Similar to Humans, Mother Bats Use “Baby Talk” to Communicate With Their Pups
When talking to babies, humans slow down their speech, raise their pitch and change the “color” of their voice. This “baby talk,” as people know…
Developmental Biology
Experts Warn of Growing “Hormone Disrupter” Chemical Threats
Experts call for stricter regulation. A growing number of chemicals in pesticides, flame retardants, and certain plastics have been linked to widespread health problems including…
Scientists Create Human Embryo-Like Model From Human Stem Cells
Scientists from the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the Hubrecht Institute in The Netherlands, have developed a new model to study an early stage…
Bioelectric Drugs Can Repair and Prevent Defects in Developing Frog Brains
Researchers suggest the discovery offers a roadmap for exploration of therapeutic drugs that could help repair birth defects in humans. Researchers led by biologists at…
New Research Shows Adolescence Is Ruff for Dogs Too
New research led by scientists from Newcastle University and the University of Nottingham has shown that typical teenage behavior doesn’t just occur in young humans…
For Narwhals – The ‘Unicorns of the Sea’ – Size Matters for Sexual Selection
Showy peacock feathers, extravagant elk antlers and powerful crayfish claws are just a few examples of the ostentatious animal extremes used to compete for and…
Human Embryos’ Muscles Still Have 250-Million-Year-Old Evolutionary Remnants
A team of evolutionary biologists, led by Dr. Rui Diogo at Howard University, USA, and writing in the journal Development, have demonstrated that numerous atavistic…
Incredible Imaging Shows How Neural Circuits Form in a Developing Embryo [Video]
Cells that eventually become neurons (red, orange, and yellow spheres) migrate during embryonic development. The migrating baby neurons that build the spinal cord are color-coded…
Scientists Find New Trigger for Onset of Colon Cancer
Collaborative research has discovered a new function of a colon cancer gene that puts the brakes on several colon cancer activators. This finding may lead…
Biologists Give New Life to Museum Plant Collections
Using a hitchhiking weed, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen reveal for the first time the mutation rate of a…
Biologists Design Synthetic Molecules to Help Boost the Immune System
Yale researchers have developed a set of synthetic molecules that may help boost the strength of a key, virus-fighting protein. The protein, RIG-I, is an…
New Comprehensive Map of How Butterflies Are Related to Each Other
For hundreds of years, butterfly collecting has often inspired a special kind of fanaticism, spurring lengthy expeditions, sparking rivalries and prompting some collectors to risk…
New Research Shows World’s Most Venomous Spiders Are Cousins
Two groups of highly venomous spiders might be seeing more of each other at family reunions. A new study led by San Diego State University…
Yale Researchers Track How Cells Repair Rips in DNA
All DNA is sealed within the cell’s nuclear membrane, which protects it from molecular marauders. But what happens when that protective envelope rips? Yale researchers…
Study Shows Selenium Protects Interneurons in the Brain
Exactly 200 years ago, the Swedish scientist Jöns Jacob Berzelius discovered the trace element selenium, which he named after the goddess of the moon, Selene….
Genetic Variability Supports Plant Survival During Droughts
In the first study to predict whether different populations of the same plant species can adapt to climate change, scientists from the Max Planck Institute…
High Glucose Levels During Pregnancy Affects the Baby’s Heart
New research from UCLA details how diabetes in pregnancy affects baby’s heart, revealing that high levels of glucose keep cardiac cells from maturing normally. Researchers…
New Insight on CLOCK Gene May Hold Answers to Human Brain Evolution
Scientists have long sought to unravel the molecular mysteries that make the human brain special: What processes drove its evolution through the millennia? Which genes…