Seeing the world through a bird’s eye
Jan 23, 2019 Erwin van den Burg
While the human eye use the primary colors red, green and blue for color vision, birds use in addition a fourth color, invisible to the human eye : ultraviolet.
With the aid of a special ... Read more
Corals attract symbiotic algae with fluorescent green light
Jan 23, 2019 Erwin van den Burg
Reef-building corals can only live in nutrition-poor waters because they have a symbiotic relationship with dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae, a group of algae).
It now appears that corals a... Read more
New snake species discovered ….. in the stomach of another snake
Jan 21, 2019 Erwin van den Burg
A snake that had been found in the stomach of a Central American coral snake Southern Mexico in 1976 turns out to be a new species. Researchers have baptized it Cenaspis aenigma (something like « mys... Read more
Why biodiversity is economically important for the production of fruit
Jan 18, 2019 Erwin van den Burg
Orchards surrounded by agricultural land are visited by a few bee species, and this leads to relatively poor pollination and production, a new study shows.
In contrast, natural habitats i... Read more
Parasitic mite of honeybees does not feed on blood, but on the fat body
Jan 16, 2019 Erwin van den Burg
The honeybee parasitic mite Varroa destructor does not feed on blood, as previously thought, but consumes an organ called the fat body.
This organ not only serves many of the same vital f... Read more
Climate change sparks deadly war between two bird species
Jan 14, 2019 Kshitij Jadhav
As the European winters are getting warmer, the pied flycatchers flying from Africa to Netherlands for breeding, are finding that the resident great tits are already claiming all the nesting sites of the s... Read more
Werewolves respond to moonlight and Who else? Oysters it seems
Jan 09, 2019 Kshitij Jadhav
In addition to having a circadian clock and a tidal clock, oysters also have a lunar clock which influences the opening and shutting of the shells. Researchers tracked the behavior of 12 Pacific oysters su... Read more
Why some snakes are deadlier than others
Jan 08, 2019 Erwin van den Burg
Scientists have found out why some snakes have highly poisonous venom, whereas others do not, and why there are such huge differences in the quantities of venom stored in the venom glands.
Following analyses of over 100 snake species, it ... Read more
New type of carbohydrate discovered in cereals
Jan 08, 2019 Alexandru Ciobanu
A new kind of complex carbohydrate has been discovered in barley, the first discovery of this type in the last 30 years.
The compound is a polysaccharide containing a mix of glucose and xylo... Read more
Loneliness associated with attraction to social media
Jan 07, 2019 Alexandru Ciobanu
While everyone is nowadays on social media, one cannot overlook the lack of personal interactions when browsing online. According to a recent scientific study, the desire for using social media is associat... Read more
Sound and touch senses overlap in brain of rodents
Jan 04, 2019 Alexandru Ciobanu
We have the tendency to imagine the auditory and tactile sensation as distinct senses, but according to a recent study, there is an overlap in the brain between the two.
The study analyzed s... Read more
How memory of flowering plants works
Dec 21, 2018 Erwin van den Burg
Plants can sense and remember changes in their environment through the formation and segregation of a protein complex.
Now, scientists have discovered that one protein in this complex, a ... Read more
A genetically modified plant to keep the air in your house clean
Dec 21, 2018 Erwin van den Burg
Scientists have genetically modified the common houseplant pothos ivy to express the protein 2E1 to clean the air in your house from the toxic substances chloroform and benzene.
These com... Read more
Evolution of blooming flowers has been advanced to the Early Jurassic era
Dec 18, 2018 Erwin van den Burg
A new fossil shows that plants with flowers existed already during the Early Jurassic epoch, some 174 million years ago.
The fossil has been found in the South Xiangshan Formation, an outc... Read more
How many car trips could we replace using bicycles?
Dec 17, 2018 Alexandru Ciobanu
A recent study investigated the possibility of replacing car trips with more active ways of transportation, such as bicycles or even walking.
According to the study, most people would be wil... Read more
Origin of complex animals in deep oceans explained by stability of ambient temperature
Dec 13, 2018 Erwin van den Burg
How could complex animal life have started in the deep oceans, where food and oxygen are scarce? Scientists think they have found the answer: because of the stable temperature there.
Early complex animals could not regulate their body tem... Read more
Bacteria show slower evolution when facing two stressors at the same time
Dec 10, 2018 Erwin van den Burg
Bacteria can adapt relatively quickly to altered living conditions, but they are much less efficient in doing so when they are facing two stressors at the same time. New research has shown that predator st... Read more
Experimental hybridization created new sex chromosome in swordtail fish
Dec 06, 2018 Alexandru Ciobanu
Fishes, unlike mammals that use the standard XX, XY chromosomal mechanism, have a wide variety of sex determination systems. Why this is the case, is currently unknown.
The better understa... Read more
A rich ecosystem of microorganisms found in old painting
Dec 06, 2018 Alexandru Ciobanu
... Read more
Plant cells know where is up and down thanks to their mother cell
Dec 04, 2018 Erwin van den Burg
For plants, it is important to know where is up and where is down, so that roots can grow down into the soil, and the rest of the plant can grow up to the light. Which each cell division as the plant grows... Read more
