide in red-neck phalarope migration
Red-neck phalaropes split between the Pacific Ocean and the Arabian Sea for the colder months, researchers discover; Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Life sciences
16 Jul 2019
Altering how cyanobacteria capture light from the Sun can impact their health
Researchers have identified a gene mutation in cyanobacteria that creates resistance to free radicals, and could be used to accelerate cell growth in biotech applications; Frontiers in Microbiology
Life sciences
11 Jun 2019
What’s your poison? Scrupulous scorpions tailor venom to target
Scorpions adapt their stinging, stingers and sting contents to minimize the costs of venom use; Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Life sciences
21 May 2019
Cardiorespiratory fitness of farmed Atlantic salmon unaffected by virus
The respiratory systems of Atlantic salmon function normally despite them carrying a virus that infects red blood cells; Frontiers in Physiology
Life sciences
16 May 2019
Vaccine for African swine fever may save our bacon
New study shows wild boar can be immunized against the most significant worldwide threat to the swine industry by a vaccine administered via their food; Frontiers in Veterinary Science
Life sciences
16 Apr 2019
Honey, I ate the kids: the sweet side of filial cannibalism
Why do some animals eat or abandon their offspring? According to researchers at the University of Tennessee and the University of Oxford, these might actually be forms of parental care; Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Life sciences
03 Apr 2019
Love Island: Flamboyant males get the girls on Madagascar
In two new species of rare giant stick insects, males turn livid blue or multicolored at sexual maturity; Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Life sciences
02 Apr 2019
Quantum physics and origami for the ultimate get-well card
Scientists have combined the simplicity of paper with the complexity of quantum physics for point-of-care testing in low-resource environments; Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
Life sciences
19 Mar 2019
Slower runners benefit most from high-tech shoes
Researchers re-examined treadmill studies of runners dating back decades, recalculating the effect of performance strategies to account for things like air resistance and oxygen uptake velocity; Frontiers in Physiology
Life sciences
12 Feb 2019
What can worms tell us about human aging?
A community-developed blueprint of worm metabolism holds promise for greater understanding of aging; Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences
Life sciences
28 Jan 2019
Muscle memory discovery ends ‘use it or lose it’ dogma
New research shows that extra nuclei gained during exercise persist even after a muscle shrinks from disuse, disease or aging — and can be mobilized rapidly to facilitate bigger gains on retraining; Frontiers in Physiology
Life sciences
09 Jan 2019
Better understanding of dog body language could make interactions safer
A new study shows that both children and parents frequently misinterpret canine behavior, but a short training session can bring substantial and lasting improvements; Frontiers in Veterinary Science
Life sciences
04 Jan 2019
It’s not trails that disturb forest birds, but the people on them
Frequently used forest trails have fewer birds and not as many species – even when the trails have been used for decades: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution