A red-tailed guenon in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest region of Uganda nibbles on a jam-covered rope. It’s sweet treat with purpose — the rope will later be collected, the saliva left behind analyzed. This clever, non-invasive sampling technique was developed a few years ago by researchers at the University of California, Davis.
Data from these samples helps scientists track the emergence of zoononic diseases — pathogens in wildlife that could spread to humans. Before the jam ...read more
The Journal of Health Psychology has just published an extraordinary pair of papers that call for a new inquiry into a 30-year old case of probable scientific fraud.
According to Anthony J. Pelosi, author of the main paper, the case was "one of the worst scientific scandals of all time" and yet has never been formally investigated. The journal's editor, David F. Marks, agrees and, in an editorial, also calls for the retraction or correction of up to 61 papers.
The scandal in question is on ...read more
What a difference a year makes.
After a shocking dearth of snow last year, the Sierra Nevada mountains of California and Nevada truly have been getting plastered, helping to build up the snowpack that millions of people depend on for water.
Other parts of the western United States have also benefited from a bounty of precipitation that has eased drought conditions. But does this herald a change in long-term fortunes in the region? Read on to the end for insights a ...read more
(Inside Science) -- In 2012 and 2013, Bill Bateman, a zoologist based in Perth, Australia, began to notice something interesting about how animals were navigating the bush: When mining companies created small paths through the previously tangled environment to install seismic lines, animals started preferentially using those trails to move from one place to another.
And animal ingenuity wasn’t confined to walking on beaten paths.
“The more we looked, the more evidence there was t ...read more
Scientists keep prying into the sex lives of Neanderthals. In the past decade, they’ve revealed that Neanderthals got busy with both Homo sapiens and Denisovans, another lineage of now-extinct humans.
But there’s more: Mounting evidence suggests Neanderthals also had a habit of inbreeding, or conceiving with close relatives. Several studies have now reported this based on genetic patterns and bone abnormalities thought to result from intra-family flings.
First, let’s review t ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine