What does Jack LaLanne have in common with a Jamaican lizard? Like the ageless fitness guru, the lizards greet each new day with vigorous push-ups. That's according to a new study showing that male Anolis lizards engage in impressive displays of reptilian strength -- push-ups, head bobs, and threatening extension of a colorful neck flap called a dewlap -- to defend their territory at dawn and dusk.

Keeping America's sheep healthy and productive while expanding the market for wool and lamb is the goal of scientists who are matching the animals' physical traits to the genes that underpin their expression.

A new bioinformatics tool is capable of identifying and correcting abnormal, incomplete and mispredicted protein annotations in public databases. The MisPred tool currently uses five principles to identify suspect proteins that are likely to be abnormal or mispredicted.

Agricultural Research Service scientists have ways of making seeds talk. They have demonstrated that seeds can reveal genetic information even after they've lost viability, which is the ability to germinate. The research has significant implications for seed bank management.

Agricultural Research Service molecular biologist John Lippolis is delving into the dynamics of the dairy cow immune system. His work is resulting in the first close-up look at how immune system proteins help protect the cows, and how bacterial proteins fight back.

Scientists are collecting the spawn of elkhorn corals as part of a research and education project to grow the newborn juvenile corals for distribution to aquaria and to the wild. The goals of the project are to learn how corals will respond to global warming and also to teach aquarium professionals how they can protect corals by using laboratory-raised specimens rather than removing corals from the ocean.

It's no secret that humans are having a huge impact on the life cycles of plants and animals. UC Santa Barbara researchers decided to test that theory by studying the world's far-flung islands. Their research sheds surprising light on the subject of extinction rates of species on islands.

DNA barcoding is a movement to catalog all life on earth by a simple standardized genetic tag, similar to stores labeling products with unique barcodes. But the approach as currently practiced churns out some results as inaccurately as a supermarket checker scanning an apple and ringing it up as an orange, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The fungus Sclerotinia trifoliorum plagues legume crops worldwide. But chickpeas seem to have escaped its wrath, with the exception of Australia's crop. Now, that's no longer the case, report scientists.

In 2006, Bluetongue virus -- which infects livestock -- reached Northern Europe for the first time. Some people thought that the outbreak would be limited to that particular year, as winter was expected to kill off the midges that host and spread the disease, bringing the threat of infection to an end. In actuality, the disease escalated in the following year, spreading to the UK. So, how did the virus survive the winter?

A chemical called candidaspongiolide (CAN) inhibits protein synthesis but also kills cancer cells by triggering caspase 12-dependent programmed cell death, according to an article in the Aug. 26 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

New research strongly suggests that a mix of preventative agents, such as those found in concentrated black raspberries, may more effectively inhibit cancer development than single agents aimed at shutting down a particular gene. Researchers examined the effect of freeze-dried black raspberries on genes altered by a chemical carcinogen in an animal model of esophageal cancer.

Scientists have assessed the human body's capacity for absorbing certain antioxidant compounds in strawberries, and have found that the absorption of one key beneficial plant chemical was not "maxed out" as volunteers ate more of this popular fruit. Foods high in antioxidants may be excellent sources of healthful compounds, and researchers are striving to learn more about their ability to be absorbed and utilized within the human body.

Most fertilizers used worldwide today were developed from 1950 to 1970 by the Tennessee Valley Authority based in Muscle Shoals. A $41 million investment in fertilizer research returned $57 billion to US agriculture. Public funding for fertilizer development has dropped dramatically since the TVA fertilizer program closed in the 1990s. Research is needed to develop a new generation of energy-efficient fertilizers to help alleviate the food crisis.

An aerial survey by government scientists in Alaska's Chukchi Sea this week found at least nine polar bears swimming in open water -- with one at least 60 miles from shore -- raising concern among wildlife experts about their survival.

Pinpointing the chromosomal location of the "slick" gene identified by scientists could help breeders develop cattle with shorter, slick hair that helps keep them cool in the subtropical heat.

A new "green" technology developed cooperatively by scientists with the Agricultural Research Service and North Carolina State University could lead to production of hydrogen from nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

A special August issue of the Journal of Comparative Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association, presents a host of studies that investigate the way that animals adapt their calls, chirps, barks and whistles to their social situation.

Scientists have found that a diatom can reduce the levels of the red tide's toxicity to animals and that the same diatom can reduce its toxicity to other algae as well.

The ostentatious, sometimes bizarre qualities that improve a creature's chances of finding a mate may also drive the reproductive separation of populations and the evolution of new species, say two Indiana University Bloomington biologists.