Bugged by decline in native ladybug species, NY researchers talk about the birds and bees

October 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A long-term study of the Africanized bee invasion of Mexico's Yucatan shows that invading 'killer bees' may actually increase food resources for native bees. Aggressive African bees were accidentally released in Brazil in 1957.

September 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - All is not hunky-dory among the members of bee colonies, which are known for their cooperation. A new research has shown a conflict for reproduction between worker bees and their Queens, leading some workers to selfishly exploit the colony for their own needs.

September 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Developing oil rigs in the Arctic is helping predators prey on nesting birds by providing them with subsidised housing. They nest and den around drilling infrastructure and supplement their diets with garbage and nesting birds, says a new study by Wildlife Conservation Society, US Fish and Wildlife Service.

September 4th, 2009 NY researchers breeding rare native ladybugsITHACA, N.Y. — A year after they launched a nationwide search for dwindling native ladybugs, New York researchers are breeding colonies of them from insects found by citizen scientists in Oregon and Colorado.

September 2nd, 2009 LONDON - Parrots that are strongly right- or left-footed are better at problem-solving tasks than their ambidextrous counterparts, according to a new study. Lead researchers Maria Magat and Culum Brown at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, worked with eight species of Australian parrot, some of which are primarily left-biased - gang-gang cockatoos, for instance, are 100 per cent left-footed - others right-biased and the rest "ambidextrous".

August 5th, 2009 Britain seeks backyard beekeepers to fight declineLONDON — What's the well-dressed urbanite wearing this summer? Baggy white coveralls and a beekeeping helmet. That, at least, is the hope of a British government conservation agency, which is urging city-dwellers to become backyard beekeepers to combat the declining apian population.

August 4th, 2009 SYDNEY - Researchers have unravelled the mysteries of why and how the queen bee controls the behaviour of her workers. University of Otago zoologists two years ago discovered that queen bees manipulate their offspring's behaviour by releasing a pheromone that blocks aversive learning in young bees.

July 27th, 2009 LONDON - Human impact on one of the world's most threatened bird species could save it from extinction, says a new study. The study by University of East Anglia (UEA) conservation experts explores the exact reasons behind the decline of the critically endangered white-shouldered ibis.

July 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has come up with the strongest evidence yet that noise pollution negatively influences the nesting habits of birds. The study also indicates that at least a few species opt for noisy areas over quiet ones, perhaps because of their vocalisation pitches, a reduction in nest predators and less competition from other song birds that prefer quiet environments.

July 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Rice University biologist Amy Dunham has put forward a new theory for one of primatology's long-standing mysteries-why are male and female lemurs the same size? In most primate species, males have evolved to be much larger than females, but this has not been found to be true in case of lemurs. Some theories have suggested that environment played a role or that lemur social development was altered due to the extinction of predatory birds.

June 9th, 2009 LONDON - The bad taste in stored wine, known as the "ladybug taint", would soon be a thing of the past, all thanks to a newly developed way of packaging the spirit-cartons sealed with a thin layer of aluminium. "Ladybug taint" is caused by chemicals called alkyl-methoxypyrazines that accumulate in wine both from grapes themselves and from remains of ladybug beetles crushed when grapes are processed.

June 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has shown that some bees brace themselves against wind and turbulence by extending their sturdy hind legs while flying. But, this approach comes at a steep cost, increasing aerodynamic drag and the power required for flight by roughly 30 percent, and cutting into the bees' flight performance.

June 3rd, 2009 10,000 bees crowd wing of plane at Mass. airportDANVERS, Mass.

May 28th, 2009 LONDON - Male canaries sing well even when they are exposed to tutors lacking basic features of the song of their species. The learning of birdsong resembles speech learning in humans.

May 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study by German researchers has revealed that male canaries sing well even when they are exposed to tutors lacking basic features of the song of their species. The learning of birdsong is similar to speech learning in humans.