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Tag: "nocturnal" at biology news

Old memory traces in brain may trigger chronic pain

...onal suffering completely disappeared. Rat are nocturnal animals that prefer to be in the dark and are averse to bright light. Researchers placed the rats in a two-compartment chamber –- one side light, one dark. When the rats were in their preferred dark side, scientists mechanically stimulated their sen...

To sleep, perchance to dream: New insight into melatonin production

...RNP Q reduced AANAT and melatonin production under nocturnal conditions. ...

In young mice, gregariousness seems to reside in the genes

...g under the dim glow of red lights to simulate the nocturnal environment when mice are most active, the sociability of test mice was assessed when they were reunited with their former cage mates. At the same time, the researchers tuned in to the ultrasonic chattering that mice use to communicate with each othe...

Male owls pitch their hoots to advertise body weight to competitors

... Scops owls, one of the smallest living species of nocturnal raptors. The study, published in the April issue of the American Naturalist, was conducted between June 2003 and June 2005 on the isle of Oléron, off the west coast of France, where Christian Bavoux and Guy Burneleau have been studying the local scop...

Tracking sperm whales and jumbo squid

... time at depths of 600 to 1,300 feet, according to nocturnal tagging data. "These data show that sperm whales don’t change their feeding behavior, day or night," Davis explained. "Instead, they keep going down to about 1,300 feet, whether squid are there or not. Perhaps it’s the only way they can catch them...

'Night owls' report more insomnia-related symptoms

...any having the opportunity to compensate for their nocturnal sleeplessness by extending their time in bed and b...p comparisons were made on self-report measures of nocturnal sleep, sleep period variability and waking correlates and consequences of insomnia. Compared to t...

Scripps research team discovers a chemical pathway that causes mice to overeat and gain weight

...eptors were more active during the light hours-the nocturnal mice's "night"-and, more importantly, were eating during this time. The increased activity led to higher body temperatures, but this did not burn enough extra calories to balance the additional eating, so the mice weighed 15 to 30 percent more than c...

Bats prey on nocturnally migrating songbirds

...ear into long-distance, north-south or south-north nocturnal movements. The danger seems especially acute where...rly stalking unwary songbirds during their massive nocturnal passes? The foraging habits of these rare bats still remain quite mysterious, like in the case of gi...

Chimpanzees found to use tools to hunt mammalian prey

... in hollow branches or tree trunks. Bushbabies are nocturnal prosimians that retire to such hidden cavities during the day. Although there was only one successful attempt in 22 recorded instances of the chimpanzees using the spear-like tools to find and obtain prey, the researchers observed that tool-crafti...

Negative effects of caffeine are stronger on daytime sleep than on nocturnal sleep

...lready knew that caffeine has important effects on nocturnal sleep. It increases the time taken to fall asleep,...ecovery sleep episode than in the evening before a nocturnal sleep episode." "Caffeine makes daytime sleep episodes too shallow to override the signal from t...

Does missing gene point to nocturnal existence for early mammals?

...gestion that early mammals were at one time wholly nocturnal creatures. "The classical view of how the eye s...pened ?perhaps the early mammals were at one stage nocturnal and had no need for the second gene, for instance. We also want to find out what losing one of these...

To elude bats, a moth keeps its hearing in tune

...ths can hear the ultrasonic hunting calls of their nocturnal predator, the bat. Moth ears are among the simplest in the insect world—they have only two or four vibration-sensitive neurons attached to a small eardrum. Previously, it was thought that these ears were only partially sensitive to the sound frequenc...

Plants tell caterpillars when it's safe to forage

... Shiojiri et al. exposed larvae of a corn-munching nocturnal caterpillar, Mythimna separata , to volatile comp...is not light that's controlling larval diurnal and nocturnal activity but volatiles released by the corn. Volatile compounds released during the day encourage hi...

First surveys of Tanzanian mountains reveal 160+ animal species, including new & endemic

...alls of two species of galagos. Galagos are small, nocturnal primates with large, round eyes commonly known as bushbabies. Some people believe "bush baby" refers to the animal's cries which can sound similar to the cries of human babies. In one small valley, Nike Doggart of the Tanzania Forest Conservation Gr...

Newly identified mechanism helps explain why people of African descent are more vulnerable to TB

...t, and may not have evolved in mice since they are nocturnal animals. "These studies began with a very basic exploration of differences in gene expression in two related human white blood cell types known to be involved in host responses to infection, and concluded by revealing a new and potentially importan...

Bats use touch receptors on wings to fly, catch prey, study finds

...th echolocation to make bats better, more accurate nocturnal hunters. Echolocation helps bats detect their surroundings, while the touch-sensitive receptors help them maintain their flight path and snag their prey. Touch receptors take the form of tiny bumps, or raised domes, along the surface of bats' wings....

Ancient anthropoid origins discovered in Africa

...ars to have been nocturnal, the first example of a nocturnal early anthropoid. The researchers published their... it had to make room for the larger eyesocket of a nocturnal animal. "These finds seem to indicate that Biretia megalopsis must have had very large eyes, and so...

Biologist Discovers What May Be World’s ‘Pickiest?Mates

...e were successfully released during high-amplitude nocturnal tides only when females incubated in burrows that allowed the larvae to exit the estuary swiftly and thus reduce predation risk, but not when females incubated in burrows that were too wide or narrow,?deRivera writes in her paper. “The effect of burr...

Discovery of an American salamander where it shouldn't be: Korea

...ungs and breathe through moist skin. Because these nocturnal animals live, breed and lay their eggs on land, th...f surprises to come in, especially with respect to nocturnal organisms that do not have breeding congregations, where they don't come together en masse ever in t...

Scientists discover odd-ball rodent

...croppings and forest cover, and it appears to be a nocturnal vegetarian. It also gives birth to one offspring at a time, rather than a litter. Dr. Timmins, who also discovered a new species of striped rabbit from the same region in 1999, warns that habitat protection and regulations to reduce unsustainable co...

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