Yearly Archives: 2007

Steve Irwin’s last paper is not the only exciting article to appear on PLoS ONE today – there are 40 more, and here are a few I am excited about – a veritable embarassment of riches! When am I ever going to find time to read them all!
Oxytocin in the Circadian Timing of Birth (hey, it’s by Erik Herzog, so you know I’ll blog about this paper in a separate post later):

Very little is known about the molecular components that determine the timing for birth in mammals. This study compares the timing of births between mice with and without the chemical oxytocin (OT) when exposed to shifts in the light cycle. The results show that OT-deficient mice give birth at random times throughout the light cycle, while mice with OT maintain a normal clustered birth profile, thus suggesting that oxytocin is necessary in the timing of birth.

A Visual Pathway Links Brain Structures Active during Magnetic Compass Orientation in Migratory Birds:

The magnetic compass of migratory birds has been suggested to be light-dependent. Retinal cryptochrome-expressing neurons and a forebrain region, “Cluster N”, show high neuronal activity when night-migratory songbirds perform magnetic compass orientation. By combining neuronal tracing with behavioral experiments leading to sensory-driven gene expression of the neuronal activity marker ZENK during magnetic compass orientation, we demonstrate a functional neuronal connection between the retinal neurons and Cluster N via the visual thalamus. Thus, the two areas of the central nervous system being most active during magnetic compass orientation are part of an ascending visual processing stream, the thalamofugal pathway. Furthermore, Cluster N seems to be a specialized part of the visual wulst. These findings strongly support the hypothesis that migratory birds use their visual system to perceive the reference compass direction of the geomagnetic field and that migratory birds “see” the reference compass direction provided by the geomagnetic field.

Do Individual Females Differ Intrinsically in Their Propensity to Engage in Extra-Pair Copulations?:

While many studies have investigated the occurrence of extra-pair paternity in wild populations of birds, we still know surprisingly little about whether individual females differ intrinsically in their principal readiness to copulate, and to what extent this readiness is affected by male attractiveness.
To address this question I used captive zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) as a model system. I first measured female readiness to copulate when courted by a male for the first time in life. Second, I conducted choice-chamber experiments to assess the mating preferences of individual females prior to pair formation. I then paired females socially with a non-desired mate and once they had formed a stable pair bond, I observed the inclination of these females to engage in extra-pair copulations with various males. Females showing a high readiness to copulate when courted by a male for the first time in life were much more likely to engage in extra-pair copulations later in life than others. Male attractiveness, as measured in choice tests, was a useful predictor of whether females engaged in extra-pair copulations with these males, but, surprisingly, the attractiveness of a female’s social partner had no effect on her fidelity. However, it remained unclear what made some males more attractive than others. Contrary to a widespread but rarely tested hypothesis, females did not preferentially copulate with males having a redder beak or singing at a higher rate. Rather it seemed that song rate was a confounding factor in choice-chamber experiments: song attracted the female’s attention but did not increase the male’s attractiveness as a copulation partner.
Intrinsic variation in female readiness to copulate as well as variation in the attractiveness of the extra-pair male but not the social partner decided the outcome of extra-pair encounters.

Evolution of Female Preference for Younger Males:

Previous theoretical work has suggested that females should prefer to mate with older males, as older males should have higher fitness than the average fitness of the cohort into which they were born. However, studies in humans and model organisms have shown that as males age, they accumulate deleterious mutations in their germ-line at an ever-increasing rate, thereby reducing the quality of genes passed on to the next generation. Thus, older males may produce relatively poor-quality offspring. To better understand how male age influences female mate preference and offspring quality, we used a genetic algorithm model to study the effect of age-related increases in male genetic load on female mate preference. When we incorporate age-related increases in mutation load in males into our model, we find that females evolve a preference for younger males. Females in this model could determine a male’s age, but not his inherited genotype nor his mutation load. Nevertheless, females evolved age-preferences that led them to mate with males that had low mutation loads, but showed no preference for males with respect to their somatic quality. These results suggest that germ-line quality, rather than somatic quality, should be the focus of female preference in good genes models.

