Archive for the ‘DNA’

7 July, 2011

How to survive a black widow

Females eat the male after sex. This is the practice of the species of the dark black widow spider. But there is hope for the male victims. Their death can be prevented by walking and smelling the web of the female. This has been discovered by researchers of the U.S. Arizona State University. Females eat their […]

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5 July, 2011

When your head aches, LSD to the rescue

Patients suffering from the agony of cluster headaches will take anything to dull the pain, even LSD, it turns out. Results from a pilot study presented at the International Headache Congress reveal that six patients treated with 2-bromo-LSD, a nonhallucinogenic analog of LSD, showed a significant reduction in cluster headaches per day; some were free […]

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28 May, 2011

Your feet stink, so mosquitoes must love you

In accordance with my previous post, more evidence has been found that mosquitoes are attracted to  bodily odour. This time, scientists says it is feet odour. Before a mosquito comes in for a “fly-through” meal, it first has to feed on a sugary substance, usually from a flower. Then it uses carbon dioxide from a […]

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16 August, 2010

Malaria-proof mosquito engineered

Malaria-proof mosquito engineered

The researchers, from the University of Arizona, have succeeded in genetically engineering a malaria-resistant mosquito by introducing a gene that affected the insect’s gut, meaning the malaria parasite could not develop. Although the ultimate goal was to introduce malaria-resistant mosquitoes into the environment, is also reduces the insects’ lifespan. In the study the researchers altered […]

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5 September, 2009

Can you see that smell?

Can you see that smell?

In the animal- and insect-kingdom, communication is made through an invisible world of scents. By exploiting infrared technology, researchers at Rockefeller University just made that world visible. With the ability to see smells, these scientists now show that when fly larvae detect smells with both olfactory organs they find their way toward a scented target […]

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