City birds are smarter than country birds
Montreal, Canada (SPX) Mar 23, 2016 -
Birds living in urban environments are smarter than birds from rural environments.
But, why do city birds have the edge over their country friends? They adapted to their urban environments enabling them to exploit new resources more favorably then their rural counterparts, say a team of all-McGill University researchers.
In a first-ever study to find clear cognitive differences in bi ...
more
China's forest recovery shows hope for mitigating global climate change
East Lansing MI (SPX) Mar 22, 2016 -
China's sweeping program to restore forests across the country is working. The vast destruction of China's forests, leveled after decades of logging, floods and conversion to farmland, has become a story of recovery, according to the first independent verification published in Science Advances by Michigan State University (MSU) researchers.
"It is encouraging that China's forest has been r ...
more
Smaller corn size means more energy for pigs, lower costs for producers
Urbana IL (SPX) Mar 23, 2016 -
The results of new research at the University of Illinois indicate that it is possible for producers to reduce feed costs if yellow dent corn, a staple of swine diets in the United States, is ground to a finer particle size.
The smaller particle size allows pigs to derive more energy from the corn, which means producers can reduce the amount of fat added to diets (reducing their costs) wit ...
more
Grass and flowers sourced locally
Leipzig, Germany (SPX) Mar 23, 2016 -
Colorful, low-intensity grasslands do not only look attractive, but also offer valuable habitat for many plants and animals. Yet they have become rare in many places. To create more environments that contain grass and herbs, it is usually necessary to sow the appropriate plants. But which seeds should be used? Many scientists and environmentalists are speaking out in favour of seed from the same ...
more
Calculating dispersal from unique submarine hot spring ecosystems
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 23, 2016 -
Deep below the ocean's surface are hydrothermal vent fields, or submarine hot springs that can reach temperatures of up to 400 C. These fields are surrounded by a unique set of animals, including vent crabs and eyeless vent shrimp, that survive off of the chemicals emitted from the hydrothermal vents.
Recently, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) researc ...
more
Production of butter from shea trees in West Africa pushed back 1,000 years
Eugene OR (SPX) Mar 23, 2016 -
University of Oregon anthropologists have pushed back the history of harvesting shea trees in West Africa by more than 1,000 years earlier than previously believed.
Evidence for earlier use of the wild trees dating to A.D. 100 - reported in the March issue of the Journal of Ethnobiology - surfaced from excavations at the well-preserved archaeological site at Kirikongo in western Burkina Fa ...
more
Parasites reveal how evolution has molded an ancient nuclear structure
New York NY (SPX) Mar 23, 2016 -
Long before animals evolved from sponges, and before plants evolved out of algae, there was a pivotal event that allowed complex, multicellular organisms to arise: the development of the nucleus in single-celled organisms. Eukaryotes, one of the three main branches of living organisms, are defined by the presence of this nucleus and its surrounding membrane, which houses and protects our genetic ...
more
Scientists say many plants don't respond to warming as thought
New York NY (SPX) Mar 23, 2016 -
Plants, like people, breathe, and when it gets hotter, they breathe harder. One product of respiration is the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Thus, researchers predict that as the planet is warmed by human-produced CO2, plants may add to the emissions, and amplify the warming. Now, the most comprehensive global study of its kind yet suggests that this effect has limits, and that increases in plan ...
more