Causal Inference in Multisensory Perception:

Perceptual events derive their significance to an animal from their meaning about the world, that is from the information they carry about their causes. The brain should thus be able to efficiently infer the causes underlying our sensory events. Here we use multisensory cue combination to study causal inference in perception. We formulate an ideal-observer model that infers whether two sensory cues originate from the same location and that also estimates their location(s). This model accurately predicts the nonlinear integration of cues by human subjects in two auditory-visual localization tasks. The results show that indeed humans can efficiently infer the causal structure as well as the location of causes. By combining insights from the study of causal inference with the ideal-observer approach to sensory cue combination, we show that the capacity to infer causal structure is not limited to conscious, high-level cognition; it is also performed continually and effortlessly in perception.

Antagonistic Bacterial Interactions Help Shape Host-Symbiont Dynamics within the Fungus-Growing Ant-Microbe Mutualism:

Conflict within mutually beneficial associations is predicted to destabilize relationships, and theoretical and empirical work exploring this has provided significant insight into the dynamics of cooperative interactions. Within mutualistic associations, the expression and regulation of conflict is likely more complex than in intraspecific cooperative relationship, because of the potential presence of: i) multiple genotypes of microbial species associated with individual hosts, ii) multiple species of symbiotic lineages forming cooperative partner pairings, and iii) additional symbiont lineages. Here we explore complexity of conflict expression within the ancient and coevolved mutualistic association between attine ants, their fungal cultivar, and actinomycetous bacteria (Pseudonocardia). Specifically, we examine conflict between the ants and their Pseudonocardia symbionts maintained to derive antibiotics against parasitic microfungi (Escovopsis) infecting the ants’ fungus garden. Symbiont assays pairing isolates of Pseudonocardia spp. associated with fungus-growing ants spanning the phylogenetic diversity of the mutualism revealed that antagonism between strains is common. In contrast, antagonism was substantially less common between more closely related bacteria associated with Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants. In both experiments, the observed variation in antagonism across pairings was primarily due to the inhibitory capabilities and susceptibility of individual strains, but also the phylogenetic relationships between the ant host of the symbionts, as well as the pair-wise genetic distances between strains. The presence of antagonism throughout the phylogenetic diversity of Pseudonocardia symbionts indicates that these reactions likely have shaped the symbiosis from its origin. Antagonism is expected to prevent novel strains from invading colonies, enforcing single-strain rearing within individual ant colonies. While this may align ant-actinomycete interests in the bipartite association, the presence of single strains of Pseudonocardia within colonies may not be in the best interest of the ants, because increasing the diversity of bacteria, and thereby antibiotic diversity, would help the ant-fungus mutualism deal with the specialized parasites.

Do Haematophagous Bugs Assess Skin Surface Temperature to Detect Blood Vessels?:

It is known that some blood-sucking insects have the ability to reach vessels under the host skin with their mouthparts to feed blood from inside them. However, the process by which they locate these vessels remains largely unknown. Less than 5% of the skin is occupied by blood vessels and thus, it is not likely that insects rely on a “random search strategy”, since it would increase the probability of being killed by their hosts. Indeed, heterogeneities along the skin surface might offer exploitable information for guiding insect’s bites.
We tested whether the bug Rhodnius prolixus can evaluate temperature discontinuities along the body surface in order to locate vessels before piercing the host skin. When placed over a rabbit ear, the bug’s first bites were mostly directed towards the main vessels. When insects were confronted to artificial linear heat sources presenting a temperature gradient against the background, most bites were directly addressed to the warmer linear source, notwithstanding the temperature of both, the source and the background. Finally, tests performed using uni- and bilaterally antennectomized insects revealed that the bilateral integration of thermal inputs from both antennae is necessary for precisely directing bites.
R. prolixus may be able to exploit the temperature differences observed over the skin surface to locate blood vessles. Bugs bite the warmest targets regardless of the target/background temperatures, suggesting that they do not bite choosing a preferred temperature, but select temperature discontinuities along the skin. This strategy seems to be an efficient one for finding blood vessels within a wide temperature range, allowing finding them on different hosts, as well as on different areas of the host body. Our study also adds new insight about the use of antennal thermal inputs by blood sucking bugs.

