Hope for koala as scientists make genetic breakthrough April 10, 2013 - Melissa Davey - Health Reporter Genetic win: Professor Peter Timms, far left, with Adam Polkinghorne, Dr Rebecca Johnson and Mark Eldridge, says it was “only right” his team won the global race to diagnose and treat diseases threatening to wipe out koalas. Photo: Ben Rushton Scientists have…read more
Tag Archives | science
What koalas can teach us about human evolution and disease.
Past Pandemics Are in Our Genes What koalas can teach us about human evolution and disease. By Carl Zimmer|Posted Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012, at 7:19 AM ET When koalas infected with the koala retrovirus reproduce, they pass the viral DNA along with their own to their offspring.Photo by Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images. To understand what it means…read more
Ancient tree-wombat behaved like a koala
Scientists say the Nimbadon an ancient tree-wombat the size of a human that roamed the earth 15 odd million years ago behaved a lot like a koala! Ancient tree-wombat behaved like a koala Thursday, 22 November 2012Anna Salleh - ABC Nimbadon weighed about the same as a human and lived in Australian rainforests 15 million years ago (Peter Schouten)…read more
A history of inbreeding leaves koalas with low genetic diversity
Lonely Koalas Long Ago Turned to Kin for Sex Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer Date: 22 October 2012 Time: 03:30 PM ET A koala bear (Phascolarctos cinereus). CREDIT: Dr. Eveline Dungl – Tiergarten Schönbrunn A checkered past for Australia’s koalas means that the tuft-eared marsupials have low genetic diversity — a sign of inbreeding. Mating…read more
Museum pelts help date the koala retrovirus
Museum pelts help date the koala retrovirus 11 OCTOBER 2012 The genomes of most higher organisms contain sequences from retroviral genomes called endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). These are DNA copies of retroviral RNAs that are integrated into the germ line DNA of the host, and passed from parent to offspring. In most species the infections that…read more
Will Australian trees survive a future with high CO2 levels?
WILL OUR PLANTS SURVIVE THE FUTURE? Scientists are blowing carbon dioxide into native bushland to test how it will respond to changing atmosphere. Native Australian trees might not be able to absorb the higher levels of carbon dioxide predicted over the next 35 years, as the effects of climate change and increased burning of fossil…read more
Koalas and Eucalyptus
The Professor comes face-to-face with an Australian koala – and learns not to call it a koala bear. And as always, it’s a chance to talk chemistry. Our thanks to Cleland Wildlife Park in Adelaide, South Australia, and to Hank the koala. More chemistry at http://www.periodicvideos.com/ Follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/periodicvideos And on Twitter…read more
Fingerprints
Image Source: http://naturalscience.com/ns/articles/01-04/ns_hll.html This says so much to me… Only a few mammals have fingerprints – us humans, primates and koalas. Koala fingerprints are so similar to human fingerprints that even with an electron microscope, it’s quite difficult to tell them apart. What’s amazing is that koala prints seem to have evolved independently. On the evolutionary…read more
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