January 20, 2008 – 4:58 pm
From ScienceDaily.
Throughout the tropics, ants and Acacia trees live together in intricate interdependent relationships that have long fascinated scientists.
Now researchers are reporting that in Africa, this plant-insect teamwork depends on the very antagonist it is intended to ward off: Africa’s big browsing mammals.
Researchers report that elephants, giraffes and other large plant-eaters spur Acacias to “hire” [...]
December 16, 2007 – 12:19 am
From Nature News.
A pack of killer whales uses waves to knock seals off the ice.
They made large waves to wash the seal off the relative safety of the ice. Later the orca put the seal back on the ice and dislodged the seal a second time which suggested strongly they were training their young.
It is [...]
December 11, 2007 – 1:28 am
From Live Science.
Scientists scanning the deep interior of Earth have found evidence of a vast water reservoir beneath eastern Asia that is at least the volume of the Arctic Ocean. (view image)
The discovery marks the first time such a large body of water has found in the planet’s deep mantle.
The finding, made by Michael [...]
November 25, 2007 – 11:34 pm
From Esquire.
They are six researchers with six ideas that will one day change the world.
Breaking Down the Firewall
Internet censorship is the book burning of the modern age. A new brand of activists — or “hacktivists” — are using their computer expertise to help people stranded in Web-censored countries abroad (and corporate offices and military bases [...]
November 2, 2007 – 12:24 am
From EurekAlert.
Brain scientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered how cells in the developing ear make their own noise, long before the ear is able to detect sound around them. The finding, reported in this week’s Nature, helps to explain how the developing auditory system generates brain activity in the absence of sound. It also may [...]
October 31, 2007 – 11:34 pm
From The Independent by Steve Connor.
King Solomon is said to have told sluggards to look to the hard-working ant and be wise. Aesop, too, extolled the virtues of the humble ant in his fable explaining why the insect’s constant toiling through the summer months would make for an easier winter compared with the fortunes of [...]
October 21, 2007 – 8:51 pm
From DamnInteresting.com by Alan Bellows.
..
The sea was host to a plethora of anaerobic microorganisms, but there were also a few members of a newly evolved variety: cyanobacteria. These adapted bacteria were the first to use water and sunlight for photosynthesis, producing oxygen as a by-product of their metabolism.
The cyanobacteria were a struggling minority at first, [...]