Deinococcus geothermalis: The Pool of Extreme Radiation Resistance Genes Shrinks:

Bacteria of the genus Deinococcus are extremely resistant to ionizing radiation (IR), ultraviolet light (UV) and desiccation. The mesophile Deinococcus radiodurans was the first member of this group whose genome was completely sequenced. Analysis of the genome sequence of D. radiodurans, however, failed to identify unique DNA repair systems. To further delineate the genes underlying the resistance phenotypes, we report the whole-genome sequence of a second Deinococcus species, the thermophile Deinococcus geothermalis, which at its optimal growth temperature is as resistant to IR, UV and desiccation as D. radiodurans, and a comparative analysis of the two Deinococcus genomes. Many D. radiodurans genes previously implicated in resistance, but for which no sensitive phenotype was observed upon disruption, are absent in D. geothermalis. In contrast, most D. radiodurans genes whose mutants displayed a radiation-sensitive phenotype in D. radiodurans are conserved in D. geothermalis. Supporting the existence of a Deinococcus radiation response regulon, a common palindromic DNA motif was identified in a conserved set of genes associated with resistance, and a dedicated transcriptional regulator was predicted. We present the case that these two species evolved essentially the same diverse set of gene families, and that the extreme stress-resistance phenotypes of the Deinococcus lineage emerged progressively by amassing cell-cleaning systems from different sources, but not by acquisition of novel DNA repair systems. Our reconstruction of the genomic evolution of the Deinococcus-Thermus phylum indicates that the corresponding set of enzymes proliferated mainly in the common ancestor of Deinococcus. Results of the comparative analysis weaken the arguments for a role of higher-order chromosome alignment structures in resistance; more clearly define and substantially revise downward the number of uncharacterized genes that might participate in DNA repair and contribute to resistance; and strengthen the case for a role in survival of systems involved in manganese and iron homeostasis.

Also:
Lactate, Fructose and Glucose Oxidation Profiles in Sports Drinks and the Effect on Exercise Performance
Cultural Diversity, Economic Development and Societal Instability
Stochastic Species Turnover and Stable Coexistence in a Species-Rich, Fire-Prone Plant Community
Global Patterns of City Size Distributions and Their Fundamental Drivers
Children’s Health Status: Examining the Associations among Income Poverty, Material Hardship, and Parental Factors
As always: read, rate, comment, annotate, use and reuse and, if you blog about the PLoS ONE papers, try to use the correct form of the URL in order to generate a trackback.

A bunch of new articles got published in PLoS Medicine and PLoS Biology yesterday. Here are my two picks, and you go and check the rest:
Brain Dynamics Underlying the Nonlinear Threshold for Access to Consciousness:

Understanding the neural mechanisms that distinguish between conscious and nonconscious processes is a crucial issue in cognitive neuroscience. In this study, we focused on the transition that causes a visual stimulus to cross the threshold to consciousness, i.e., visibility. We used a backward masking paradigm in which the visibility of a briefly presented stimulus (the “target”) is reduced by a second stimulus (the “mask”) presented shortly after this first stimulus. (Human participants report the visibility of the target.) When the delay between target and mask stimuli exceeds a threshold value, the masked stimulus becomes visible. Below this threshold, it remains nonvisible. During the task, we recorded electric brain activity from the scalp and reconstructed the cortical sources corresponding to this activity. Conscious perception of masked stimuli corresponded to activity in a broadly distributed fronto-parieto-temporal network, occurring from about 300 ms after stimulus presentation. We conclude that this late stage, which could be clearly separated from earlier neural events associated with subliminal processing and mask-target interactions, can be regarded as a marker of consciousness.

The Absolute Risk of Venous Thrombosis after Air Travel: A Cohort Study of 8,755 Employees of International Organisations:

