https://phys.org/biology-news/biology-other en-us The latest news on biology, natural sciences, environment A multi-institutional team of environmental scientists and physical limnologists has found that there may be a scientific explanation for Jesus' "miraculous catch of fish"—one that does not involve miracles. In their paper published in the journal Water Resources Research, the group describes their study of natural fish die-offs in Lake Kinneret, which is believed to be the Biblical Sea of Galilee mentioned in the Bible. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-jesus-miraculous-fish-explanation.html Ecology Other Mon, 04 Nov 2024 10:39:55 EST news649939191 Recent rules that require all new building and road projects in England to address and offset their impact on nature are excellent in principle but flawed in their implementation, leading environmental economists argue. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-biodiversity-law-builders-compensate-nature.html Ecology Other Thu, 31 Oct 2024 11:00:01 EDT news649585893 In one of the most haunting scenes of Stephen King's 1975 novel "Salem's Lot," a gravedigger named Mike Ryerson races to bury the coffin of a local boy named Danny Glick. As night approaches, a troubling thought overtakes Mike: Danny has been buried with his eyes open. Worse, Mike senses that Danny is looking through the closed coffin back at him. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-poor-omen-death-centuries-iconic.html Plants & Animals Other Tue, 22 Oct 2024 15:36:26 EDT news648830183 Scientists don't just want their results to be published; they want them to be published in the most influential journal they can find. This focus on a high impact factor is driven by their concerns about promotion and tenure, but it may be overlooking the important role that smaller publications can play in the advancement of their science. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-smaller-specific-academic-journals-sway.html Ecology Other Thu, 17 Oct 2024 16:10:06 EDT news648400201 A team of pathophysiologists at the University of Milan has found that climbing stairs or walking for short bursts allows people to consume 20% to 60% more energy than if they do the same activity nonstop for the same distance. In their study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the group asked volunteers to walk on a treadmill or climb stairs while also monitoring their oxygen intake. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-short-consume-energy-distance.html Other Wed, 16 Oct 2024 10:20:01 EDT news648292671 Maybe you've seen the meme. Classic film characters up to their necks in muck, with text reading, "As a kid, I thought quicksand was going to be a much bigger problem in my life." Quicksand was an uncannily common plot point in the 70s and 80s, but murky wetland depictions in film haven't gone away. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-swamps-silver-screen-mirror-wetlands.html Ecology Other Mon, 14 Oct 2024 14:36:17 EDT news648135371 Fish taxies—refrigerated cargo vessels or reefers that function as mobile ports for fishing boats—are frequently described as weak links in the traceability of the seafood value chain. For the first time, research has identified the owners of all globally used reefers, the flags they use, and the fishing vessels they meet. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-reveals-key-players-global-transshipment.html Other Agriculture Fri, 11 Oct 2024 14:00:01 EDT news647858232 Humanity is hitting the upper limit of life expectancy, according to a new study. Advances in medical technology and genetic research—not to mention larger numbers of people making it to age 100—are not translating into marked jumps in lifespan overall, according to researchers who found shrinking longevity increases in countries with the longest-living populations. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-life-nearing-limit.html Other Mon, 07 Oct 2024 16:01:34 EDT news647535686 A man who tried to breed enormous hybrid sheep using genetic material from endangered animals so he could sell them to trophy hunting ranches has been sentenced to six months in prison, the US Department of Justice said Monday. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-breeder-enormous-trophy-sheep.html Other Tue, 01 Oct 2024 04:31:31 EDT news646975884 Women working in the field of ecology contribute overproportionately to research output, as shown by a recent study that reveals facets of gender bias in the context of scientific publications that have received little attention until now. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-reveals-gender-gap-ecology.html Ecology Other Fri, 20 Sep 2024 11:40:51 EDT news646051240 Are the biggest and most bulging calf muscles necessarily the most powerful? The scientists behind new research into muscle architecture say it's not the size of a muscle that delivers the most force, but rather its layout—in particular, a feathered layout called "pennate." https://phys.org/news/2024-09-strong-feather-insights-optimal-muscle.html Other Wed, 18 Sep 2024 11:37:20 EDT news645878236 More than 80,000 American service members remain missing from previous wars, most from World War II. When remains are found, decomposition often makes identification difficult—but not impossible. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-geologists-dentists-tooth-database-id.html Other Tue, 17 Sep 2024 09:58:19 EDT news645785894 If the shark emoji on your phone is anatomically correct, thank Emily Simpson. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-california-woman-quest-shark-emoji.html Other Fri, 13 Sep 2024 07:57:58 EDT news645433069 CABI scientists have conducted research which reveals that concerns over pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables is the most frequently cited source of food safety fears among consumers in Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan and Uganda. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-consumers-wary-pesticide-residue-fruits.html Other Agriculture Wed, 11 Sep 2024 16:55:04 EDT news645292501 An experimental Moderna mRNA vaccine for mpox has demonstrated greater effectiveness than current shots in reducing disease symptoms and duration, according to an animal study published in the journal Cell on Wednesday. