Harvard students build Dominican insect database
Over spring break, a group of Harvard students led by biology Professor Brian Farrell collected specimens representing 500 insect species, including perhaps 200 new ones, and helped establish an insect...
View ArticleMissing link crawls out of muck
Paleontologists have discovered fossils of a species that provides the missing evolutionary link between fish and the first animals that walked out of water onto land about 375 million years ago. The...
View ArticleEvolution follows few possible paths to antibiotic resistance
Darwinian evolution follows very few of the available mutational pathways to attain fitter proteins, researchers at Harvard University have found in a study of a gene whose mutant form increases...
View ArticleSome like it hot: Deep-sea worms favor a fiery 45-55° c
Scientists have found that worms dwelling at deep-sea hydrothermal vents opt for temperatures of 45-55 degrees Celsius (113-131 degrees Fahrenheit) when provided a choice of conditions, giving them the...
View ArticleWorld’s largest flower evolved from family of much tinier blooms
The plant with the world’s largest flower – typically a full meter across, with a bud the size of a basketball – evolved from a family of plants whose blossoms are nearly all tiny, botanists write this...
View ArticleBig brains better for birds
As you might guess, big-brained birds survive better in the wild than those less cerebral for their size. Scientists guessed that too, but they had to prove it to themselves. “The supposition that...
View ArticleSpecies thrive when sexual dimorphism broadens niches
Some Caribbean lizards’ strong sexual dimorphism allows them to colonize much larger niches and habitats than they might otherwise occupy, allowing males and females to avoid competing with each other...
View ArticleFirst orchid fossil puts showy blooms at some 80 million years old
Biologists at Harvard University have identified the ancient fossilized remains of a pollen-bearing bee as the first hint of orchids in the fossil record, a find they say suggests orchids are old...
View ArticleTelling the arthropod tale of life
They had sifted through the forest floor’s leaves and dirt for days, looking for a tiny type of daddy longlegs native to New Zealand, but had little more than dirty hands to show for it. Gonzalo...
View ArticleBoning up on frogs’ defenses
Harvard biologists have determined that some African frogs carry concealed weapons: when threatened, these species puncture their own skin with sharp bones in their toes, using the bones as claws...
View ArticleClark, Hewitt named AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellows
Harvard affiliates Sharri Clark and David Hewitt have been named among the newest group of Science & Technology Policy Fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The...
View ArticleHarvard faculty members net MacArthur fellowships
Three biologists — one current and two future faculty members at Harvard — have won MacArthur Foundation “genius” grants, $500,000 no-strings-attached awards intended to encourage creativity,...
View ArticleSeeing what they hear, to better understand ourselves
It was a long drive from St. Louis to Florida, but Darlene Ketten had finally made it. Standing in the warm surf of St. George Island, she watched with delight as tiny, colorful bean clams popped out...
View ArticleRecords dating back to Thoreau show some sharp shifts in plant flowering near...
Drawing on records dating back to the journals of Henry David Thoreau, scientists at Harvard University have found that different plant families near Walden Pond in Concord, Mass., have borne the...
View ArticleThe evolution of Darwin
In a fitting celebration of a man whose ideas revolutionized science, Harvard marked Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday in style yesterday. There was a campuswide read-a-thon of “The Origin of Species,” a...
View ArticleBacteria have more to say than previously thought
Bacteria are the oldest living organisms, dating back 4 billion years. So it is only logical that they have evolved ways to communicate. Yet scientists are just starting to explore the secret languages...
View ArticleTake two: Brother’s keepers Bill and Dan Jones ’09, ’09
Complete strangers recognize Dan Jones on campus all the time. It’s the same for his brother, Bill. “I just play along,” said Dan. “I don’t know their names, I’ve never seen them before. I just assume...
View ArticleHow does a worm build a throat?
Mention worms to most people, and they probably think of fishing, gardening, or trips to the vet. Mention them to Susan E. Mango, and she begins telling you how “absolutely beautiful” they are, how she...
View ArticleWhat’s behind the predictably loopy gut
Between conception and birth, the human gut grows more than two meters long, looping and coiling within the tiny abdomen. Within a given species, the developing vertebrate gut always loops into the...
View ArticleHarvard students build Dominican insect database
Over spring break, a group of Harvard students led by biology Professor Brian Farrell collected specimens representing 500 insect species, including perhaps 200 new ones, and helped establish an...
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