Background.
Blood normally flows smoothly throughout the human body, supplying the brain and other vital organs with oxygen and nutrients. When an injury occurs, proteins called clotting factors make the blood gel or coagulate at the injury site. The resultant blood clot (thrombus) plugs the wound and prevents blood loss. Sometimes, however, a thrombus forms inside an uninjured blood vessel and partly or completely blocks the blood flow. A clot inside one of the veins (vessels that take blood to the heart) deep within the body is called a deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Symptoms of DVT (which usually occurs in the deep veins of the leg) include pain, swelling, and redness in one leg. DVT is usually treated with heparin and warfarin, two anticoagulant drugs that stop the blood clot growing. If left untreated, part of the clot (an embolus) can break off and travel to the lungs, where it can cause a life-threatening condition called pulmonary embolism (PE). Fortunately, DVT and PE are rare but having an inherited blood clotting disorder, taking an oral contraceptive, and some types of surgery are all risk factors for them. In addition, long-haul plane travel increases the risk of DVT and PE, known collectively as venous thrombosis (VT) 2- to 4-fold, in part because the enforced immobilization during flights slows down blood flow.
Why Was This Study Done?
Although the link between air travel and VT was first noticed in the 1950s, exactly how many people will develop DVT and PE (the absolute risk of developing VT) after a long flight remains unknown. This information is needed so that travelers can be given advice about their actual risk and can make informed decisions about trying to reduce that risk by, for example, taking small doses of anticoagulant medicine before a flight. In this study, the researchers have determined the absolute risk of VT during and after long-haul air travel in a large group of business travelers.
What Did the Researchers Do and Find?
The researchers enrolled almost 9,000 employees from several international companies and organizations and followed them for an average of 4.4 years. The details of flights taken by each employee were obtained from company records, and employees completed a Web-based questionnaire about whether they had developed VT and what risk factors they had for the condition. Out of 53 thrombi that occurred during the study, 22 occurred within eight weeks of a long-haul flight (a flight of more than four hours). From this and data on the total time employees spent on long-haul flights, the researchers calculated that these flights tripled the risk of developing VT, and that the absolute risk (the probability of something occurring in a certain time period) of a VT occurring shortly after such travel was one event per 4,656 flights. They also calculated that the risk of VT was increased by exposure to more flights during a short period and to longer flights and was greatest in the first two weeks after a flight. In addition, the risk of VT was particularly high in young employees, women taking oral contraceptives, and people who were short, tall or overweight.
What Do These Findings Mean?
The main finding of this study is that the absolute risk of VT after of a long-haul flight is low–only one passenger out of nearly 5,000 is likely to develop VT because of flying. However, the study included only healthy people without previous VT whose average age was 40 years, so the absolute risk of VT after long-haul flights might be higher in the general traveling population. Even so, this finding strongly suggests that prophylactic (preventative) use of anticoagulants by all long-haul travelers may not be justified because these drugs have potentially dangerous side effects (for example, they can cause uncontrolled bleeding). Subgroups of travelers with additional risk factors for VT might, however, benefit from the use of this and other prophylactic measures, but randomized trials are needed to find out who would benefit most from which prophylactic measure.

If You Want More Babies, Find A Man With A Deep Voice:

Men who have lower-pitched voices have more children than do men with high-pitched voices, researchers have found. And their study suggests that for reproductive-minded women, mate selection favours men with low-pitched voices.

Spaceflight Can Change Bacteria Into More Infectious Pathogens:

Space flight has been shown to have a profound impact on human physiology as the body adapts to zero gravity environments.

Making Bicycles That Balance Better:

For nearly 150 years, scientists have been puzzled by the bicycle. How on earth is it possible that a moving bicycle can, all by itself, be so stable? Researchers of the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), working with colleagues from Cornell University and the University of Nottingham, UK, believe they have now found the ultimate model of the bicycle.

How Does The Brain Develop During Embryogenesis?:

One of the great questions of neurobiology, how the brain is built up during embryonic development, could be resolved by a young French scientist in an award winning project organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF) and the European Heads of Research Councils (EuroHORCS).

Controlling For Size May Also Prevent Cancer:

Scientists at Johns Hopkins recently discovered that a chemical chain reaction that controls organ size in animals ranging from insects to humans could mean the difference between normal growth and cancer.

New Dinosaur Species Found In Montana:

A dinosaur skeleton found 24 years ago near Choteau has finally been identified as a new species that links North American dinosaurs with Asian dinosaurs. The dinosaur would have weighed 30 to 40 pounds, walked on two feet and stood about three feet tall. The fossil came from sediment that’s about 80 million years old.

Hormone Therapy Boosts Sexual Interest But Not Memory, Study Suggests:

Hormone therapy in early post-menopause increases sexual interest, but does not improve memory, according to a new study. “Contrary to what we predicted, hormone therapy did not have a positive affect on memory performance in younger mid-life women,” said Pauline Maki, associate professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who led the study.

