Hemp cannabinoids may have evolved to deter insect pests
Cannabinoids, naturally occurring compounds found in hemp plants, may have evolved to deter pests from chewing on them, according to experiments that showed higher cannabinoid concentrations in hemp leaves led to proportionately less damage from inse.....»»
Following insect "footprints" to improve crop resilience and monitor pollinator biodiversity
Bees and other insects leave behind tiny "footprints" of environmental DNA on plants each time they visit, giving researchers a way of tracking where insects have been, and offering clues on how to help them flourish......»»
Study indicates SARS-CoV-2 variants are still transmissible between species
Scientists believe bats first transmitted SARS-CoV-2 to humans in December 2019, and while the virus has since evolved into several variants such as delta and omicron, a new study indicates the virus is still highly transmissible between mammals. Res.....»»
Don’t ignore the security risks of limitless cloud data
Over the past two decades, technology has evolved to make it easy and affordable for companies to collect, store and use massive amounts of data. From AWS to Google Cloud to Snowflake, even startups and small businesses can quickly establish a mature.....»»
Political geography key to assessing economic costs of invasive pests on islands
Scientists assessing the economic cost of invasive species on islands have shown that political geography plays an important role, affecting the extent of socio-economic costs......»»
A batfish and a blind eel: Deep sea creatures discovered by researchers in remote ocean
Hair-raising photos of newly discovered sea creatures that evolved to survive the world's deepest depths reveal an extraordinary look at life from the abyss......»»
Iron signaling functions partly as a plant immune system against pathogens
Iron (Fe) is an indispensable micronutrient for plants since it is necessary for many important cellular processes. In order to survive Fe-deficient environments, plants have evolved sophisticated Fe deficiency responses for maintenance of Fe homeost.....»»
Pest eradication success stories from subantarctic New Zealand
Research into the complex task of ridding Auckland Island of mammalian pests, as part of the Predator Free 2050 program, is the focus of a New Zealand Journal of Ecology special issue published today, November 28......»»
Unique features of octopus create "an entirely new way of designing a nervous system"
Octopuses are not much like humans—they are invertebrates with eight arms, and more closely related to clams and snails. Still, they have evolved complex nervous systems with as many neurons as in the brains of dogs, and are capable of a wide array.....»»
The evolution of whales from land to sea
Genomes of cetaceans help tell story of mammals who returned to life aquatic. Enlarge / Whales and their kin evolved from land-dwelling mammals, a transition that entailed major physiological and morphological changes—which gen.....»»
525-million-year-old fossil defies textbook explanation for brain evolution
Fossils of a tiny sea creature that died more than half a billion years ago may compel a science textbook rewrite of how brains evolved......»»
To stop new viruses jumping across to humans, we must protect and restore bat habitat
Bats have lived with coronaviruses for millennia. Details are still hazy about how one of these viruses evolved into SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID in humans. Did it go directly from bats to humans or via another animal species? When? And why? If we.....»»
Human evolution: Brain, gut and immune system were fine-tuned after split from common ancestor of chimpanzees
A team of Duke researchers has identified a group of human DNA sequences driving changes in brain development, digestion and immunity that seem to have evolved rapidly after our family line split from that of the chimpanzees, but before we split with.....»»
Genes and languages aren"t always found together, says new study
More than 7,000 languages are spoken in the world. This linguistic diversity is passed on from one generation to the next, similarly to biological traits. But have language and genes evolved in parallel over the past few thousand years, as Charles Da.....»»
Tale of terroir: Porcini mushrooms evolved to local environment
The Dentinger Lab at the Natural History Museum of Utah has published a provocative new paper in the journal New Phytologist that describes their work with the much beloved mushroom, Boletus edulis, better known by gastronomers worldwide as the porci.....»»
Functions of transcription factors in maize resistance to insects and jasmonate signaling revealed
Maize (Zea mays) is an important food, feed, and bioenergy crop that plays a pivotal strategic role in food security, while insect pests seriously affect the yield and quality of maize. Benzoxazinoids (BXDs) and volatile terpenes are insect-resistant.....»»
A gene from 28 million years ago protects today"s plants against caterpillars
The defense mechanisms plants use to recognize and respond to a common pest—the caterpillar—has arisen from a single gene that evolved over millions of years, according to a report published today in eLife......»»
‘Descript’ podcast and video editor gets major update with AI-powered features
Descript, a platform created for editing podcasts that has evolved into a video editor, is getting a major update this week. The new version of the app adds more than 30 new visuals and AI-powered features, which should make editing videos “as eas.....»»
They"re doing their best: How these 3 neighborhood "pests" deal with rainy days
Have you had a recent encounter with an animal you'd much rather avoid? As La Niña continues to give us rainy days, brush turkeys, bats, and cockroaches are emerging from their hide-outs......»»
Climate change affects mosquito behavior, making it harder to end malaria in South Africa
Changes in climatic factors—such as higher temperatures and increased rainfall—affect the developmental, behavioral and distribution patterns of insects like mosquitoes. These changes have serious implications for the effective control of insect-.....»»
Dung beetle mothers protect their offspring from a warming world by digging deeper
If the TV series "Dirty Jobs" covered animals as well as humans, it would probably start with dung beetles. These hardworking critters are among the insect world's most important recyclers. They eat and bury manure from many other species, recycling.....»»