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-moderna-mrna-mpox-vaccine-animal.html Other Wed, 04 Sep 2024 18:50:01 EDT news644680253 Beaming with smiles, Zambian farmer Mary Dimba points to a newly harvested crop of maize on her silo. The mother-of-four from Mpande village in Zambia's Lusaka Province tells how the beginning of the last cropping season was less stressful than previous ones. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-climate-funds-seeds-resilience.html Other Agriculture Mon, 02 Sep 2024 15:35:04 EDT news644510101 As far as the causes of global biodiversity loss are concerned, there are evidently perception gaps among students of environment-related subjects worldwide, as a survey conducted by Goethe University Frankfurt with more than 4,000 students from 37 countries has now shown. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-biodiversity-loss-students-environment-subjects.html Ecology Other Fri, 30 Aug 2024 13:11:01 EDT news644242256 A close reading of Darwin's work suggests a deep interest in cyclical events. Rhythmic phenomena in nature—today the subjects of the field of chronobiology—have been studied since at least the 18th century. In a perspective, Tiago Gomes de Andrade and Andrew D. Beale examined the writings and work of Charles Darwin to explore and share the eminent naturalist's deep fascination with biological rhythms. The work is published in PNAS Nexus. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-exploring-darwin-longstanding-biological-rhythms.html Evolution Other Tue, 27 Aug 2024 13:59:28 EDT news643985965 Would you eat potatoes grown in human poo? And how would you feel if the marigolds in your local park sprouted from human manure? In the midst of climate crisis, human manure offers significant environmental benefits. But can we overcome the "yuck factor" to embrace this sustainable solution? https://phys.org/news/2024-08-human-manure-nightsoil-great-crop.html Other Agriculture Wed, 21 Aug 2024 12:30:04 EDT news643462201 Compared to other mammals, human children are dependent on their caregivers for a remarkably long time. Throughout the ages, they have developed "psychological tactics" to endear themselves to adults and thus enhance their chances of survival. This prolonged dependency is believed to have driven the evolution of complex signaling mechanisms to help infants attract and maintain adult attention. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-baby-decoding-children-vocal-cognitive.html Evolution Other Tue, 06 Aug 2024 09:59:06 EDT news642157142 A new study takes a tour of the history of research into human embryology and development to show the "cycles of attention" that led to major scientific breakthroughs. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-fall-revival-human.html Other Fri, 02 Aug 2024 10:30:01 EDT news641811863 The lab of University of Virginia systems engineer Gregory J. Gerling recently made a discovery on a touchy subject: why women generally seem to have a more acute sense of touch than men. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-finger-men-women-differently.html Other Wed, 31 Jul 2024 16:25:57 EDT news641661946 New research led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows that super spikes, scientifically described as advanced footwear technology (AFT) spikes, can give runners about a 2% edge in middle-distance track races, like the 800- and 1,500-meters. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-super-spikes-track.html Other Mon, 29 Jul 2024 16:01:06 EDT news641487544 The human eye registers three colors of light: red, green and blue. But pigeons (and many other animal species) can also see a fourth color, ultraviolet. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-world-pigeon-theory-reality.html Plants & Animals Other Thu, 25 Jul 2024 11:25:48 EDT news641125542 Russia's war in Ukraine has caused immense suffering to the civilian population. Tens of thousands are believed to have been killed, though an exact figure is impossible to know. Russia's aggression has also sparked the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since the second World War, with 6.5 million people fleeing Ukraine since February 2022. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-russia-war-ukraine-devastating-animals.html Plants & Animals Other Wed, 24 Jul 2024 11:45:03 EDT news641040301 When local law enforcement are unable to identify skeletal remains, they may seek out external resources and capabilities like those at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (CAMS). That's exactly what happened in 2007 when police from Newfoundland, Canada, were six years into an investigation with nothing but dead ends. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-carbon-dating-tool-year-cold.html Other Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 23 Jul 2024 17:05:03 EDT news640973101 Forests can reduce hunger in rural households while also capturing carbon and advancing sustainability goals for low- and middle-income countries, according to new research by University of Notre Dame experts. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-forest-resources-food.html Ecology Other Mon, 22 Jul 2024 16:39:48 EDT news640885186 Social media and online communities can play a crucial role for owners searching for their stolen pets, researchers have revealed, both in physically tracking them down and as a source of comfort after their loss. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-reveal-pivotal-role-online-communities.html Other Veterinary medicine Thu, 18 Jul 2024 14:12:02 EDT news640530721 Researchers have published a new study in Information Fusion that demonstrates an improvement in the identification of human remains using craniofacial superimposition, making decision-making by forensic experts much more objective. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-identification-human-craniofacial-superimposition.html Other Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 18 Jul 2024 03:59:36 EDT news640493969 A psychologist at the University of London has found that humans have a surprisingly precise degree of tactile localization beneath their fingernails. In his study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Matthew Longo tested how well volunteers could pinpoint the part of their fingernail being stimulated and outlines possible reasons. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-subsurface-fingernails-precise-tactile-localization.html Evolution Other Wed, 10 Jul 2024 09:59:03 EDT news639824339