Here’s why there are so many coyotes and why they are spreading so fast. Mistletoe is missing the machinery to make energy. It’s a biological assembly line as classic as the Model T’s. To produce energy, mitochondrial power plants in a cell use electron transport chains to convert electrons to adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the cell’s energy currency. Now, two independent groups reveal how evolution has severely messed with the production line in European mistletoe, the holiday adornment best known as an excuse for surprise smooches.
Researchers first noticed something was wrong when genomic sequencing turned up a dearth of mitochondrial genes for coding the protein subunits that make up the electron transport chain’s first station, dubbed complex I. Missing such a critical piece was unheard of in multicellular organisms. So how does mistletoe adjust? More Americans who consider themselves white are discovering they are part African through DNA tests. As more Americans take advantage of genetic testing to pinpoint the makeup of their DNA, the technology is coming head to head with the country’s deep-rooted obsession with race and racial myths. This is perhaps no more true than for the growing number of self-identified European Americans who learn they are actually part African.
For those who are surprised by their genetic heritage, the new information can often set into motion a complicated recalibration of how they view their identity. Nicole Persley, who grew up in Nokesville, Va., was stunned to learn that she is part African. Her youth could not have been whiter. In the 1970s and ’80s in her rural home town, she went to school with farmers’ kids who listened to country music and sometimes made racist jokes. She was, as she recalls, “basically raised a Southern white girl.”
But as a student at the University of Michigan: “My roommate was black. “I was constantly being asked, ‘What are you? The discovery elicits a range of emotions. The classic explanation for the Black Death plague is wrong, scientists say. A new species named after Big Bird was created after two different breeds of birds mated. It’s not every day that scientists observe a new species emerging in real time. Charles Darwin believed that speciation probably took place over hundreds if not thousands of generations, advancing far too gradually to be detected directly. The biologists who followed him have generally defaulted to a similar understanding and have relied on indirect clues, gleaned from genomes and fossils, to infer complex organisms’ evolutionary histories.
Some of those clues suggest that interbreeding plays a larger role in the formation of new species than previously thought. But the issue remains contentious: Hybridization has been definitively shown to cause widespread speciation only in plants. When it comes to animals, it has remained a hypothesis (albeit one that’s gaining increasing support) about events that typically occurred in the distant, unseen past. Until now. Eyewitnesses to speciation Where hybrids thrive On Daphne, the conditions may have been just right for hybrid speciation.
National. Her mother said they descended from a president and a slave. What would their DNA say? - Washington Post. The Zika Virus Grew Deadlier With a Small Mutation, Study Suggests - The New York Times. Who’s Eating Jellyfish? Penguins, That’s Who - The New York Times. After the Tsunami, Japan’s Sea Creatures Crossed an Ocean - The New York Times. The fanged, faceless sea creature that washed ashore during Harvey has been identified. A sea creature identified as a possible a fangtooth snake-eel on a beach in Texas City, Tex. (Preeti Desai) After high winds and heavy rains brought by Hurricane Harvey, a mysterious sea creature with fangs and no face washed up on the shoreline in southeastern Texas — giving the Internet a challenging task: to identify it. Preeti Desai, social media manager at the National Audubon Society, posted pictures of the critter earlier this month on Twitter, asking, “What the heck is this??”
Desai, who said she had accompanied conservationists assessing the damage from the storm, spotted the creature on a beach in Texas City, about 15 miles from Galveston. Though the exact size was unclear, Desai told a Twitter user asking about scale that there was a drinking straw pictured next to its tail. The Internet gave its best guesses: A gulper eel. A “bloated” moray eel. No, an alien. “I follow a lot of scientists and researchers,” Desai told BBC News about her plea for answers on social media.
National true. Just how smart is an octopus? Callum Roberts is a professor of marine conservation at the University of York in Britain and the author of “The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea.” “The two of you look at each other. This one is small, about the size of a tennis ball. You reach forward a hand and stretch out one finger, and one octopus arm slowly uncoils and comes out to touch you. The suckers grab your skin, and the hold is disconcertingly tight. Having attached the suckers, it tugs your finger, pulling you gently in. . . .
Behind the arm, large round eyes watch you the whole time.” Encountering an octopus in the wild, as Peter Godfrey-Smith argues in his fascinating book, “Other Minds,” is as close as we will get to meeting an intelligent alien. Cephalopods certainly look alien, so it is hardly surprising that science fiction writers have hijacked their characteristics for imaginary aliens. "Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness," by Peter Godfrey-Smith (FSG) opinions true. Harry Potter-loving scientists find spider that looks like the Sorting Hat, naming it Eriovixia gryffindori. E. gryffindori, a newly discovered spider species in southwest India. (Courtesy of Sumukha J. N) Before they traipsed through the sacred Indian grove or studied the hat-shaped spider, before they realized it was a new species or assigned it a peculiar name, scientific researchers Javed Ahmed and Rajashree Khalap discovered Harry Potter. Ahmed first cracked open the books in his teens.
For Khalap, it was in adulthood. They anxiously awaited the release of “The Cursed Child” and were delighted to learn of that universe’s expansion in “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” That sentiment propelled them into the small sacred grove in the Shivamogga district of the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka, where a “biodiversity hotspot” had been preserved for generations by villagers and their ancestors.
It was shaded brown, triangular shaped and, Ahmed and Khalep agreed, looked identical to Rowling’s mischievous Sorting Hat. The Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts exhibit at Warner Bros. Swarming crazy ants with a penchant for destroying electronics are on the move in Texas. Of the nonnative animals crawling, buzzing and slithering across the American South, very few are officially designated “crazy.” The crazy ant is an exception. When a Texas exterminator, Tom Rasberry, spotted ants moving in an erratic swarm in 2002, the strange insects took his name: Rasberry crazy ants. A decade later, after biologists completed the species’ taxonomic identification, they renamed the ant in Latin Nylanderia fulva.
In English, they dropped the Rasberry but kept the crazy, and now the tawny crazy ant marches across Texas. This ant march is slow, just some roughly 650 feet annually — about twice the length of a soccer field per year. Although the insects are so named for their swarming maneuvers, the term is equally apt for the damage they inflict on the human psyche. “It comes into houses and drives people crazy, maybe suppressing housing values,” Colorado State University entomologist Whitney Cranshaw told The Washington Post in 2009. More from Morning Mix. This sea slug steals plant genes to live like a leaf. E. chlorictica snatches genes to keep its stolen chloroplasts thriving. (Patrick Krug) The brilliant green sea slug Elysia chloroctica doesn't just look like the leaf of a plant: It functions like one, too.
When it's supper time, the slug uses chloroplasts taken from local algae to photosynthesize for itself. That's not news: Scientists have known about the chloroplast theft since the 1970s. In a paper published Tuesday in the Biological Bulletin, researchers report evidence that the sea slug's chromosomes hoard algae genes. "It's been known for a long time that this particular group of sea slugs has a symbiotic relationship with chloroplasts they get from the algae they eat," said study co-author Sidney K. But some of them do it much more efficiently than others, Pierce said. Pierce and his colleagues went looking for an explanation as to how these sea slugs are able to reap the bounty of their algae pillages for so long. "How can that possibly be? How black widow mothers control their children’s cannibalism. Mother knows best. (Laurence Grayson via Flickr/Creative Commons) Being a mother has its challenges, particularly when your young have a habit of eating their siblings.
But black widow spiders desperate to keep some house order may stop their offspring from indulging in cannibalism — by putting them on an even playing field. Without maternal intervention, “the offspring might turn on each other and start eating other, because that's what spiders do,”says Chadwick Johnson, a biology professor at Arizona State University and the lead author of a recent study on black widows published in Animal Behavior. [Hundreds of baby spiders just burst out of the ground — and zookeepers are delighted] Black widows got their namesake from the idea that females eat their mates after copulation.
This isn't necessarily the case: If the males are fit, females shouldn't get a chance to sink their teeth into them before they scurry off. [Dear Science: Why are some genes dominant and some genes recessive?] Dear Science: How many germs are actually on a toilet seat — and should I care? (Rachel Orr/The Washington Post) Dear Science: Now and then health awareness articles use the attention-grabbing statistic "XYZ has more germs on it than a toilet seat! " Is this actually a useful comparison? Is the sheer number of germs what we should worry about? And how germy (and dangerous) is the seat, anyhow? Here's what science has to say: Every time a commercial for disinfectant trumpets the claim "kills 99.99 percent of germs," a trillion bacteria burst into hysterical laughter at the depth of human folly.
"In the 150 years since we identified that bacteria were the cause of disease, we’ve become obsessed with the abundance of cells," said Jack Gilbert, an environmental microbiologist at Argonne National Laboratory. [You’re surrounded by a cloud of bacteria as unique as a fingerprint] Scientists estimate that Earth is home to about 1 trillion species of bacteria.
"They’re sort of the masters of the planet," he said. [You should really stop buying ‘antibacterial’ soaps] national true. How to feed a happy, healthy gut. If you ever feel like it’s you against the world, consider how your gut microbiota feels. Your genes and your environment interact constantly, and your gut is the largest meeting point. On security duty is your microbiota, the collection of about 100 trillion bacteria and other microbes that live in your intestines, especially your large intestine (the colon). As scientists look for explanations for the roots of chronic disease as well as the connections between nutrition and health, the answer may be in your gut — and what you feed it. The microbiota-inflammation connection One reason that the state of your intestinal ecosystem has a profound effect on your health is that one layer of cells is all that separates your immune system from the contents of your gut, and inflammation is our immune system’s main weapon against foreign invaders.
A healthy, balanced gut microbiota promotes a strong immune system and lower levels of chronic inflammation. Care and feeding of your microbiota [Greek? How, and Why, to Hunt the Red-Spotted Newt. Not that anyone really needs a reason. Newts, and salamanders in general, are just plain cool. They don’t simply grow from egg to adult the way mammals or reptiles do. They have several stages, from egg to larva to adult, and in any given species, they may skip a stage, change whether they live in water or on land, grow lungs or stick with gills.
