Methods for a large-scale scientific mission to a subglacial lake in Antarctica were published earlier this month in the journal Reviews of Geophysics.

An international collaboration of European research teams has just published an important study which directly attributes changes in mountain vegetation to climate change across the European continent.

New insights into the evolution of quadrupedal movement in pre-tetrapodal species have been recently developed through behavioral and morphological analyses of a species of African lungfish.

I recently made a trip to Panama City, Panama in May for the annual 2011 Panama International Cooperative Biodiversity Group (ICBG) conference to present some work I've done with a potential anti-cancer drug discovered from marine cyanobacteria in Panama. As detailed on their website, the Panama ICBG focuses on the discovery of natural product lead compounds for potential therapeutic or agrochemical use. The mutli-day meeting was held at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama City.

While skimming through today's headlines of scientific news, I came across this article (see below) about ecologists from STRI using GPS transmitter-wearing toucans to study seed dispersal patterns of nutmeg trees in Gamboa, Panama. Coincidentally, I was staying in and explored parts of the tropical forests in Gamboa, which is just outside of Panama City, during my trip to the country. Although its unlikely that I actually stepped foot in any of the areas of Gamboa in which this research took place, I found this study to be very interesting - in part because of the coincidence that I was recently in that area but also how new technologies can help us learn more about our ecosystems.

Now, onto the study:

The opening of this video is great, as Dr. Jack Dumbacher, Curator of Birds and Mammals at the California Academy of Sciences, talks about his field expeditions to Papua New Guinea. His hunch after being bitten while releasing a bird from a net is that it may be poisonous. He checks with locals and they all confirm "those birds are poisonous and you shouldn't be touching them."

The man who helped to first sequence the human genome ten years ago, is looking to use biology to tackle the energy problem.

Having recently seen a National Geographic write up and short video (read full article for reference links) I wanted to know more about the feral camel's that were brought to Australia. According to the Department of Environment and Conservation of Western Australia the one-humped dromedary camels (Camelus dromedaries), was introduced between 1840 and 1907.

It was long thought that all 40,000 species of spiders in the world were strict predators - feeding on other insects or animals. Now two researchers - Christopher Meehan of Villanova University, and Eric Olson of Brandeis - have revealed that a small Central American jumping spider is predominantly a plant eater.

When a whale dies and its body sinks to the bottom of the sea - it becomes a food source for an entire ecosystem. The problem of course, is that it is nearly impossible to predict when and where the whale is going to die, and once it settles to the ocean floor - it doesn't last very long. So it comes as a surprise that some marine species have become specialized in feeding on whale cadevers.

Rising sea temperatures in the Caribbean have provided scientists with the opportunity to study the effects of warmer water on a particular species of algae. In a paper to be published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers led by Penn State biologist Todd LaJeunesse describe their study of coral in the Caribbean during a particularly warm stretch in 2005.