A new computer vision system for automated analysis of animal movement — honey bee activities, in particular — is expected to accelerate animal behavior research, which also has implications for biologically inspired design of robots and computers.

The animal movement analysis system is part of the BioTracking Project, an effort conducted by Georgia Institute of Technology robotics researchers led by Tucker Balch, an assistant professor of computing.

“We believe the language o

Discovery Shapes Understanding of how Seeds are Created

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have identified a protein that helps guide sperm to egg in flowering lily plants, a significant step forward in the field of plant reproduction.

Elizabeth Lord, professor of plant biology and a member of the Center for Plant Cell Biology at UC Riverside, authored the paper titled “Chemocyanin, a Small, Basic Protein from the Lily Stigma Induces Pollen Tube Chemotro

Draft sequence aligned with human genome

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today announced the first draft version of the genome sequence of the chimpanzee and its alignment with the human genome. All of the data have been deposited into free public databases and are now available for use by scientists around the world.

The sequence of the chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, was assembled by NHGRI-funded teams led

While Mars can claim some unique features – the largest volcano and the deepest canyon in the solar system – its rocky, dusty, cold landscape has yet to yield signs of the ultimate prize: life.

Three simple words – follow the water – have become the mantra of astrobiologists studying the Red Planet because the presence of water is believed to be a prerequisite for life, either past or present.

But as scientists look for evidence of water on Mars, they are faced with an underlying

For the first time, researchers using laboratory techniques alone and no animal hosts have isolated sex-cell precursors from mouse embryos, coaxed the cells into a sperm-like form, used them to fertilize mouse eggs, and ultimately formed earlystage embryos. The research may offer a breakthrough tool for studies of embryonic cells and gene delivery, potentially helping scientists develop treatments for infertility and providing insight into the growth of certain tumors. The researche

Try as we may to suppress memories of highly stressful experiences, they nevertheless come back to bother us – even causing attacks of intense fear or other undesirable behavioral impairments.

Now, a group of German, Israeli and British scientists and students have found that a gene-based approach offers promise for development of a treatment that can suppress these reactions, while not impairing memory itself.

In an article appearing as the cover story in the current issue of Mo

Put a caramel in your mouth and your taste buds detect the sugary substance, instantly sending a message to the brain, which interprets the signal – sweet!

Trying to figure out what happens in the split-second between eating something and recognizing its sweet or bitter flavor – between detecting a taste and a signal reaching the brain – led USC neuroscientist Emily Liman to take a closer look inside the cells in the taste buds.

Her findings reveal new details about how the sense

A historical examination of amphibian deformities – frogs with extra legs growing out of the abdomen, for example – suggests that these aberrations are not a new phenomenon, but part of an emerging disease that could jeopardize the survival of these organisms.

The research, described in the December issue of Conservation Biology, shows that while amphibian malformations and the parasitic worm that causes them have been found in lakes and ponds for more than 50 years, they have substantiall

The problem of hospital infection, severe disease caused by antibiotic-resistant staphylococcus bacteria, entails major costs and great suffering. Group A streptococcus bacteria, also called meat-eating killer bacteria, are another growing problem. A team of Lund scientists in Sweden has now developed a substance called Cystapep, which seems to work on bacteria that nothing else seems to be able to knock out.

If Cystapep delivers what it promises, this is nothing short of sensational. Swed

Scientists have successfully immunized mice against Ebola virus using hollow virus-like particles, or VLPs, which are non-infectious but capable of provoking a robust immune response. These Ebola VLPs conferred complete protection to mice exposed to lethal doses of the virus.

The work could serve as a basis for development of vaccines and other countermeasures to Ebola, which causes hemorrhagic fever with case fatality rates as high as 80 percent in humans. The virus, which is infectious by

Could yield advances in early diagnosis, treatment of lethal disease

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have created bioengineered mice that develop aggressive, fatal pancreatic cancer through the same genetic mishaps that cause the disease in humans. The findings are being posted online today by the journal Genes and Development.

Because the mouse-model cancers start and progress along a path that closely resembles the disease’s course in humans, the scientist

First map of an entire global biome at useable level of detail

Researchers publish vegetation map of the Arctic Tundra Biome

Institute of Arctic Biology (IAB) researcher Donald (Skip) Walker and an international team of Arctic vegetation scientists have published the Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map (CAVM) – the first map of an entire global biome at such a level of detail.

The 11-year CAVM project, directed by Walker, who also heads IAB’s Alaska Geobotany Ce

New insight into the molecular-level interactions between bacteria and minerals may some day help scientists design bacteria with the express purpose of cleaning up toxic waste.

Hazardous waste experts know that certain bacteria can essentially eat toxic waste, reducing it to less noxious substances. But until now they didn’t know what mechanisms allowed these bacteria to devour chemicals.

A new study by Ohio State and Virginia Tech universities showed how a particular b

Scientists have found the gene that sends a signal through plant immune systems, saying, in effect: “Take two aspirin and call out the troops – we’re under attack!”

Discovery of the salicylic acid-binding protein 2 (SABP2) gene, by scientists at Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (BTI) at Cornell University, is being called an important step toward new strategies to boost plants’ natural defenses against disease and for reducing the need for agricultural pesticides.

Study Shows Why Each Parasite Species Often Infests a Favorite Host Species

University of Utah biologists twirled louse-infested bird feathers on an electric fan and flew pigeons and doves like kites on strings in a study that found small lice stick to small birds and big lice prefer big birds.

The study also showed why size matters to parasites: Lice infest bird species with feathers that are just the right size so the insects can hide between individual “barbs” – the hair

Disabling a set of genes in a strain of the tuberculosis bacteria surprisingly led to a mutant form of the pathogen that multiplied more quickly and was more lethal than its natural counterpart, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

As early as two weeks after infection, researchers found significantly more bacteria from the organs of mice infected with the mutated tuberculosis (TB) bacteria than for mice infected with the unmodified, or “wil