The "extinction pit" is the name used by scientists for a place no animal wants to go, and just five years ago the numbat Western Australia's animal emblem found itself on the edge thanks to the rise of a new predator.

Until 2012, Maria Island's animal inhabitants were living without any major predators. But when devils were introduced they had to adapt or die.

Queensland's Royal Flying Doctor Service trades training for loyalty in a new program to bring in more pilots.

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The post Black Swans, Dead Cats, Live Bats, and Goodbye to All That appeared first on Kunstler.

The relationships these winged mammals forge in captivity are strong enough to survive the jarring transition back into the wild.

The video, a spin on Jimmy Kimmel’s 'Mean Tweets' video, features celebrities reading antisemitic posts at a time of increasing coronavirus-related anti-Jewish sentiment.

IU basketball alum Cody Zeller recalls getting an unusual pep talk from Super Bowl coaches John and Jim Harbaugh

IU basketball alum Cody Zeller recalls getting an unusual pep talk from Super Bowl coaches John and Jim Harbaugh

IU basketball alum Cody Zeller recalls getting an unusual pep talk from Super Bowl coaches John and Jim Harbaugh

Former England, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire batsman Brian Bolus dies aged 86.

IU basketball alum Cody Zeller recalls getting an unusual pep talk from Super Bowl coaches John and Jim Harbaugh

Hepatic steatosis, the excess storage of intrahepatic lipids, is a rampant clinical problem associated with the obesity epidemic. Hepatic steatosis is linked to increased risk for insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular and advanced liver disease. Accumulating evidence shows that physical activity, exercise, and aerobic capacity have profound effects on regulating intrahepatic lipids and mediating susceptibility for hepatic steatosis. Moreover, exercise can effectively reduce hepatic steatosis independent of changes in body mass. In this perspective, we highlight 1) the relationship between obesity and metabolic pathways putatively driving hepatic steatosis compared with changes induced by exercise; 2) the impact of physical activity, exercise, and aerobic capacity compared with caloric restriction on regulating intrahepatic lipids and steatosis risk; 3) the effects of exercise training (modalities, volume, intensity) for treatment of hepatic steatosis, and 4) evidence for a sustained protection against steatosis induced by exercise. Overall, evidence clearly indicates that exercise powerfully regulates intrahepatic storage of fat and risk for steatosis.

Bats.

Wildfires leave behind a patchwork of forest densities that can give bats more room to fly and hunt

The new viruses are not harmful to humans or closely related to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19

A former groundskeeper for the Expos recently told the Montreal Gazette that Pete Rose, who played less than a full season with the team, routinely had an Olympic Stadium staffer cork his bats in 1984.

A substantive stimulus is required from the government in the form of support to the poor and to the industry, especially MSMEs, it said.

ICC ODI rankings: In the all-rounders' category, Ravindra Jadeja, moved up three places above to be placed at seventh position .

India's top-order failed miserably once again as New Zealand bounced back, reducing India to 90 for six at stumps on day two as a three-day finish is on the cards.

Akram also said that he listened to his gut feeling and former Pakistani captain, Imran Khan’s advice, to take Shahid Afridi on the tour to India when he was originally not supposed to be included in the squad.

India tasted huge success under Dhoni, winning the 2007 World T20 and the 2011 World Cup at home. India also won the 2013 Champions Trophy under the Jharkhand dasher, who has not played any international cricket since India's semi final exit from the ODI World Cup last July.

The ongoing Coronavirus crisis across the world and a prolonged lockdown in India has halted MS Dhoni’s planned comeback to competitive cricket. He had joined the training camp with his IPL franchise team Chennai Super Kings but the initial delays in the start of IPL until April 15 and then for an indefinite period stopped him to press on for a place in the Indian squad.

(MENAFN - Khaleej Times) The civic body in Dibba Al Fujairah has ordered the closure of three pharmacies for unreasonably increasing the price of h... ......

Pale spear-nosed bats can learn to alter their calls to mimic different sounds – a rare skill that could help us understand the biology of human speech and language

Vampire bats are social creatures that build relationships through grooming and food-sharing, but when they feel ill, they self-isolate and call out for contact far less

Vampire bats are social creatures that build relationships through grooming and food-sharing, but when they feel ill, they self-isolate and call out for contact far less

Title: Bats and Coronaviruses Go Back Centuries
Category: Health News
Created: 4/28/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/28/2020 12:00:00 AM

Ewa Komar, Dina K. N. Dechmann, Nicolas J. Fasel, Marcin Zegarek, and Ireneusz Ruczynski

Balancing energy budgets can be challenging, especially in periods of food shortage, adverse weather conditions and increased energy demand due to reproduction. Bats have particularly high energy demands compared to other mammals and regularly use torpor to save energy. However, while torpor limits energy expenditure, it can also downregulate important processes, such as sperm production. This constraint could result in a trade-off between energy saving and future reproductive capacity. We mimicked harsh conditions by restricting food and tested the effect on changes in body mass, torpor use and seasonal sexual maturation in male parti-coloured bats (Vespertilio murinus). Food-restricted individuals managed to maintain their initial body mass, while in well-fed males, mass increased. Interestingly, despite large differences in food availability, there were only small differences in torpor patterns. However, well-fed males reached sexual maturity up to half a month earlier. Our results thus reveal a complex trade-off in resource allocation; independent of resource availability, males maintain a similar thermoregulation strategy and favour fast sexual maturation, but limited resources and low body mass moderate this latter process.

