Biology

News articles classified as Biology

Biodiversity crisis in protected forests

New research shows the diversity of plant and animal life in 14 tropical reserves in Mesoamerica has plummeted since 1990 as roads and cattle ranches have expanded into protected areas.

Earthworm invasion

Analysis reveals imported earthworm species have colonized large swaths of North America, and represent a largely overlooked threat to native ecosystems. The researchers warn of the need to better understand and manage the invaders in our midst.

Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences —

Clashing genes drive the development of distinct species

Researchers have identified genes involved in hybrid incompatibility, a phenomenon that creates reproductive barriers between species and evolutionarily splits them apart.

How mice choose to eat or to drink

A new Stanford study uses behavioral analysis, neural engineering, electrophysiology, and math to explore how mice decide whether to eat or drink when they are both hungry and thirsty.

Study reveals location of starfish’s head

A new study that combines genetic and molecular techniques helps solve the riddle of starfish body plans, and how starfish start life with bilateral body symmetry – just like humans – but grow up to be adults with fivefold “pentaradial” symmetry.

Moonshot effort aims to bioprint a human heart and implant it in a pig

Advances in the 3D printing of living tissue – a field known as bioprinting – puts within reach the possibility of fabricating whole organs from scratch and implanting them in living beings. A multidisciplinary team from Stanford received a federal contract to do just that.

Stanford Engineering —

Team microbiome

Microbiologist KC Huang on our relationship with the trillions of bacteria inhabiting our gut. “We’re kind of both cautiously engaging with them as allies, but also realizing that we could be at war at any point.”