How The Brain Handles Surprise, Good And Bad:

Whether it’s a mugger or a friend who jumps out of the bushes, you’re still surprised. But your response–to flee or to hug–must be very different. Now, researchers have begun to distinguish the circuitry in the brain’s emotion center that processes surprise from the circuitry that processes the aversive or reward “valence” of a stimulus. C. Daniel Salzman and colleagues published their findings in the journal Neuron.

Official Kilogram Losing Mass: Scientists Propose Redefining It As A Precise Number Of Carbon Atoms:

How much is a kilogram? It turns out that nobody can say for sure, at least not in a way that won’t change ever so slightly over time. The official kilogram — a cylinder cast 118 years ago from platinum and iridium and known as the International Prototype Kilogram or “Le Gran K” — has been losing mass, about 50 micrograms at last check. The change is occurring despite careful storage at a facility near Paris.

The Science Of Collective Decision-making:

Why do some juries take weeks to reach a verdict, while others take just hours? How do judges pick the perfect beauty queen from a sea of very similar candidates? We have all wondered exactly why we did not win a certain award. Now, new psychological research explains how groups come to a collective decision.

Understanding The Neuron’s Green Architecture:

Being green is a lifestyle. Turns out, each of your neurons is deeply committed to that green lifestyle – and you didn’t even know it. In just a thousandth of a second, a neuron can dump up to 5,000 molecules of its chemical messenger – a neurotransmitter – into the synapse, where it will trigger an impulse in a neighboring nerve cell. The neuron is a recycler par excellence when it comes to these neurotransmitters. Neurons must not only ready neurotransmitter receptors to receive the signals coming fast and furious, but they must also recycle receptors that have been used. And you thought you had recycling problems?

Biologists Expose Hidden Costs Of Firefly Flashes: Risky Balance Between Sex And Death:

A new study by biologists at Tufts University has discovered a dark side lurking behind the magical light shows put on by fireflies each summer. Using both laboratory and field experiments to explore the potential costs of firefly courtship displays, the biologists have uncovered some surprising answers.

Bioluminescence Genes Found Through Metagenomic Study Of Deep Mediterranean:

Metagenomics is a revolutionary approach to study microbes. Rather than isolating pure cultures, the power of high-throughput sequencing is applied directly to environmental samples to obtain information about the genomes of the prokaryotic cells present in a specific habitat studied. The ocean is an ideal subject of this approach because of its enormous microbiota, whose biomass equals that of all other living organisms on earth is mostly microbial, and also because most of these microbes are extremely fastidious to cultivate.

New Strategy To Create Genetically-modified Animals Developed:

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have demonstrated the potential of a new strategy for genetic modification of large animals. The method employs a harmless gene therapy virus that transfers a genetic modification to male reproductive cells, which is then passed naturally on to offspring.

The Petri Dish Is Taken To New Dimensions:

A team of Brown University biomedical engineers has invented a 3-D Petri dish that can grow cells in three dimensions, a method that promises to quickly and cheaply produce more realistic cells for drug development and tissue transplantation.

Scientific Nursing Top Gives Breastfeeding Babies A Brain Workout:

Breastfeeding babies could become smarter thanks to a scientifically designed ‘clever baby’ nursing top recently revealed by the University of Portsmouth.

New Understanding Of Basic Units Of Memory:

A molecular “recycling plant” permits nerve cells in the brain to carry out two seemingly contradictory functions — changeable enough to record new experiences, yet permanent enough to maintain these memories over time.

Velociraptor Had Feathers:

A new look at some old bones have shown that velociraptor, the dinosaur made famous in the movie Jurassic Park, had feathers. The discovery was made by paleontologists at the American Museum of Natural History and the Field Museum of Natural History.

Personal Genomes: Mainstream In Five Years, But Who Should Have Access?:

Imagine this: you visit your clinician, undergo genetic testing, and then you are handed a miniature hard drive containing your personal genome sequence, which is subsequently uploaded onto publicly accessible databases. This may sound like science fiction, but it is scientific fact, and it is already happening.

Key To Longer Life (in Flies) Lies In Just 14 Brain Cells:

Two years ago, Brown University researchers discovered something startling: Decrease the activity of the cancer-suppressing protein p53 and you can make fruit flies live significantly longer. Now the same team reports an intriguing follow-up finding. The p53 protein, they found, may work its lifespan-extending magic in only 14 insulin-producing cells in the fly brain.

