If fisherman might be inclined to keep his favorite fishing spot a secret, but sometimes it helps to tell others. They may return the favor and tell you about other great places. It's a dilemma that also faces hunters. When should you share information, and when should you go at it alone? A new study might have some answers.
Biomedicine & Biotech
Communication is fundamental to all living organisms. We need to share information for the survival of our species and many species have different means to get their message across. The honeybee (Apis mellifera) has, perhaps, the coolest form of communication.
Reporting in the journal Current Biology, a team of scientists showed that pea plants responded rationally to variations in nutrient supply.
When you order expensive tuna, how do you know that's excellent kind that you're paying for? How many of us would really know if another fish of lesser quality had been substituted? As it turns out, the fish may very well not be the high-end selection you asked for, regardless of its menu price.
John Podesta, campaign manager and a close advisor to Hillary Clinton, believes the government has not divulged everything it knows about UFOs and Area 51. Given his predilection for conspiratorial beliefs, it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that he has a fear of biotechnology.
Ever wonder how the green forest gets its vibrant red and yellow colors when the seasons change? Science has some answers.
Foliage Reports: http://www.foliagenetwork.com/
The Polymerase Chain Reaction was developed in 1983, and since that time it's become one of the most commonly-used techniques in labs across the world. The ability to amplify one region of DNA using PCR was an incredible advance to many fields of scientific research.
A team of German researchers swabbed 400 bathroom door handles from 136 airports in 59 countries. More than 5 percent produced strains of Staphylococcus aureus, a result that underscores the importance of proactive global epidemiological surveillance. There is no such thing as local outbreak anymore.
These days, it seems like the big ideas of Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk garner the most attention. Perhaps, we should give Dr. Ohsumi, whose been in science for 50 years and just won the highest honor given to scientists, a bit of the spotlight. His plan is to take us back to the past by supporting young microbiologists with big ideas.
Once the weapon of choice for prepubescent teens, cyberbullying is now deployed, with ruthless efficiency, against PhDs who have committed the unspeakable crime of conducting research on, and publicly advocating, GMOs. The goal is straightforward: Biotech scientists must be destroyed professionally. Failing that, they must be destroyed emotionally.
Due to increasing antibiotic resistance, microbiologists are on the lookout for unconventional ways to kill bacteria. Atypical methods range from phage therapy, in which bacteria-killing viruses are unleashed upon the microbes, to the use of "bed-of-nails" surfaces that physically rip bacteria apart.
Japanese scientist Yoshinori Ohsumi was honored for discovering autophagy, which is a type of programmed cell death. Some cells in multicellular organisms, like animals and plants, choose to self-destruct for the greater benefit of the organism. This can occur for a variety of reasons.