Current Invertebrates News and Events | Page 13
Current Invertebrates News and Events, Invertebrates News Articles.
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Battling the barnacle
For as long as we've been putting boats in water, we've been battling those pesky critters that want to attach themselves for a free ride. The ubiquitous, determined barnacle -- not to mention tubeworms, oysters, algae, and an array of other invertebrates -- has long been the bane of many a fleet and flotilla. Pitch, copper, oils, gums, pesticides, silicone, arsenic... over the centuries all have been tried, and none have completely solved the problem. Now the Navy is getting imaginative.... (2001-12-17)
Genetic takeover threatens crayfish
Introduced crayfish are wiping out native species in North America, which has three-quarters of the crayfish species worldwide. New research provides the first evidence that introduced crayfish are taking over native species genetically by hybridizing with them. (2001-11-30)
Boneless, brainy, and ancient
How to make a robotic arm that is able to flex in an infinite number of ways and order it to do so without disorder and confusion? Get yourself an octopus and study it. That is exactly what researchers funded by the Office of Naval Research are doing. (2001-11-26)
Researchers discover new family of naturally occurring antibiotics
Two NC State University researchers have isolated a previously undiscovered family of naturally occurring peptide antibiotics. The antibiotics were found in fish. These are the first peptide antibiotics that have been isolated from mast cells of any animal, and the discovery indicates that these cells may be critical in fighting some infectious diseases. The discovery is detailed in an article published in the Nov. 15 issue of Nature. (2001-11-15)
Wealth of new species discovered from the abyssal plains of the Atlantic Ocean
Preliminary findings from an expedition last year to the deep-sea of the Angola Basin are revealing a wealth of new information on biodiversity in the poorly known depths of the south Atlantic Ocean. The early results from the project Latitudinal Gradients in the Deep Sea of the Atlantic Ocean: DIVA were presented at a workshop at the University of Oldenburg, Germany, on September 18, 2001. (2001-10-31)
Researchers report on possible biological effects of deep-sea CO2 sequestration
Deep-sea animals may be highly sensitive to environmental changes in carbon dioxide concentration and pH, the predicted consequences of deep-sea carbon sequestration. A study by researchers, reported in the 12 October 2001 issue of Science, exposes the need for more research on the biological impacts of CO2 injection in the ocean. (2001-10-11)
California gnatcatcher: Umbrella species failure?
Protecting (2001-09-20)
Biologists find a gene required for tolerance of heavy metals, previously known only in plants, in an animal
Biologists at the University of Pennsylvania have discovered the first biochemical pathway in animals responsible for the detoxification of heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury and cadmium. They have established that the enzyme phytochelatin synthase, which had previously been found only in plants and some fungi, is also present in some animals. (2001-09-06)
New dinosaur expert publishes in Nature
An extremely well-preserved fossil found by Peter Makovicky - the Field Museum's new dinosaur expert - sheds light on what an ostrich-like dinosaur ate and where it lived. The fossil (Gallimimus bullatus, an ornithomimid) includes a thin, comb-like structure on the beak that had never before been seen in a dinosaur. Similar to the filter-feeding beak of a contemporary duck's bill, the rare soft tissue indicates that these toothless dinosaurs may have eaten by straining tiny food particles from water and sediment. (2001-08-29)
Ancient reptile is efficient chewer
Researchers have discovered that a small mammal-like reptile that lived 260 million years ago is the first known efficient land vertebrate chewer -- able to use a shearing chewing action to break down tough vegetation. (2001-06-06)
The sting!
