Country diary: dinosaur poo on the banks of the Severn
Aust Cliff, South Gloucestershire: We are after fossils from the upper strata, inaccessible until chunks are torn off by winter ’s teethAust Cliff is half a hill, sliced open like a birthday cake by the River Severn ’s slow knife, exposing two ornamental layers of pink and blue-green mudstone. Right here, about 200m years ago, a red desert was overwhelmed by a balmy ocean. Today, a cold northern sea mingles with a slowly churning river of mud, crossed at this point by the old Severn Bridge, once the longest s ingle-span bridge in the world. The scale of this place, in time, space and ambition, is magnificent.Continue r...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - November 28, 2018 Category: Science Authors: Dawn Lawrence Tags: Fossils Geology Environment Wales UK news Biology Evolution Science Dinosaurs Zoology Source Type: news
NSF Lifts Proposal Cap for BIO
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has rescinded its decision to limit researchers to only one proposal submission per year to NSF’s Biological Sciences Directorate’s (BIO) three core programs as a principal investigator (PI) or co-PI.
In October 2017, BIO had announced a no-deadline system for proposal submissions with the goal to reduce the number of rejected proposals that were later resubmitted without major changes and to encourage collaborations between scientists. The policy of limiting the number of proposals that a PI or Co-PI could submit to a given division annually was implemented in August 201...
Source: Public Policy Reports - November 26, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
'Old-fashioned fieldwork' puts new frog species on the map
(SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry) Months of old-fashioned fieldwork helped define the range and unique characteristics of the recently discovered Atlantic Coast leopard frog. A study published this month in the journal PLOS ONE pinpointed the frog's range along the Eastern Seaboard, its unusual call and a list of distinguishing traits. The lead author is a zoologist with the New York Natural Heritage Program based at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, N.Y. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - November 26, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: news
Signal peptides' novel role in glutamate receptor trafficking and neural synaptic activity
(Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters) Dr. SHENG Nengyin at the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Dr. SHI Yun's Lab at the Model Animal Research Center of Nanjing University, revealed a signal peptide function for glutamate receptor trafficking and uncovered a novel trafficking mechanism for glutamate receptors. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - November 19, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
The Empire of the Eagle: the world's most graceful bird – in pictures
The Empire of the Eagle: An Illustrated Natural History, by Mike Unwin and David Tipling, is published byYale University Press and celebrates the world ’s 68 eagle species in all their magnificence and beguiling diversityContinue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - November 15, 2018 Category: Science Tags: Wildlife Birds Environment Zoology Books Animals Culture Science Photography Biology Source Type: news
‘ Ground-breaking ’ great ape activity device revealed at Bristol Zoo Gardens
A team of scientists from the University of Bristol and Bristol Zoological Society have collaborated to develop a ‘ ground-breaking ’ new animal enrichment activity for the gorillas at Bristol Zoo Gardens. (Source: University of Bristol news)
Source: University of Bristol news - November 13, 2018 Category: Universities & Medical Training Tags: Research; Institutes, Institutes, Brigstow, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Science, School of Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Engineering, School of Computer Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and Engineering Maths Source Type: news
Aubrey Manning obituary
Ethologist, broadcaster and expert on the evolutionary genetics of animal behaviour who was a natural communicator on televisionAubrey Manning ’s hugely popular 1998 BBC seriesEarth Story, about the evolution and shaping of the planet Earth, inspired a generation and led to a noticeable increase in students applying to read earth sciences. Yet, Aubrey, who has died aged 88, was not a geologist, but an ethologist, whose work made an important contribution to the understanding of how animal behaviour plays a role in the evolution of new species.In a series of experiments at Oxford and Edinburgh universities – he was prof...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - November 11, 2018 Category: Science Authors: David Sington Tags: Science BBC Environment Wildlife Genetics Geology Television & radio Zoology Animals Radio 4 Population University of Edinburgh Source Type: news
Talk to your baby like you talk to your dog