Some absorb oxygen through their skin, and skip both lungs and gills. The two researchers found no newts in the pond, so they moved on to a swampy patch in the woods of Paugussett State Forest, down a hillside from a suburban cul-de-sac. Photo After a few minutes of swishing his net through the water, which ran over the top of his boots, Dr. The catch was about three inches long, identifiable as a male because of the shape of its tail and rough patches on the inside of its hind legs, with a dark greenish brown color and red spots that warn predators of toxins in the skin. He swabbed the skin and snipped off the ends of the swabs for testing. Dr. Could Alzheimer’s Stem From Infections? It Makes Sense, Experts Say. Fruits and vegetables used to look so different you might not even recognize them.
Humans have been genetically manipulating fruits and vegetables for thousands of years through selective cultivation. Once we started cultivating wild plants, fruits and vegetables got a lot more colorful. (Daron Taylor,Dani Johnson,Osman Malik/The Washington Post) These days, we take the way our fruits and vegetables look for granted. When we're kids, we learn that carrots are orange, bananas are yellow, and eggplants are big and purple. And that's how we always think about them. But look back into history — not even that far back — and you’ll find that the fruits and vegetables we eat today were, well, they were pretty different. Humans have been genetically manipulating fruits and vegetables for thousands of years through selective cultivation, always in search of a better taste, a more pleasing texture and a higher yield. The eggplant, for example, was named because of its original resemblance to a small, white egg when it was first encountered by English speakers.
First giraffe genome reveals the oddity behind an African icon. The giraffe is an oddball, both outside and in. By sequencing the giraffe’s genome for the first time, researchers have learned that the animal’s extraordinary external features are matched by wild genetic traits buried inside its cells. The genome unveils clues into how the giraffe developed its imposing stature, but also may lead the team to genetically engineer animals to carry the same features. Picture mice with long necks or absurdly strong hearts. Such research may guide future treatments for bone disorders, cardiovascular disease or cancer. A giraffe’s juggernaut heart creates 2.5 times the blood pressure seen in humans and other mammals. The project began in 2012 with a partnership between two geneticists, Doug Cavener of Pennsylvania State University and Morris Agaba at the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology in Tanzania.
Yet a giraffe genome on its own doesn’t reveal much information. Adult male Masai giraffe in Ndarakwai – West Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Eske Willerslev Is Rewriting History With DNA. But there was no one in Denmark doing that research, so one of Dr. Willerslev’s professors suggested a Plan B. They could investigate ancient ice that climate researchers at the University of Copenhagen had brought back from Greenland. Dr. Willerslev and a fellow graduate student, Anders J. Hansen, set up a room where they could search for DNA in the ice cores.
And in ice as old as 4,000 years, Dr. Willerslev and Dr. Photo The results were so remarkable for the mid-1990s that NASA called the young doctoral student to ask about his methods. “I got completely convinced that I wanted to become a scientist,” Dr. After publishing the ice study in 1999, Dr. In the very first cube, Dr. Discovering a whole ice age ecosystem in a pinch of frozen dirt helped Dr. From the start, Dr. The scientists searched for animal bones that showed signs of being butchered. For more than a month, the scientists hacked into the ground, wearing full bodysuits to avoid contaminating the samples. Dr. In 2011, Dr. Unraveling the Orchid Mantis Mystery. Why Science Majors Change Their Minds (It’s Just So Darn Hard) Scientists Unveil New ‘Tree of Life’ Zika’s structure has been revealed, bringing scientists closer to a vaccine. Invasive Species Aren’t Always Unwanted.
Seas Are Rising at Fastest Rate in Last 28 Centuries. Seas Are Rising at Fastest Rate in Last 28 Centuries. Why a top food poisoning expert won’t ever eat these foods. Evelyn Witkin and the Road to DNA Enlightenment. Scientists Hope to Bring a Galápagos Tortoise Species Back to Life. The Power Plants That Can Reverse Climate Change — NOVA Next. The Kissing Bug Spreads Disease In Latin America. Is It Spreading To The U.S. As Well? : Goats and Soda. Closing In on Where Eels Go to Connect. Surprisingly good news for the Earth’s climate: Greenhouse gas pollution dropped this year. In honor of #WorldToiletDay, here are our favorite stories about poop. The FDA just approved the nation’s first genetically-engineered animal: A salmon that grows twice as fast. Five myths about the common cold. Giant rats as big as dachshunds and weighing 11 pounds? More Than Half of Entire Species of Saigas Gone in Mysterious Die-Off. Exxon Mobil Under Investigation in New York Over Climate Statements.
Greenland Is Melting Away. New Species of Galápagos Tortoise Is Identified. Why scientists are worried about the ice shelves of Antarctica. These ancient Chinese teeth could rewrite human history. The first ancient African genome reveals complex human migrations. In the eerie emptiness of Chernobyl’s abandoned towns, wildlife is flourishing. Who dies and who survives during a mass extinction? A tantalizing clue. Bozemanscience.