Wednesday, 8 February, 2012

Dive deep, and meet the flashlight squid — with a billion-bacteria light bulb. Meet bacteria that live in boiling water, and the immense variety of weirder-than-weird critters that live between grains of sand. Plus a highly selected bio-freak show…

Bacteria can help or harm their hosts. Now we hear how one genus of bacteria can multiply fly reproduction. In this symbiosis, both parties benefit. This bacterium also alters insect immunity, and could lead to new tactics for killing horrific parasites.

The BP spill released about 160,000 tons of methane into the Gulf of Mexico, but a new study shows that it was eaten by friendly bacteria. The seabed contains an astonishing amount of methane, a strong greenhouse gas. So can bacteria reduce the global warming hazard of massive methane releases?

Ethanol in gasoline now comes mainly from corn, a food crop. Cellulose, found in crop wastes, wood and switchgrass, could be a great source of ethanol, if only the yeast that makes ethanol could digest cellulose. A new genetic alteration forced yeast to break down cellulose, and then convert it into ethanol.

Many of the tastiest crops can’t pollinate themselves: melons, cucumbers, strawberries, almonds, cacao. But pollinators — both native and managed — are under threat from diseases and pesticides. They aren’t finding enough to eat. Their colonies are dying. What can we do?

Some people blame strandings on a noisy ocean. A new study shows that the endangered North Atlantic right whale is shouting to be heard. Another whale tale: a giant killing whale was recently discovered in Peru, with about the biggest teeth in history…

Cleaner fish remove parasites from other fish. Why do males punish females who eat the wrong food from their host? A clue to the evolution of cooperation?

Turkeys got help for 75 years from conservation agencies. Coyotes spread across half the country all on their own. Why have these animals succeeded? How have they changed the environment?

Refuge is site of effort to use ultralight aircraft to guide crane chicks toward Florida wintering grounds. Dangers remain, but it’s a step ahead for Americas’ largest flying bird, once reduced to 21 animals.

Along the coast of Baja, California, a new study finds that parasites outweigh top predators. What does this mean for ecology, and what is the story with “castrating parasites”?