Tomatoes’ tasteless green gene: Choosing tomatoes for color reduces fruit’s flavor, study finds

Tomatoes’ tasteless green gene Choosing tomatoes for color reduces fruit’s flavor, study finds By Roberta Kwok Modern tomatoes (all-over light green fruits at right) lack the correct version of a gene that helps them make flavorful molecules. In its correct form, the gene results in a tastier tomato with a dark green patch at...

Read More

Sweets on the brain: Sugar-free sweeteners fool the body’s internal computer

Sweets on the brain Sugar-free sweeteners fool the body’s internal computer By Stephen Ornes     Many diet sodas are sweetened without sugar, but those sweeteners may fool your brain as well as your taste buds. Credit: ValentynVolkov/iStockphoto Diet soft drinks usually have no sugar, but that doesn’t mean they’re not sweet. These...

Read More

Dino find ruffles feathers: Nearly-perfect, newfound dinosaur fossil reveals more dinos were feathered than previously thought

Dino find ruffles feathers Nearly-perfect, newfound dinosaur fossil reveals more dinos were feathered than previously thought By Stephen Ornes By Stephen Ornes / July 27, 2012 The skeleton of Sciurumimus albersdoerferi, embedded in a limestone slab, suggests that feathers might have been the norm for dinosaurs. Credit:...

Read More

Animal buddies: Humans aren’t the only animals that benefit from friends

Animal buddies Humans aren’t the only animals that benefit from friends By Stephen Ornes A recent study found that female baboons that groom each other are more likely to come to each other’s aid, even when they’re unrelated. Credit: Joan Silk, UCLA Baboons may not chat on the phone, go to the movies or see each other in class....

Read More

Baboons detect bogus words: Some monkeys know a real word when they see it

Baboons detect bogus words Some monkeys know a real word when they see it By Stephen Ornes This baboon participated in a new study that found the monkeys could tell real words from nonsense strings of letters. Credit: J. Fagot Baboons may not know what different words mean, but they can tell real words from a nonsense...

Read More

Mammals feel the heat: Scientists predict some animals won’t be able to keep up with Earth’s increasing temperatures

Mammals feel the heat Scientists predict some animals won’t be able to keep up with Earth’s increasing temperatures By Stephen Ornes Scientists say squirrel monkeys may not be able to move to new habitats fast enough to keep up with climate change. Credit: Dave Pape/Wikimedia Commons It’s getting hotter: The average temperature on Earth...

Read More

Jelly babies: Population of jellyfish-like creatures contains only young animals, no adults

Jelly babies Population of jellyfish-like creatures contains only young animals, no adults By Roberta Kwok A comb jelly is a small animal with tentacles that lives in the ocean. Scientists have found a population of comb jellies that contains only young jellies, no adults. Credit: Cornelia Jaspers Some animals never...

Read More