This might sound strange, but I found talking to my dog much less stressful than talking to my babies. They had a lot in common: Both were non-verbal, both relied on me for their well-being, and both were in possession of what Austrian zoologist Konrad Lorenz called "baby schema." (Source: CNN.com - Health)
Source: CNN.com - Health - November 7, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
ZSL report finds palm oil companies' commitments lacking
(Zoological Society of London) Zero-deforestation commitments within the palm oil industry risk being undermined by a lack of monitoring within production landscapes - meaning the deforestation of tropical forests home to Critically Endangered wildlife such as Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) and orangutans (Pongo abelii) could be going unreported. This is just one finding of an in-depth evaluation of palm oil companies, published today by ZSL (Zoological Society of London). (Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science)
Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science - November 6, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
Pre-clinical success for a universal flu vaccine offers hope for third generation approach
Researchers from the University of Oxford's Department of Zoology have demonstrated pre-clinical success for a universal flu vaccine in a new paper published in Nature Communications. Influenza is thought to be a highly variable virus, able to mutate and escape immunity built up in the population due to its circulation in previous seasons. However, influenza seasons tend to be dominated by a limited number of antigenically and genetically distinct influenza viruses. (Source: World Pharma News)
Source: World Pharma News - September 21, 2018 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: Featured Research Research and Development Source Type: news
Pre-clinical success for a universal flu vaccine offers hope for third generation approach
(University of Oxford) Researchers from the University of Oxford's Department of Zoology have demonstrated pre-clinical success for a universal flu vaccine in a new paper published in Nature Communications. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - September 21, 2018 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Fire at Brazil's National Museum Destroys Millions of Science Collections
A massive fire at Brazil’s National Museum in Rio de Janeiro has resulted in the loss of about 20 million artefacts, including science and natural history collections. Details of the extent of the damage are still emerging, but a large insect collection of nearly 5 million specimens has reportedly been lost. The herbarium, which houses about 650,000 plant specimens, had moved to a separate building in 2007 and was spared from the fire.
“It’s an irreparable loss, not only for Brazilian science but for the world. The building can be reconstructed, restored, and everything else, but the collections can neve...
Source: Public Policy Reports - September 18, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
200 Scientists Participate in 2018 Biological Sciences Congressional District Visits
Across the country, biologists have been meeting with their lawmakers this summer and fall as part of AIBS’s 2018 Biological Sciences Congressional District Visits. In its tenth year, this
national science advocacy event enables scientists to meet with their federal or state elected
officials in their local community. Over 200 individuals from 34 states are participating this year.
“I had a great experience with the AIBS Congressional District Visit Day. As a graduate student this training is so vital to the development of civically engaged scientists,” said Alexandra Chirakos, a graduate student at th...
Source: Public Policy Reports - September 18, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Ancient bird bones redate human activity in Madagascar by 6,000 years
(Zoological Society of London) Analysis of bones, from what was once the world's largest bird, has revealed that humans arrived on the tropical island of Madagascar more than 6,000 years earlier than previously thought -- according to a study published today, Sept. 12, 2018, in the journal Science Advances. (Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science)
Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science - September 12, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
Lost Worlds are Lost
So long, and thanks for all the hitsSince2012 I have been writing for the Guardian on these pages and the forerunner of LWR, theLost Worlds blog. It ’s (generally) been a pleasure and privilege to help cover new and exciting discoveries likegiant sauropods andfighting thick-headed dinosaurs, and especially new taxa includingRegaliceratops andNyasasaurus. In addition, it has given me a platform to talk about important issues inscience communication and education (like myT. rex documentary andcreationists being, shock, wrong) and other aspects of palaeontology and the biological sciences including thepredictive power of ev...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - August 29, 2018 Category: Science Authors: Dr Dave Hone Tags: Dinosaurs Evolution Biology Fossils Science Zoology Source Type: news
