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Bonobo makes stone tools like early humans did
Hannah Krakauer - New Scientist - 21 August 2012 Comments
Kanzi the bonobo continues to impress. Not content with learning sign language or making up "words" for things like banana or juice, he now seems capable of making stone tools on a par with the...
Scientists Discover Previously Unknown Cleansing System in Brain
- - URMC - 21 August 2012 Comments
An artery in the brain of a mouse. The green shows cerebrospinal fluid in a channel along the outside of the artery. A previously unrecognized system that drains waste from the brain at a rapid...
Grey parrots use reasoning where monkeys and dogs can’t
- - The Royal Society - 15 August 2012 Comments
Research suggesting that grey parrots can reason about cause and effect from audio cues alone- a skill that monkeys and dogs lack- is presented in Proceedings of the Royal Society B today. ...
Why do organisms build tissues they seemingly never use?
- - Science Blog - 13 August 2012 Comments
Why, after millions of years of evolution, do organisms build structures that seemingly serve no purpose? A study conducted at Michigan State University and published in the current issue of The...
New flat-faced human species possibly discovered
Charles Choi - CBS News - 12 August 2012 Comments
Thanks to rod-the-farmer for the link Four decades ago, in 1972, the Koobi Fora Research Project (KFRP) discovered the enigmatic fossilized skull known as KNM-ER 1470, or "1470" for short,...
A New Species Discovered ... On Flickr
Adam Cole - NPR - 12 August 2012 Comments
Guek Hock Ping/ZooKeys One day in May of 2011, Shaun Winterton was looking at pictures of bugs on the Internet when something unusual caught his eye. It was a close shot of a green lacewing —...
Prisoners pitch in to save endangered butterfly
Ed Yong - Nature News - 10 August 2012 Comments
At the Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women in Belfair, Washington, inmates are helping to save the endangered Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas editha taylori). Under the supervision...
Paddlefish's Doubled Genome May Question Theories On Limb Evolution
-- - Science Daily - 08 August 2012 Comments
Thanks to rod-the-farmer for the link The American paddlefish -- known for its bizarre, protruding snout and eggs harvested for caviar -- duplicated its entire genome about 42 million...
Bacteria transform the closest living relatives of animals from single cells into colonies
Ed Yong - Discover Magazine Blogs - 07 August 2012 Comments
In Nicole King’s lab, a bacterium is making a group of tiny cells stick together. That might seem a little humdrum for a group whose members can build electric grids, create snow, and cripple...
Newly discovered goblin spider is named after Sir David Attenborough
Emma Clark - Daily Mail - 04 August 2012 Comments
Thanks to Michael for the link Sir David Attenborough with a photograph of the 'Prethopalpus attenboroughi' spider at the museum of Western Australia in Perth A tiny new species of...
Suicidal termites use chemical weapons to defend colony
Jessica Griggs - New Scientist - 28 July 2012 Comments
Old-aged termites go out with a bang, it appears. While ageing, the insects brew a backpack of deadly chemicals, which they use to self-destruct when under attack, taking out any enemies with them....
First Prehistoric Snake Slithered Out on Land–Not at Sea
Katherine Harmon - Scientific American - 27 July 2012 Comments
Lizard jaw, Coniophis jaw and a snake jaw; courtesy of Nick Longrich Sorry, sea serpents. Snakes, it seems, slithered off their lizard legs on land. A new analysis of a primitive snake fossil...
Superfast evolution in sea stars
-- - UC Davis News - 26 July 2012 Comments
The sea stars Cryptasterina hystera and C. pentagona are close relatives with very different ways of reproducing but difficult to tell apart. A new study shows the species separated just a few...
Evolutionary leap over 500 million years ago gives new insights into human diseases
S Hussain - University of Dundee - 26 July 2012 Comments
An evolutionary leap made at the bottom of the ocean over 500 million years ago gives new insights into the causes of human diseases such as diabetes, cancer and neurological disorders, according to...
Human Stem Cells Found to Restore Memory
Susan Young - Technology Review - 26 July 2012 Comments
Last week, a California biotech company announced that its human stem cells restored memory in rodents bred to have an Alzheimer's-like condition—the first evidence that human neural stem cells...
Artificial jellyfish built from rat cells
Ed Yong - nature - 23 July 2012 Comments
Bioengineers have made an artificial jellyfish using silicone and muscle cells from a rat’s heart. The synthetic creature, dubbed a medusoid, looks like a flower with eight petals. When placed...
The Mystery of the Missing Chromosome
Carl Zimmer - Discover Magazine Blogs - 21 July 2012 Comments
There’s something fascinating about our chromosomes. We have 23 pairs. Chimpanzees and gorillas, our closest living relatives, have 24. If you come to these facts cold, you might think this...
For Chimps, Tool Choice Is A Weighty Matter
Jason G. Goldman - Scientific American - 20 July 2012 Comments
A juvenile chimpanzee in the Ivory Coast’s Tai Forest watches as her mother carefully places a soft coula nut onto a hard, flat rock. In her other hand, mom has a chunk of hard wood. Mom smashes...
Free online course: Introduction to Genetics and Evolution
Dr. Mohamed Noor - Duke University - 20 July 2012 Comments
About the Course Introduction to Genetics and Evolution gives interested people a very basic overview of the principles behind these very fundamental areas of biology. We often hear about new...
Megan Scudellari - TheScientist - 18 July 2012 Comments
Using tiny lipid discs, scientists resolve contradictory evidence about how many proteins are required for neurotransmitter release. EDITOR’S CHOICE IN NEUROSCIENCE There is very little about...
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