Tag: "prefer" at biology news

Yellowstone microbes fueled by hydrogen, according to U. of Colorado study

... the hot springs communities revealedthat they all prefer hydrogen as an energy source. They also observedubiquitous H2 in all the hot springs at concentrations sufficient formicrobial bioenergetics.Thermodynamic models based on field data confirmed that hydrogenmetabolism was the most likely fuel source in...

Termites feed through good vibrations

... Evans says different termite species are known to prefer eating particular sizes of wood; certain drywood termites prefer small blocks, presumably to avoid competition. With Professor Joseph Lai and his students from the U...

Amino acids in nectar enhance butterfly fecundity: A long awaited link

...t experiments have shown that butterflies actually prefer nectars with a high amino acid content. These findings led to speculations about the significance of nectar amino acids for butterfly fitness and insinuated that butterflies have acted as agents of natural selection on nectar composition. In order ...

Bird Brains Show How Trial and Error May Contribute to Learning

...ly altered by LMAN stimulation and whether females prefer the stable or variable song version. ...

Children's taste sensitivity and food choices influenced by taste gene

...o mask unpleasant tastes in food, and thus come to prefer it more. Whatever the explanation, this is an important puzzle to solve." Unlike children, bitter receptor genotype did not influence sweet preference in adults. Instead, effects of race/ethnicity were the strongest determinants. Mennella comments, ...

Cricket's finicky mating behavior boosts biodiversity

...ms: "What turns a female cricket on? Why does she prefer one pulse rate over another? Whatever the reason, it's very important that she exercise this preference in order to keep the species distinct." Mendelson spent three and one-half years studying the Laupala cricket with Kerry Shaw, an evolutionary bi...

Live fast, die young true for forests too

...uch changes might affect wildlife populations that prefer younger or older forests, said van Mantgem. Stephenson and van Mantgem pointed out that increased dominance by younger trees could also lead to changes in the amount of carbon stored in forests, though the direction and magnitude of such potential c...

Friendly bacteria in humans may protect against HIV

...lock HIV, however, we needed to find bacteria that prefer the unusual sugar mannose and thus can capture it." To identify bacteria that target mannose, Tao and his colleagues isolated oral and vaginal lactobacilli from healthy humans and tested the ability of different strains to bind to baker's yeast, ano...

Rhesus monkeys can assess the visual perspective of others when competing for food

... these results reveal not only that rhesus monkeys prefer to steal food from a competitor who cannot see them, but also that they know exactly how blocking or averting one's eyes can render one unable to see. Thus, even without any training, these monkeys were able to accurately consider the visual perspect...

Scientists discover odd-ball rodent

...s known about the Kha-Nyou, other than it seems to prefer areas of limestone outcroppings 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 regio...

Certain fish have a special mating preference

...ouis has shown that for some fish species, females prefer males with larger sexual organs, and actually choose them for mating. That does not exclude males with an average-sized sex organ, called a gonopodium. These fish out-compete the larger-endowed males in a predator-laden environment because they have ...

IMF Launches World’s First DNA Database for Myeloma Patients

...ouis has shown that for some fish species, females prefer males with larger sexual organs, and actually choose them for mating. That does not exclude males with an average-sized sex organ, called a gonopodium. These fish out-compete the larger-endowed males in a predator-laden environment because they have ...

ORNL, UC Berkeley unravel real-world clues to Earth's mysteries

...level of 7 is considered neutral and most proteins prefer pH levels between 5 and 7. The water trickling from the mine has a pH of about 0.8 and a temperature of 107 degrees Fahrenheit. "This microbial community is thriving at the extreme edge," said Bob Hettich, a co-author and member of ORNL's Chemical S...

Drug Offers Alternative to Surgical Treatment After Miscarriage

...any women, grieving from the failed pregnancy, may prefer not to wait. Occasionally, the uterus may fail to expel the remaining fetal tissue, and in some of these cases, the uterus may become infected. Within the last few years, physicians have used misoprostol to treat pregnancy failure, and some research...

Sleeping Sickness Epidemic Spreading in Uganda

...any women, grieving from the failed pregnancy, may prefer not to wait. Occasionally, the uterus may fail to expel the remaining fetal tissue, and in some of these cases, the uterus may become infected. Within the last few years, physicians have used misoprostol to treat pregnancy failure, and some research...

Nicotine triggers the same brain reward circuitry as opiates

...th receiving nicotine, finding that the mice would prefer to stay in that chamber when given a choice. The researchers found that just placing the conditioned mice in the chamber activated CREB. They also found that naloxone blocked this conditioned increase in CREB, and that mutant mice lacking CREB or pre...

Gambling monkeys give insight into neural machinery of risk

.... "There was no rational reason why monkeys might prefer one of these options over the other because, according to the theory of expected value, they're identical," said Platt. The researchers also tested whether the monkeys were simply responding to the novelty of the risky target. "We wondered whether ...

Hopkins scientists uncover 'tags' that force proteins to cell surface

...ll. Also, scientists have long known that proteins prefer to stay put in this factory, the endoplasmic reticulum, unless they contain specific transportation instructions, much like an internal shipping label. To figure out what tiny sequences might label the protein for delivery to the cell surface, Shika...

DNA size a crucial factor in genetic mutations, study finds

...re now exploring ''the funny finding that the bugs prefer DNA that's larger than natural DNA'' by making larger nucleotides. ''Size and shape are related issues, so we're interested now in keeping the size constant and changing the shape,'' Kool adds. ...

Viagra's hidden help for wildlife

... the many other ailments for which consumers still prefer TCM treatments. Furthermore, Viagra differs from many other Western drugs, in that the effects are rapid and visible to the naked eye. "The fact is that prior to the commercial availability of Viagra in 1998, no product in any medical tradition had ...

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