A longstanding awareness in generating resistance to common antimicrobial therapies by Gram-negative bacteria has made them a major threat to global health. The application of antimicrobial peptides as a therapeutic agent would be a great opportunity to combat bacterial diseases. Here, we introduce a new antimicrobial peptide (~8.3 kDa) from probiotic strain Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC 4356, designated acidocin 4356 (ACD). This multifunctional peptide exerts its anti-infective ability against Pseudomonas aeruginosa through an inhibitory action on virulence factors, bacterial killing, and biofilm degradation. Reliable performance over tough physiological conditions and low hemolytic activity confirmed a new hope for the therapeutic setting. Antibacterial kinetic studies using flow cytometry technique showed that the ACD activity is related to the change in permeability of the membrane. The results obtained from molecular dynamic (MD) simulation were perfectly suited to the experimental data of ACD behavior. The structure-function relationship of this natural compound, along with the results of transmission electron microscopy analysis and MD simulation, confirmed the ability of the ACD aimed at enhancing bacterial membrane perturbation. The peptide was effective in the treatment of P. aeruginosa infection in mouse model. The results support the therapeutic potential of ACD for the treatment of Pseudomonas infections.

IMPORTANCE Multidrug-resistant bacteria are a major threat to global health, and the Pseudomonas bacterium with the ability to form biofilms is considered one of the main causative agents of nosocomial infections. Traditional antibiotics have failed because of increased resistance. Thus, finding new biocompatible antibacterial drugs is essential. Antimicrobial peptides are produced by various organisms as a natural defense mechanism against pathogens, inspiring the possible design of the next generation of antibiotics. In this study, a new antimicrobial peptide was isolated from Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC 4356, counteracting both biofilm and planktonic cells of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A detailed investigation was then conducted concerning the functional mechanism of this peptide by using fluorescence techniques, electron microscopy, and in silico methods. The antibacterial and antibiofilm properties of this peptide may be important in the treatment of Pseudomonas infections.

Researchers have uncovered how bats can carry the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus without getting sick -- research that could shed light on how coronaviruses make the jump to humans and other animals.

Paleontologists seek the ancestors that could explain how bats became the only flying mammals.

Follow our live Covid-19 updates HERE Coronavirus: The symptoms

A U of S researcher says there is no evidence that COVID-19 jumped to humans from bats.

They’ve faced drought, extreme heat and bushfires, and now they have to deal with a new paranoia courtesy of the pandemic

Australia’s bats are turning up in increasing numbers in city suburbs. But as they search for food, they’re bringing for some a newfound paranoia thanks to a global pandemic that likely sprang from one of their overseas relatives.

In Ingham in far north Queensland, an influx of more than 200,000 little red flying foxes in January was variously described as a “swarm”, a “tornado” and an “infestation”.

WHO expert Peter Ben Embarek says the virus originated in bats, and that it's unclear what animal may have transmitted the disease to humans

L’UFC s’apprête à reprendre ses combats, à huis clos, samedi à Jacksonville, sept semaines après l’arrêt forcé des compétitions sportives.

Bats are extremely social, have turbo-charged metabolisms, and elite immune systems. All of these combined creates the perfect storm for harboring and transmitting diseases.

Some moth species have evolved noise-cancelling abilities that are more efficient than today's sound engineering technology.

Did you know the countdown for Halloween coincides with Bat Week? An annual, international celebration of the role of bats in nature, Bat Week is in flight Oct. 24—31, 2018.

New research published in the online journal PLoS ONE demonstrates for the first time that a non-human adult animal species regularly engages in oral sex behavior. While the behavior has

Since 2006, bat populations in the northeastern United States have been decimated by a mysterious condition known as "white-nose syndrome." Caused by a fungus,

A lesson in loving flying nocturnal mammals.

At the edge of the Amazon, a remote tribe suffers a plague of rabies spread by desperate vampire bats. It sounds like the plot from a bad B-movie, but the reality is far more grim: More than 500 people have been

If you've ever seen a colony of bats on the move and wondered what they're up to, this is the billboard for you. The "Bat Billboard," a collaboration of designer Chris Woebken and artist Natalie Jeremijenko, is a

A young sea turtle found in the Netherlands will be released after a three-year recovery. We also have the search for the "extinct" Javan tiger, Sylvester Stallone's bat cave incident, and more.

White nose syndrome has decimated bat populations on the East Coast. Now scientists believe the disease, which is spreading, may have been worse than previously imagined.

Wind power is not just a Danish success story - Swedish wind is growing leaps and bounds. But the bats may suffer, so the Swedes are trying to impose 'bat happy hour'