UK–(ENEWSPF)–28 March 2013. Males who stick around to care for offspring that may not belong to them are not ‘hapless dupes’ but are playing the odds in a game of evolutionary poker, according to Oxford University research. Previous studies have assumed that ‘cuckolded’ males, whose mates have offspring fathered by[Read More…]

EU–(ENEWSPF)–26 March 2013 The internal structure of a human cell in simulated gravity taken on the International Space Station. Pictured here is a monocyte immune cell that plays an integral role in protecting our bodies from foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses. To record this image, immune cells were[Read More…]

MIT researchers improve efficiency of quantum-dot photovoltaic system by adding a forest of nanowires. CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(ENEWSPF)–March 25, 2013.  Using exotic particles called quantum dots as the basis for a photovoltaic cell is not a new idea, but attempts to make such devices have not yet achieved sufficiently high efficiency in[Read More…]

ANN ARBOR–(ENEWSPF)–March 21, 2013. In the weeks after the Connecticut school shooting, as the nation puzzled over how it happened and what might prevent it from happening again, Kamal Sarabandi was listening to the news. Talk turned to giving teachers guns, and he paused. “I said, there must be a[Read More…]

UK–(ENEWSPF)–14 March 2013.  Neanderthal brains were adapted to allow them to see better and maintain larger bodies, according to new research by the University of Oxford and the Natural History Museum, London. Although Neanderthals’ brains were similar in size to their contemporary modern human counterparts, fresh analysis of fossil data[Read More…]

A scanning electron microscope image of an American house dust mite. Image credit: G. Bauchan and R. Ochoa ANN ARBOR–(ENEWSPF)–March 8, 2013. In evolutionary biology, there is a deeply rooted supposition that you can’t go home again: Once an organism has evolved specialized traits, it can’t return to the lifestyle[Read More…]

Washington, D.C.-(ENEWSPF)- The American Astronomical Society (AAS) supports President Barack Obama’s new policy on “open access,” the idea that published results of taxpayer-funded research should be made freely available on the Internet rather than permanently restricted to journal subscribers or other paying customers. Central to the new policy is the recognition that[Read More…]

Linguistics and biology researchers propose a new theory on the deep roots of human speech. CAMBRIDGE, Mass. –(ENEWSPF)–February 21, 2013. “The sounds uttered by birds offer in several respects the nearest analogy to language,” Charles Darwin wrote in “The Descent of Man” (1871), while contemplating how humans learned to speak.[Read More…]

UK–(ENEWSPF)–19 February 2013.  Caption: Close-up of a daffodil flower, showing the corona (Credit: OU/Robert Scotland) The daffodil is one of the few plants with a ‘corona’, a crown-like structure also referred to as the ‘trumpet’. New research suggests that the corona is not an extension of the petals as previously[Read More…]

Asteroid trace over Chelyabinsk, Russia, on 15 February 2013   EU–(ENEWSPF)–19 February 2013. The first firm details of the 15 February asteroid impact in Russia, the largest in more than a century, are becoming clear. ESA is carefully assessing the information as crucial input for developing the Agency’s asteroid-hunting effort.[Read More…]