Scientist's Persistence Sheds Light On Marine Science Riddle:
When he started compiling an online database of seashells 15 years ago, Dr. Gary Rosenberg did not envision that his meticulous record-keeping would eventually shed light on a 40-year-old evolutionary debate. The debate involves the mechanism underlying the island rule: that small animals isolated on islands evolve to be larger than their mainland relatives, and large animals evolve to be smaller.
If the name of Craig McClain - one of the authors of teh paper - rings the bell, it may be because you are reading his delightful blog Deep Sea News. More on the study by PZ and Mr R.
Hotel Guests With Colds Can Leave Their Germs Behind After Checkout:
A group of researchers led by a team from the University of Virginia Health System found that adults infected with rhinovirus, the cause of half of all colds, may contaminate many objects used in daily life, leaving an infectious gift for others who follow them. The results of their experiments, conducted in hotel rooms, will be shared at the 46th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, in San Francisco, California on Friday, September 29.
Revere has more on this story.
Parasitic Plants Sniff Out Hosts:
Parasitic plants do not haphazardly flail about looking for a host but sense volatile chemicals produced by other plants and identify potential hosts by their emissions, according to a team of Penn State chemical ecologists.
Fire Ant-attacking Fly Spreading Rapidly In Texas:
Parasitic flies introduced to control red imported fire ants have spread over four million acres in central and southeast Texas since the flies' introduction in 1999, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have discovered using new flytraps they developed.
Dinosaurs' Climate Shifted Too, Reports Show:
Ancient rocks from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean suggest dramatic climate changes during the dinosaur-dominated Mesozoic Era, a time once thought to have been monotonously hot and humid.
Solved: The Mystery Of Flesh-eating Bacteria's Relentless Attack:
A Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) international research scholar in Israel has discovered one reason why so-called "flesh-eating" bacteria are so hard to stop.