Body

The beautiful flowers and impressive diversity of a large genus of roughly 250 species North American and East Asian flowering plants have inspired scientists and gardeners alike. The North American genus of perennial herbs and sub-shrubs (Penstemon) have diversified in their vegetative and habitat specialization, but perhaps most impressive is the floral diversity.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - For more than five years, urine and cerebral-spinal fluid samples from patients with Parkinson's disease have been locked in freezers in the NINDS National Repository, stored with the expectation they might someday help unravel the still-hidden course of this slow-acting neurodegenerative disease.

Baltimore, MD-- As we age, the function and regenerative abilities of skeletal muscles deteriorate, which means it is difficult for the elderly to recover from injury or surgery. New work from Carnegie's Michelle Rozo, Liangji Li, and Chen-Ming Fan demonstrates that a protein called b1-integrin is crucial for muscle regeneration. Their findings, published by Nature Medicine, provide a promising target for therapeutic intervention to combat muscle aging or disease.

The Emerald Ash Borer is eating its way across America. Next stop? Utah, probably.

This iridescent jewel beetle, responsible for the death of more than 50 million ash trees in the United States, has blazed an absolute path of destruction west since its discovery in Michigan in 2002.

Recently the pest has been detected in Colorado, and just this spring it was confirmed in Nebraska and Texas. Researchers at BYU have been doing more than just watching the migration patterns--they've been studying the creature in hopes of helping to slow it.

LAWRENCE -- Upon hearing the word "venom," most people probably think of a snake's fang.

But the ability to produce and inject toxins into another animal is so useful, it has evolved multiple times in creatures ranging from jellyfishes to spiders, shrews to the male platypus.

Now, a paper appearing this week in the journal Integrative and Comparative Biology catalogs instances of venomous aquatic life, for the first time showing that venom has evolved 18 separate times in fresh and saltwater fishes.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., July 5, 2016 - A microbial partnership thriving in an acidic hot spring in Yellowstone National Park has surrendered some of its lifestyle secrets to researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

In the most comprehensive study of its kind, researchers in the Institute for Molecular Virology and School of Dentistry at the University of Minnesota report that most types of retroviruses have distinct, non-identical virus structures.

Octopuses, squid and other cephalopods are colorblind - their eyes see only black and white - but their weirdly shaped pupils may allow them to detect color and mimic the colors of their background, according to a father/son team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University.

SALT LAKE CITY, July 6, 2016 - University of Utah mathematicians showed it is theoretically possible to design ideal climbing ropes to safely slow falling rock and mountain climbers like brakes decelerate a car. They hope someone develops a material to turn theory into reality.

In a new study in the Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology, the mathematicians write: "We do not expect this article to have an immediate effect on the climbing community, but by providing a prescription for a mathematically ideal rope, the work may help guide the development of new ropes."

Water fleas can thwart their enemies by growing defensive structures such as helmets and spines. What's more, this predator-induced 'arming' process is not a one-size-fits-all approach - they can even tailor their defensive responses to the types of predators present.

Canine hydrotherapy improves the mobility of Labradors suffering from elbow dysplasia. Not only this, it also positively affects the strides of healthy dogs, showing great potential as both a therapeutic tool and an effective way to keep your dog fit.

Many male insects, especially beetles, possess a penis sometimes several times longer than their entire body length, but how do they have sex with it? A recent study has found that male beetles keep their penis tip soft for faster sex, when they 'shoot' their hyper-elongated penises into the female beetle's duct.

Japanese quail grow and breed best under green and red lighting. An important bird in the poultry industry, quail thrive better under these conditions than in white and blue light, according to recent research carried out at Banaras Hindu University, India.

Research group leader, Dr Suneeta Yadav explains: "We monitored these quail over 35 weeks and found that birds grown in red or green light ended up with higher body weights than those grown in white or blue light at the same intensity and day lengths."

Obese children aged two to five years old are 2-3 times more likely to be admitted to hospital and have 60 per cent higher healthcare costs than healthy weight children, a study by the University of Sydney's School of Public Health has found.

Published today in Obesity journal, this is the first study to reveal the higher direct health care costs of obesity in preschool aged children compared with those of normal weight.

Ten years after its introduction, DNA origami, a fast and simple way to assemble DNA into potentially useful structures, is finally coming into its own.