Getting

Why are coyotes getting more aggressive?

Coyotes tend to avoid human contact. But recently, coyotes have been getting increasingly aggressive in the eastern United States, including southeastern New York state, attacking neighborhood pets on the fringe of urban and suburban areas. "This kind of aggressive behavior is usually the last stage before coyotes actually start attacking humans -- such as small children that are perceived...

Shade trees getting 'scorched' by plant disease

Bacterial leaf scorch is severely affecting urban shade trees grown not only to provide shade, but to help clear the air, reduce noise, and improve the aesthetics in many U.S. communities, say plant pathologists with The American Phytopathological Society (APS). According to Ann Brooks Gould, associate extension specialist at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, bacterial leaf scorch (...

Getting close to nature is good for you

Connecting with nature can improve your health and wellbeing, say researchers in this week's BMJ. The theory is known as ecotherapy: restoring health through contact with nature. Use of wildlife in some therapies is reported to improve quality of life, write the authors. Smaller animals (for example, squirrels, owls, and raccoons) have been used successfully in therapies for children with...

Getting an evolutionary handle on life after reproduction

Since many animals live beyond their fertile years, biologists have searched for evolutionary clues to this extended lifespan. What role, if any, does natural selection play in the evolution of the postreproductive lifespan? For natural selection to shape the twilight years, postreproductive females should contribute to the fitness of their offspring or relatives, a hypothesis called the...

Getting old? Slowing down? Blame inefficient mitochondria

Mitochondria are the cell's equivalent of power stations. A power station burns fuel to build up steam pressure and uses that pressure to drive a turbine linked to a dynamo. This in turn generates electricity. In mitochondria, the fuel is oxidised and builds up a pressure of hydrogen ions (protons). These force through molecular turbines and enable the cell to generate ATP, an energy unit that ca...

Getting to the heart of the heart

Helping to change scientists' thinking about how the heart is formed, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have identified a type of stem cell that is the precursor to at least two main cell types that form the heart. This single cardiac progenitor cell gives rise to both myocardial cells, which form the beating muscle and electrically conductive tissue of the heart, and to the vascular smoo...

Stopping plants from getting sick

Fungi-infected plants often cause dramatic symptoms such as the formation of colourful masses of fungal spores instead of seeds. Some fungi can even make infected plants smell like rotting fish. In general, these infections cause major headaches for farmers who are counting on their crops, such as wheat and barley, to survive through the growing season. Natural Sciences and Engineering R...