Nature : Science World Report

Mar 16, 2012 02:40 PM EDT

Increase in Arctic Shipping Poses Risk to Marine Mammals

A rapid increase in shipping in the formerly ice-choked waterways of the Arctic poses a significant increase in risk to the region's marine mammals and the local communities that rely on them for food security and cultural identity, according to an Alaska Native groups and the Wildlife Conservation ...

Mar 16, 2012 11:38 AM EDT

An Invasive Asian Fly Is Taking over European Fruit

Coming from the Asian continent, Drosophila suzukii has only been in Spain for a short time. Far away from slipping through into the Iberian Peninsula, it accelerated towards the north of Europe where it has already crossed the Alps. Amongst its preferred target are cherries and red fruits but any t...

Mar 16, 2012 08:13 AM EDT

Scientists Map Hotspots for Genetic Exchange in Chimpanzees

Scientists at the University of Oxford and the University of Chicago have constructed the world's first genetic map in chimpanzees of recombination - the exchange of genetic material within a chromosome that makes us all unique. The study, published today in Science Express, shows surprising differe...

Mar 15, 2012 04:41 PM EDT

With Climate Change, US Could Face Risk from Chagas Disease

In the spring of 1835, Charles Darwin was bitten in Argentina by a "great wingless black bug," he wrote in his diary. "It is most disgusting to feel soft wingless insects, about an inch long, crawling over one's body," Darwin wrote, "before sucking they are quite thin, but afterwards round & bloa...

Mar 15, 2012 04:20 PM EDT

A Bird's Song May Teach Us about Human Speech Disorders

Can the song of a small bird provide valuable insights into human stuttering and speech-related disorders and conditions, including autism and stroke?

Mar 15, 2012 03:33 PM EDT

Can 1 Simple Strategy Help Consumers Say 'No' to Temptation?

A collaborative discovery involving Kansas State University researchers may improve animal health and save the U.S. pork industry millions of dollars each year.

Mar 15, 2012 01:13 PM EDT

Triceratops Controversy Continues

Millions of years after its extinction, Triceratops is inciting controversy about how to classify the ancient animals. New analysis, published Feb. 29 in the open access journal PLoS ONE, suggests that the specimens in question should be classified into two separate groups, Triceratops and Torosauru...

Mar 15, 2012 01:06 PM EDT

Giant Squids' Giant Eyes: The Better to See Hungry Whales With

It's no surprise that giant and colossal squid are big, but it's their eyes that are the real standouts when it comes to size, with diameters measuring two or three times that of any other animal. Now, researchers reporting online on March 15 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have used c...

Mar 15, 2012 11:08 AM EDT

Clash of the Crayfish: Why the Americans Are Winning

Aggressive American signal crayfish are threatening Britain's native white-clawed crayfish populations because they have better resistance to parasites and are less fussy about what they eat.

Mar 15, 2012 10:37 AM EDT

Diverse Catches Are Better for Fishery Ecosystems

Fishing for a 'balanced harvest' can achieve productive fisheries as well as environmental conservation, an international scientific team reports today in the journal Science.

Mar 15, 2012 09:46 AM EDT

Surprising Pine Beetle Breeding Habits Help Explain Increasing Tree Damage, Says CU Study

Long thought to produce only one generation of tree-killing offspring annually, some populations of mountain pine beetles now produce two generations per year, dramatically increasing the potential for the bugs to kill lodgepole and ponderosa pine trees, University of Colorado Boulder researchers ha...

Mar 15, 2012 09:30 AM EDT

Princeton Scientists Identify Neural Activity Sequences that Help Form Memory, Decision-making

Princeton University researchers have used a novel virtual reality and brain imaging system to detect a form of neural activity underlying how the brain forms short-term memories that are used in making decisions.