A Little More Land

A recent ScienceDaily article summarized a July 18 paper in the journal Science that described the mechanism by which a type of RNA is able to regulate gene expression in some bacteria. It was already known that this RNA, cyclic di-guanosine monophosphate (di-GMP), was a so-called second messenger molecule in bacteria. Basically, di-GMP is generated [...]

A beautiful specimen of a female Common Whitetail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia), taken yesterday at Sandy Point State Park:

More detailed, original image here. The females can be distinguished by having three black patches on their wings, while the males only have one, larger patch. This page shows many examples of the different sexes.
The mature males of [...]

Phylogenetic trees are tree-like diagrams showing the relationships among a group of creatures, often with their most recent common ancestor serving as the base of the trunk (rooted versus unrooted). They illustrate how groups of organisms originated, divided, and endured or died off over time. An example of a very low resolution (i.e. only showing [...]