Ecology & Zoology

Who You Calling An Elephant? Animals Have Weight Issues Too

You're not getting any pudding. Credit: Steve Parsons/PA By Robert Young, University of Salford I run 50 kilometers per week on my treadmill and eat a calorie-restricted diet; this is something our ancestors didn’t have to do. But then they didn’t si ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 6 2014 - 11:31am

Learning Science From Fiction: A Review Of Ryan Lockwood’s “Below”

In last month’s review of Preparing the Ghost, I mentioned that you can actually learn facts from some fiction. Below is one such novel,  crammed with science. As author Ryan Lockwood wrote in an e-mail, “Hopefully, most of the biology described in the bo ...

Article - Danna Staaf - Oct 10 2014 - 1:48pm

What The Evolution Of Violins And Plants Have In Common

What could the natural diversity and beauty of plant leaves have in common with the violin, one of mankind's greatest musical inventions? More than you think. Dan Chitwood, Ph.D., assistant member, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, M ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 8 2014 - 5:30pm

Nemo And Chips? Tropical Fish Might Flee Warming Waters, Head To The Poles

Credit: Ed Bierman, CC BY By Clive Trueman, University of Southampton Fish are acutely aware of sea temperature; it’s one of the key reasons particular species of fish live where they do. As the oceans warm however, many tropical species are moving toward ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 12 2014 - 12:30pm

New Land Snail Species Named In Honor Of Gay Marriage Movement

A research team has discovered that a snail long confused with a far more common snail is actually distinct- and so they named it Aegista diversifamilia. 'Diverse family' being in honor of the modern gay marriage movement, the authors say. Aegis ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 13 2014 - 9:41am

‘Inner GPS’ Of Bird Brains May Be Better Than That Of Humans

Credit: Wing-Chi Poon, CC BY-SA By Sana Suri, University of Oxford The 2014 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine was awarded to three neuroscientists for their pioneering work on the brain’s “inner GPS system”. Over the course of four decades, they rev ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 13 2014 - 9:48am

Why Do Tropical Ecosystems Have Higher Biodiversity?

Why is biodiversity is higher in the tropics than in colder regions? It's one of ecology’s unsolved puzzles and has been since the European explorers and naturalists of the 17th and 18th centuries discovered there is a stunningly rich biodiversity in ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 14 2014 - 8:00am

There Is No Such Thing As Reptiles Any More – Here's Why

No, it's nothing to do with a reptilian existential crisis – just a name game. Credit: melanie cook /Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA By Dustin Welbourne You have likely been to a zoo at some point and visited their reptile house. A building where the climate con ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 14 2014 - 4:36pm

Insects Also Prize Good Leadership

Not every human can be a great leader but not everyone is made to follow either. This has been shown to apply to elsewhere in the animal kingdom as well: insect larvae follow a leader to forage for food, both leaders and followers benefit, growing much fa ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 16 2014 - 7:30am

Giant Kangaroos Were More Likely To Walk Than Hop

Modern day kangaroos exhibit a hopping form of locomotion. Credit: Leo /Flickr, CC BY-SA By Christine Janis, Brown University Extinct giant kangaroos may have been built more for walking, rather than hopping like today’s kangaroos, especially when moving ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 17 2014 - 12:01pm