If you want to build something that will behave well, perform tasks autonomously, and fit flawlessly in its environment, chances are you'll find a good example somewhere in nature. At Northeastern University in Boston, they've built a scorpion. And while it still doesn't exactly look like a scorpion, it's beginning to act more and more like one. (2001-03-05)
Scientists discover gene required for testis development
In the October issue of Genes & Development, Christopher Raymond and colleagues detail their discovery that the gene, Dmrt1, is essential for normal mammalian testis development. This work provides the first functional evidence that Dmrt1 is required for male sexual development in vertebrates, and helps elucidate the basis of human testicular degeneration syndrome. (2000-10-04)
Jefferson researchers crack Rosetta Stone for tumor suppressor protein
Researchers at Jefferson Medical College have uncovered the 3-dimensional structure of a (2000-07-25)
Cool, clean water for Seattle and salmon
Seattle will keep cool, clean drinking water flowing from the Cedar River Watershed while keeping streams healthy for threatened salmon, with help from a monitoring method developed by the U.S. Geological Survey. The stream-scoring method was described in a USGS report released today. The watershed is the primary source of drinking water for Seattle. (2000-01-06)
Harbor Branch to receive $2.1 million of a $4.9 million multi-institutional grant to discover new natural product leads for cancer chemotherapy
The University of Minnesota, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Oregon State University, University of California-Santa Cruz and Novartis have been awarded a 4 1/2 year, $4.9 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to discover and develop novel anticancer agents using genetic material from marine microorganisms. This grant is part of a larger NCI initiative designed to speed the drug development process. (1999-10-31)
Colorado State scientist is Ecological Society of America president
Diana Wall, Director of the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory and Associate Dean of the College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University, has been elected the new president of the Ecological Society of America. (1999-10-28)
McGill scientists find invasive species affect lake ecosystems
McGill University scientists have documented profound changes in lake ecosystems following the introduction of two exotic species, smallmouth bass and rock bass, into Canadian lakes. What's more, these changes may threaten native fish populations, particularly lake trout. (1999-10-07)
Conserving the Everglades: Less is more
Biodiversity is the buzzword of the day but there's more to conservation than sheer numbers of species. Take the wetland prairies of the Florida Everglades, where less truly is more: low biodiversity is intrinsic to the ecosystem's uniqueness and so should be preserved. (1999-07-29)
New Areas Of High Biological Diversity Discovered
Attractive animals have been studied in more detail than lower orders of animals. The knowledge of them to a large extent determines the supposed biodiversity. By concentrating on the terrestrial flatworm, biologists from the Zoological Museum at Amsterdam University (UvA) have discovered three new (1999-05-20)
Researchers Find Unexpected Feature In Plankton Nervous System
University of Hawaii researchers have discovered myelin coating the axons of a calanoid copepod zooplankton. Myelin, which boosts the speed and efficiency of nervous system function, had previously been thought to be a feature nearly exclusive to vertebrates. The copepods with myelin exhibit much faster response to stimuli than other copepods. (1999-04-14)
Brief Exposure To High Temperature Has Lasting Effect On Nervous System
Researchers at the University of Chicago in collaboration with scientists at Queens University in Ontario, Canada, have shown for the first time that brief exposure to high temperatures has long-lasting physiological effects on the nervous system. These changes, which the researchers measured in locusts, may be what enables the animals to fly in very hot environments. (1999-02-19)
Study Of Origin Of Species Enters The Molecular Age
Nothing brings two people closer together than sex, but for closely related species of fruit flies, it may be what keeps them apart. Researchers at the University of Chicago have recently discovered a gene that appears to play a crucial role in causing one species to split into two--and stay that way. The gene causes the male progeny of two recently separated species to be sterile--a condition known as hybrid male sterility. (1998-11-20)
Sex-Specific Behavior Controlled By Peripheral Nervous System
In a series of novel experiments, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have found that properties of sensory neurons in invertebrate animal limbs, rather than an organism's central nervous system, seem to be critical in determining what types of information are received and what behaviors result. (1998-11-10)
Adirondack Wolf Conference
In response to the 1996 proposal by conservationists to restore the eastern timber wolf to New York's Adirondack State Park, the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History and the Hastings Center, a research and education institute for bioethics, will host a conference to explore the biological, political, and ethical dimensions of this proposal. The conference will take place October 21-23,1998, starting at 8:00 a.m. (1998-10-19)
Transposable Elements May Have Had A Major Role In The Evolution Of Higher Organisms
A molecular biologist at the University of Georgia has proposed that transposable elements may play a crucial and central role in evolution and could be the (1998-02-09)
Insects Provide Clues About Bodies Underwater
Simon Fraser University researcher Niki Macdonell says the eight rotting pig carcasses she'll pull from streams and lakes in local forests next month hold important clues to deaths that occur in freshwater. With virtually no research in the field to draw on, Macdonell, says pathologists are (1997-10-22)
Stream Biodiversity Slow To Recover From Impact Of Agriculture
Can rivers recover from negative impacts of agricultural activities, such as failure to control erosion from plowed fields? Perhaps not, Virginia Tech researchers (will explain) during the Ecological Society of America's annual meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Aug. 14. (1997-08-14)
Jackson Lab Scientists Report Advance In Study Of Neuronal Migration In Brain Development
Genetic research conducted at The Jackson Laboratory has identified a protein in mice that may play a fundamental role in the critical process of (1997-04-24)
Healthy Habitats Reduce Chemical Impacts On Aquatic Life
New testing methods utilized by South Carolina Sea Grant ecotoxologist Thomas Chandler show that thriving estuarine habitats can help absorb and reduce some impacts of toxic chemicals on aquatic creatures (1996-10-10)