Eat Less To Live Longer: Calorie Restriction Linked To Long Healthy Lives:

For nearly 70 years scientists have known that caloric restriction prolongs life. In everything from yeast to primates, a significant decrease in calories can extend lifespan by as much as one-third. But getting under the hood of the molecular machinery that drives this longevity has remained elusive.

The Best Both Of Worlds: How To Have Sex And Survive:

Researchers have discovered that even the gruesome and brutal lifestyle of the Evarcha culicivora, a blood gorging jumping spider indigenous to East Africa, can’t help but be tempted by that ‘big is beautiful’ mantra no matter what the costs.

Basic Research Robust In Face Of More University Patenting:

As universities continue transforming scientific discoveries into potentially lucrative patents, many wonder how this might be transforming academic science itself.

Why Are Some Groups Of Animals So Diverse?:

A new study of finger-sized Australian lizards sheds light on one of the most striking yet largely unexplained patterns in nature: why is it that some groups of animals have evolved into hundreds, even thousands of species, while other groups include only a few?

Why Conservation Efforts Often Fail:

Modern conservation techniques have brought us the resurgence of American bald eagles, sustainable forest harvests and the rescue of prized lobster fisheries. So how can modern conservation strategies also have wrought such failures, from the catastrophic loss of Guatemalan forests to the economy-crippling Klamath River salmon kill in 2006?

Brain Network Related To Intelligence Identified:

A primary mystery puzzling neuroscientists – where in the brain lies intelligence? – just may have a unified answer.

The title alone should provoke a storm in the blogosphere 😉
Prehistoric Aesthetics Explains Snail Biogeography Puzzle:

The answer to a mystery that long has puzzled biologists may lie in prehistoric Polynesians’ penchant for pretty white shells, a research team headed by University of Michigan mollusk expert Diarmaid Ó Foighil has found.

Who’s Afraid Of The Big, Bad Wolf? Coyotes:

While the wily coyote reigns as top dog in much of the country, it leads a nervous existence wherever it coexists with its larger relative, the wolf, according to a new study from the Wildlife Conservation Society. In fact, coyote densities are more than 30 percent lower in areas that they share with wolves.

Gene Involved in Human Language Development Also Involved In Bat Echolocation:

When it comes to the FOXP2 gene, humans have had most to shout about. Discoveries that mutations in this gene lead to speech defects and that the gene underwent changes around the time language evolved both implicate FOXP2 in the evolution of human language.

Mortality Of Plants Could Increase By 40 Percent If Land Temperatures Increase 4 Degrees Celsius:

Scientists from the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies* have formulated a universal rule that explains the equilibrium of plant communities, showing how plants assure the survival of their species whether their lives last a day or are prolonged over centuries.

There are 28 new articles up on PLoS ONE today. As always, I offer you my own picks, but you go there and look at all of them, then read, rate, comment and annotate:
Living with the Past: Nutritional Stress in Juvenile Males Has Immediate Effects on their Plumage Ornaments and on Adult Attractiveness in Zebra Finches:

The environmental conditions individuals experience during early development are well known to have fundamental effects on a variety of fitness-relevant traits. Although it is evident that the earliest developmental stages have large effects on fitness, other developmental stages, such as the period when secondary sexual characters develop, might also exert a profound effect on fitness components. Here we show experimentally in male zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, that nutritional conditions during this later period have immediate effects on male plumage ornaments and on their attractiveness as adults. Males that had received high quality food during the second month of life, a period when secondary sexual characteristics develop, were significantly more attractive as adults in mate choice tests than siblings supplied with standard food during this period. Preferred males that had experienced better nutritional conditions had larger orange cheek patches when nutritional treatments ended than did unpreferred males. Sexual plumage ornaments of young males thus are honest indicators of nutritional conditions during this period. The mate choice tests with adult birds indicate that nutritional conditions during the period of song learning, brain and gonad development, and moult into adult plumage have persisting effects on male attractiveness. This suggests that the developmental period following nutritional dependence from the parents is just as important in affecting adult attractiveness as are much earlier developmental periods. These findings thus contribute to understanding the origin and consequences of environmentally determined fitness components.

More under the fold….

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There is new cool stuff published last night in PLoS Biology and PLoS Medicine, including:

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