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Tag: "darkness" at biology news

Research finds that circadian rhythms dominate all life functions

...nd gene expression can be impacted by daylight and darkness -- or a lack of both. For example, while gene expression oscillates in mice exposed to a constant state of dim light or darkness, the groups of genes that typically oscillate together -- such as genes responsible for the function of an organ or a spe...

Satellites shed light on global warming

...en-A and Larsen-B ice shelves. The remoteness, darkness and cloudiness of Earth’s Polar Regions make them difficult to study. An instrument known as the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) allows Envisat to produce high-quality images of ice sheets because it is able to pierce through clouds and dark...

Record ozone loss during 2006 over South Pole

...y low temperatures, and in the cold and continuous darkness of this season, polar stratospheric clouds are formed that contain chlorine. As the polar spring arrives, the combination of returning sunlight and the presence of polar stratospheric clouds leads to splitting of chlorine compounds into highly ozo...

Found -- the apple gene for red

...pple colour is dependant on light ?apples grown in darkness or even heavy shade don't turn red when they ripen," Dr Walker says. "That made it very likely that the gene we were looking for requires light to be activated." "By identifying master genes that were activated by light, Adam was able to pinpoint t...

New fruit fly protein illuminates circadian response to light

...ss, constant light, and equal periods of light and darkness (a light-dark cycle). During exposure to constant ...oral differences during their exposure to constant darkness and the light-dark cycle. However, when the fruit flies were shifted from one light-dark cycle to an...

Underwater listening devices yield discoveries about endangered large whales

...here standard visual surveys are often hampered by darkness and bad weather. The article, by Sue E. Moore of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Alaska Fisheries Science Center and three coauthors, describes the use of two types of recorders, one developed by NOAA's Pacific Marine ...

New Research Shows Artificial Light at Night Stimulates Breast Cancer Growth in Laboratory Mice

...udy also showed that extended periods of nighttime darkness greatly slowed the growth of these tumors. The st...-rich blood collected from subjects while in total darkness severely slowed the growth of the tumors. “These results are due to a direct effect of the melatonin...

One fish, two fish: New MIT sensor improves fish counts

... of the reasons (for the inaccurate counts) is the darkness in the ocean. You don't know what's going on." Current surveying methods depend on highly localized observations taken from slow-moving research vessels, which provide only a small amount of data about a large shoal, Makris said. "It would be like w...

Darkness unveils vital metabolic fuel switch between sugar and fat

Constant darkness throws a molecular switch in mammals that shifts t...AMP) as the key molecular mediator of the constant darkness effect, switching mice from a glucose-burning, fat-storing state to a fat-burning, glucose-conservin...

Bees solve complex colour puzzles

...scene's average colour, a bit like adapting to the darkness of a cinema. Far more difficult is to recognise the surface or object under multiple lights simultaneously, since adapting to the scene's average colour - which was previously thought to be the strategy used by bees - won't work." "Our study shows t...

A resetting signal keeps circadian rhythm on track in Drosophila fruit flies

...ined in synch even when the flies are plunged into darkness for extended periods of time. This daily resetting signal flows from the morning to the evening cells and maintains a 12-hour difference between the timing of morning and evening activity, without the need for any environmental cues. The Brandeis ...

NRL scientists detect 'milky sea' phenomena

... of snow or gliding over the clouds--all under the darkness of a moonless night. The glowing waters appear to extend to the horizon in all directions, and can last from several hours to several days. They are thought to be caused by enormous populations of bacterial bioluminescence, but their ephemeral nature...

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

...ion, but like all animals, they can't see in total darkness and basically do nothing," Fernald explains, "In some ways, this experiment was more like nature, where a predator comes in and picks off a dominant fish opening up the field for non-dominant animals." Nighttime behavior To observe nighttime be...

The secret lives of whales

...gate. They do this during long periods of complete darkness in the middle of the ocean basin where echoes take 10 to 20 minutes to return. “They must have the ability to process low-frequency sounds into images just as dolphins do with high frequency sounds, and they must have remarkable acoustic memories jus...

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