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Content: Volume 4, Issue 3

showing 1-5 of 25 breaks

Smart plant defense against a stealthy herbivore

Many vegetables, fruits and ornamental flowers you buy in shops, have been treated with chemicals. The reason for this is that herbivorous insects and pathogens that would otherwise destroy these crops had to be killed. The use of pesticides and insecticides is not harmless and... click to read more

  • Karen J. Kloth | Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Views 5979
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Sep 28, 2018
Absent microbial teachers and immunological hooliganism

The trillions of microbes that live in our gastrointestinal tract are known as the gut microbiome. It is an "acquired organ" of the body that is essential for the development of immune and metabolic systems and for nutrient digestion and absorption, among other things. As... click to read more

  • Jun Miyoshi | Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery (KCBD), The University of Chicago, Chicago, USA
  • Eugene Chang | Professor at Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery (KCBD), The University of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Views 5813
Reading time 4 min
published on Sep 26, 2018
Shrunken heads: a curious strategy to survive winter

Phenotypic plasticity is a remarkable capacity of organisms to change their morphology, physiology, and behavior to adapt to their environment. This ability enables individuals to cope with changes in the environmental conditions within their lifespan. Organisms inhabiting seasonal environments undergo seasonal plastic changes to cope... click to read more

  • Javier Lázaro | PhD student at Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Department of Migration and Immuno-Ecology, group of Resource Fluctuations and Animal Movement, Germany
Views 6882
Reading time 4 min
published on Sep 24, 2018
The snake with the skin of a rhino…that eats babies!

Legends say that the rhinoceros has skin that can withstand a gunshot. Despite the slight exaggeration, without a doubt the rhinoceros bears one of the toughest hides in the animal kingdom, stretching as thick as 5 cm and woven together specifically to repel attacks. What... click to read more

  • Dawei Han | PhD student at Department of Anatomy, Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, Missouri School of Dentistry and Oral Health, A.T. Still University, Kirksville, USA
  • Bruce A. Young | Professor at Department of Anatomy, Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, Missouri School of Dentistry and Oral Health, A.T. Still University, Kirksville, USA
Views 6078
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Sep 21, 2018
Ant medics: wound treatment in a predatory species

When we get injured we treat our wounds. Our skin is an important barrier against pathogens and if it breaks we have to keep it clean. If we are not able to do so ourselves, we go to a doctor to do it for us.... click to read more

  • Erik Frank | Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Lausanne Biophore Department of Ecology and Evolution CH - 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
Views 5790
Reading time 4 min
published on Sep 19, 2018