Tag: "color" at biology news

Looks matter to female barn swallows

... females judge males by their looks -- the reddish color of the males' breast and belly feathers. If the m...hrogaster ) males have a wash of reddish-chestnut color from their throats to their bellies, and this color varies among birds from very pale red-brown to a...

Gambling monkeys give insight into neural machinery of risk

... we made the task more interesting by changing the color of the lights on each trial, the monkeys didn't care anything about it." In fact, when the researchers made the average payoff for the risky target less than for the safe target, "we found that they still preferred the risky target," said Platt. "B...

MSU researchers receive $4 million grant to uncover gene functions

...culture. The chloroplast gives green plants their color and carries out photosynthesis and produces oxygen. It can be thought of as the world's life-support system. It is an attractive target for biotechnology because it produces many different molecules important to agriculture and human health, such as ...

Tagging pathogens with synthetic DNA 'barcodes'

...ria and ebola and SARS viruses, and have found the color codes could clearly distinguish several different ... coli bacterial DNA, only probes with a particular color code will be programmed to bind to that DNA. The results can be seen under a fluorescent light micro...

Aloe vera coating may prolong freshness, safety of fruits and vegetables

... grapes were firmer, had less weight loss and less color change than the untreated grapes, measures which correspond to higher freshness, they say. A sensory panel (10 people) evaluated the quality of both the untreated and the gel-treated grapes by consuming some of the grapes. They found that the gel-tr...

Colorful bacteria more dangerous

...ed that the molecules that give certain bugs their color also help them resist attack by immune cells calle... be cause more disease than colorless strains. The color of these bugs comes from anti-oxidant molecules called carotenoids. Similar molecules also give carr...

'Underground' tunnels discovered as means for communication between immune system cells

...arance of the thin membranes, there were bursts of color indicative of calcium flux. Given their earlier results, the researchers anticipated that by repeating the experiment with macrophages there'd be no response. But as luck would have it, the microscopic bacteria sample somehow got clogged inside the t...

New technique could alter field of mouse genetics

...escent protein and an enzyme that changes the coat color of a white mouse to grey or black. The transposon acts as a genetic beacon, so researchers can easily track its location without having to sequence the entire genome, as can happen with the chemical mutagen technique. In three months, the two gradua...

Quick identification needed to save Florida's citrus industry from devastating disease

...roughout the tree with lopsided fruit that fail to color properly. Citrus greening has seriously affected citrus production in Asia, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Peninsula, and was recently discovered in Brazil. ...

Out of sight, out of mind? Not necessarily

... accuracy for both the directional orientation and color tasks was significantly above chance," said Tony Ro, associate professor of psychology and principal investigator for the study. "Even though the human primary visual cortex activity was temporarily shut down, it's clear that detailed visual informa...

A step toward the $1,000 personal genome using readily available lab equipment

... revealing the identity of the base. Recording the color data from multiple passes over the same sequences, a camera documents the results and routes them to computers that reinterpret the data as a linear sequence of base pairs. In their study, the researchers matched the sequence information against a r...

Color perception is not in the eye of the beholder: It's in the brain

...roscience, strongly suggest that our perception of color is controlled much more by our brains than by our ...f the Center for Visual Science. "We've shown that color perception goes far beyond the hardware of the eye, and that leads to a lot of interesting questions...

Female butterflies go for sparkle -- not size -- when choosing to mate

...ng decisions. "It's very easy to change the size, color composition and shape of these patterns, using artificial selection," said Monteiro. "The question then becomes, 'Why do these populations remain unchanged?' What are the selective forces that maintain these patterns constant through time in any one ...

Method slashes quantum dot costs by 80 percent

...ibilities discussed for quantum dots - bioimaging, color displays, lasers, etc. - relate to their size-controlled fluorescence. For example, CdSe quantum dots have the ability to absorb high-energy photons of ultraviolet light and re-emit them as photons of visible light. They glow different colors, depend...

The right drug at the right time

...ibilities discussed for quantum dots - bioimaging, color displays, lasers, etc. - relate to their size-controlled fluorescence. For example, CdSe quantum dots have the ability to absorb high-energy photons of ultraviolet light and re-emit them as photons of visible light. They glow different colors, depend...

Scientists closer to new cancer detection method

...be inside a few drops of body fluid or blood and a color change would be an indication of the existence of a cancer biomarker in the body. In that event, the person could seek a more thorough examination." ...

Gene therapy works in mice to prevent blindness that strikes boys

...ds and cones that help the brain process light and color - were spared from the disease and the connections between the layers of the retinas were intact. In addition, the protein appears capable of moving within the retina to its target sites and the beneficial changes appear to be long lasting, research...

Protein behind autumn color splendor identified

... now identified a protein that helps bring out the color splendor of plants in the fall. The research team's findings are being published in the scientific journal PNAS, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . The different pigments in a leaf are bound to different proteins. Most of the chl...

Sudden change in social status triggers genetic response in male fish, study finds

...ing male undergoes a rapid metamorphosis. His body color changes from dull gray to flashy blue or yellow, a...dergo a temporary change in the dark--their bright color turns pale, and their eyebar fades. "But when the lights come on, the dominant male slowly reactivat...

Toasty oat aroma influenced by presence of health-linked polyphenols

...produces desirable changes, such as a golden brown color and toasty aroma, but also can sometimes cause off...produces desirable changes, such as a golden brown color and toasty aroma, but also can sometimes cause off-flavors or stale odors. The reaction not only pr...

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