We seem to have a bias toward larger things. No hoaxsters ever claim to have seen a Littlefoot running around the woods of Tennessee. And because species are in a range of sizes, comparisons of marine species can be hit-and-miss.
Earth
Exactly what plants do honey bees visit on their daily forages for food? At least in rural Madison County, Ohio, scientists know. A research team led by Dr. Reed Johnson from The Ohio State University has found that the answer lies in pollen DNA. They've collected pollen from a trapping device beneath beehives and developed a new method utilizing DNA meta-barcoding to uncover the plants from which the pollen originated.
As the largest single chunk of melting snow and ice in the world, the massive ice sheet that covers about 80 percent of Greenland is recognized as the biggest potential contributor to rising sea levels due to glacial meltwater.
Until now, however, scientists' attention has mostly focused on the ice sheet's aquamarine lakes -- bodies of meltwater that tend to abruptly drain -- and on monster chunks of ice that slide into the ocean to become icebergs.
A new paper paints a grim picture for the future of China's water supply - because the Chinese have chosen to believe in "virtual water".
Bisphenol A, known as BPA, is used around the world in consumer products, including household plastics. In response to public concerns, many manufacturers have replaced BPA with a chemical called bisphenol S (BPS), which is often labeled as "BPA-free" and presumed to be safer.
In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Deborah Kurrasch of the University of Calgary and colleagues write up their study showing that BPA and BPS cause alterations in brain development leading to hyperactivity in zebrafish.
Sex or no sex? Using various species of the evening primrose (Oenothera) as his model, Jesse Hollister, a former University of Toronto post-doctoral fellow, and his colleagues have demonstrated strong support for a theory that biologists have long promoted: species that reproduce sexually, rather than asexually, are healthier over time, because they don't accumulate harmful mutations.
Interbreeding of two malaria mosquito species in the West African country of Mali has resulted in a "super mosquito" hybrid that's resistant to insecticide-treated bed nets.
In a recent study, University of Montana and Montana Climate Office researcher Jared Oyler found that the western U.S. has warmed, just not as much as claimed.
The results show that sensor changes have significantly biased temperature observations from the Snowpack Telemetry (SNOTEL) station network.More than 700 SNOTEL sites monitor temperature and snowpack across the mountainous western U.S. SNOTEL provides critical data for water supply forecasts. Researchers often use SNOTEL data to study mountain climate trends and impacts to mountain hydrology and ecology.
A team of scientists has identified how a "sixth sense" in fish allows them to detect flows of water, which helps resolve a long-standing mystery about how these aquatic creatures respond to their environment. The work in Physical Review Letters illustrates how sensory systems evolve in accordance with physical principles while also offering a framework for understanding how sensory networks are structured.
After a forest fire burns a large swath across timberlands, logging companies often are not far behind. They come in to do what is called salvage logging--salvaging the timber that has not been completely destroyed by the fire.
It sounds like a good idea, since even the timber from burned trees can be used for lumber. Economic benefit can come from otherwise devastated land. Even the name has a warm, fuzzy ring to it: salvage logging.
The only problem is, the ecological effects are unknown.
The global warming that has not occurred over the last 15 years has been partly caused by small volcanic eruptions, according to two papers by researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Food items are covered in plastic to make them last longer and protect them from microbes but there are concerns about environmental impact due to use of this material. Plastic bottles and films take between 100 and 400 years to degrade, so the quest for alternative materials to plastics is an environmental priority.
Up to 10% of adults living in developed countries fish for food and recreation, they are not commercial fishermen. In the Mediterranean Sea that could be up to 10% of the total production of fisheries. Commercial fishing gets a lot of attention because it is a well-monitored and well-managed industry but a new study says recreational fishing and the authors are demanding greater control.
A new research project has shown how soybean can be bred to better tolerate soil salinity. The researchers from the University of Adelaide in Australia and the Institute of Crop Sciences in the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing have identified a specific gene in soybean that has great potential for soybean crop improvement.
The heated national debate on complex issues related to costs of health care was ignited by the implementation the Affordable Health Care Act (ACA) in January 2014. There is no national system that adequately records and quantifies the wide range of issues related to health care costs, so the arguments have been based primarily on undocumented opinion.