They're kidnapped by children or captured by cats. They're cut down by tree trimmers or toppled by winds. Some fly into walls or windows, while others see their parents injured in territorial feuds. For baby hummingbirds, the summer is a time of great peril.

The problem of parasitism occurs at all levels right down to the DNA scale. Genomes may contain up to 80 percent "foreign" DNA but details of the mechanisms by which this enters the host genome and how hosts attempt to combat its spread are still the subject of conjecture. Important ...

If you wanted to draw your family tree, you could start by searching for people who share your surname. Cells, of course, don't have surnames, but scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have found that genetic switches called enhancers, and the molecules that activate those ...

To biophysicist Aravinthan Samuel, the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans provides a pathway to understanding the brain and nervous system, first of the worm, then of higher animals, and even, perhaps, of humans.

(PhysOrg.com) -- A study detailing the feeding behaviors of four species of fish found in the Colorado River and its tributaries uncovered a few surprises and opened new insights to the challenges faced by native fish species in the Southwest.

Plant scientists were confounded by the fact that the DNA extracted from the plants’ green chloroplasts sometimes showed the greatest similarities when related species grew in the same area. They tried to explain this phenomenon, for which they coined the term “chloroplast capture” with the assumption that every once in ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- New research from The Australian National University has revealed for the first time the role large trees play in sustaining biodiversity and bird life in urban environments.

The need to conserve water played a vital role in driving plants to evolve a specialised form of photosynthesis, scientists have shown.