Nature : Science World Report

May 10, 2012 04:41 PM EDT

Bat-killing Epidemic Spreads to Civil War Park at Lookout Mountain, Tennessee

A disease that has killed nearly 7 million bats across the eastern United States has struck a colony of bats at the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, which sprawls from Tennessee into Georgia. The discovery marks the second time in a week the epidemic known as white-nose syndrome h...

May 10, 2012 10:54 AM EDT

Secrets of the First Practical Artificial Leaf

A detailed description of development of the first practical artificial leaf - a milestone in the drive for sustainable energy that mimics the process, photosynthesis, that green plants use to convert water and sunlight into energy - appears in the ACS journal Accounts of Chemical Research.

May 10, 2012 09:53 AM EDT

Target: Drug-resistant Bacteria

Over the past several decades, scientists have faced challenges in developing new antibiotics even as bacteria have become increasingly resistant to existing drugs. One strategy that might combat such resistance would be to overwhelm bacterial defenses by using highly targeted nanoparticles to deliv...

May 10, 2012 08:24 AM EDT

Researchers Map Fish Species at Risk from Dams

Dams are believed to be one of the biggest threats to freshwater organisms worldwide: They disrupt normal patterns of water and sediment flow, impede migration, and alter the character of spawning and feeding grounds. A shortage of data has until now prevented a thorough global assessment of the thr...

May 09, 2012 05:16 PM EDT

UI Professor Identifies Largest Known Crocodile

A crocodile large enough to swallow humans once lived in East Africa, according to a University of Iowa researcher.

May 09, 2012 01:47 PM EDT

Biodiversity Loss Ranks with Climate Change and Pollution in Terms of Impacts to Environment

A recent study published by an international research team working at UC Santa Barbara's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) has found that loss of biodiversity impacts the environment as significantly as climate change and pollution. The study, titled, "A global synthesis ...

May 08, 2012 04:13 PM EDT

VIDEO: What Is Your Dog Thinking?

When your dog gazes up at you adoringly, what does it see? A best friend? A pack leader? A can opener?

May 08, 2012 03:19 PM EDT

Beetle-fungus Disease Threatens Crops and Landscape Trees in Southern California

A plant pathologist at the University of California, Riverside has identified a fungus that has been linked to the branch dieback and general decline of several backyard avocado and landscape trees in residential neighborhoods of Los Angeles County.

May 08, 2012 02:47 PM EDT

Computer Scientists Develop an Interactive Field Guide App for Birders

A team of researchers led by computer scientist Serge Belongie at the University of California, San Diego, has good news for birders: they have developed an iPad app that will identify most North American birds, with a little help from a human user.

May 08, 2012 12:05 PM EDT

Camera Trap Video Offers Rare Glimpse of World's Rarest Gorilla

Conservationists working in Cameroon's Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary have collected the first camera trap video footage of the Cross River gorilla. With fewer than 250 individuals remaining, Cross River gorillas are the world's rarest gorilla and a notoriously elusive species rarely observed directly by...

May 08, 2012 11:50 AM EDT

VIDEO: The Auburn Tiger Trapdoor Spider -- a New Species Discovered from a College Town Backyard

Researchers at Auburn University have reported the discovery a new trapdoor spider species from a well-developed housing subdivision in the heart of the city of Auburn, Alabama. Myrmekiaphila tigris, affectionately referred to as the Auburn Tiger Trapdoor spider, is named in honor of Auburn Universi...

May 08, 2012 10:49 AM EDT

Men Can Rest Easy â€“ Sex Chromosomes Are Here to Stay

The study, published yesterday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), looked at how genes on sex-linked chromosomes are passed down generations and linked to fertility, using the specific example of the W chromosome in female chickens.