A Blog Around The Clock

My picks from ScienceDaily

Mystery Of A Third Olfactory System Unlocked:

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have found a “nose within the nose,” a unique olfactory system within the noses of mice that is able to “smell” hormones involved in regulating water and salt balance in the body. This research may lead to new insights into the complex system of “chemical communication” between individuals.

First Orchid Fossil Puts Showy Blooms At Some 80 Million Years Old:


Amber Specimen Captures Ancient Chemical Battle:

It appears that chemical warfare has been around a lot longer than poison arrows, mustard gas or nerve weapons — about 100 million years, give or take a little.

Household Mold Linked To Depression:


Social Parasites Of The Smaller Kind:

Cooperation is widespread in the natural world but so too are cheats — mutants that do not contribute to the collective good but simply reap the benefits of others’ cooperative efforts. In evolutionary terms, cheats should indeed prosper, so how cooperation persists despite the threat of cheat takeover is a fundamental question. Recently, biologists at the Universities of Edinburgh and Oxford have found that in bacteria, cheats actually orchestrate their own downfall.

Cats Do Suffer From Arthritis, Study Shows:
