Can cannibalism fight infections?

Whenever humans create a new antibiotic, deadly bacteria can counter it by turning into new, indestructible super-bugs. That's why bacterial infection is the number one killer in hospitals today. But new research from Tel Aviv University may give drug developers the upper hand in outsmarting bacte...

New Study Questions Cannibalism As A Worldwide Selective Force

A team of scientists reports that 'mad cow'-like diseases have not been a major force in human history, nor have been cannibalistic rituals that are known to be associated with disease transmission.// In a new study published by the journal Genome Research, Prof. Jaume Bertranpetit at the Univ...

Global Warming: Lessons of History Help the Future

...opulation estimated to be as many as 20,000 people. Its civilisation expired in the 18th century in a bloody sunset of internecine warfare and cannibalism after the trees which provided fuel and timber were all cut down. Prolonged drought wiped out the advanced Mayan civilisation at Tikal, in mod...

Bamboo Seed: Viagra and Food for Mizos

...fspring during food scarcity and this checks their population outburst, but during mautam when there is plenty of bamboo seeds to eat, they stop their cannibalism and multiply rapidly,' he said. And clearly many in Mizoram are impressed. When John Neihlaia, commandant in the 3rd Battalion of Mi...

Male Fish Cannibalize Its Own Offspring Than Female

...females, who can be sure of their relationship to their eggs, never cannibalized. However, an increased level of cuckoldry led to an increased rate of cannibalism among males. "We want to understand how behaviors evolve," says Gray, "and how behaviors, such as cannibalism, contribute to the diversity we see...

Male Mantids- not Voluntary Victims of Sexual Cannabilism

... Sexual cannibalism is a common feature among praying mantids – that i...havior in a praying mantis by altering the risk of cannibalism and observing changes in male behavior. They find that the males are able to assess the risk of cannibalism and become more cautious in the presence of partic...

cannibalism in Biological News

History of human cannibalism eats away at researchers

In a new study published by the journal Genome Research , a team of scientists reports that 'mad cow'-like diseases have not been a major force in human history, nor have been cannibalistic rituals that are known to be associated with disease transmission. Prof. Jaume Bertranpetit, a scientist at...

In spiders, size matters: Small males are more often meals

...ll relative to females. Much research on sexual cannibalism has focused on a few extreme cases involving sexua...exual size dimorphism) determines how often sexual cannibalism occurs in a species. "We were surprised to find th...alism," states Shawn Wilder. In many cases, sexual cannibalism may not be a complex balancing act of costs and be...

What's bugging locusts?

...the collective motion exhibited by these bands," added Couzin, whose graduate student, Sepideh Bazazi, is the lead author on the paper. In zoology, cannibalism is defined as occurring when any species consumes members of its own kind. Young locusts are pressed to eat others when the food supply necessary f...

Why do oysters choose to live where they could be eaten?

...nding on a suitable location to grow was conducted, it was found that more than 95 percent of an oyster reef is a safe zone for larvae. Given this low cannibalism risk at settlement, future payoffs appear to have driven the evolution of a gregarious settlement cue that promotes group living in oysters. ...

Study reveals mass migration of mormon crickets driven by hunger, fear

...alism. Their results reveal a different model for collective motion, with the crickets' migration in effect a forced march. The constant threat of cannibalism from the rear appears to push the crickets' movement as much as the need to find protein and salt pulls it, researchers say. The team's findings c...

Experiments provide proof of how traveling in groups protects insects

...range. "What this new work appears to show is that even though being part of the band has its own costs -- such as greater competition for food and cannibalism of injured crickets ?overall, there's a clear benefit to band members," Lorch said. "Predation occurs anyway, but any given individual is far better p...

Experiments provide proof of how traveling in groups protects insects

...range. "What this new work appears to show is that even though being part of the band has its own costs -- such as greater competition for food and cannibalism of injured crickets ?overall, there's a clear benefit to band members," Lorch said. "Predation occurs anyway, but any given individual is far better p...

cannibalism in Biological Definition

Carnivore

...Many dinosaurs and other extinct animals were carnivores, for example the well known Tyrannosaurus rex and sabretooth tiger . See also cannibalism insectivore Compare and contrast herbivore omnivore ...