/channels/taxonomy/term/5646/all en /channels/channels/news/new-understanding-reptile-colouration-344812 <p>Snakes and mice don’t look alike. But much of what we know about skin colouration and patterning in vertebrates generally, including in snakes, is based on lab mice. However, there are limits to what mice can tell us about other vertebrates because they don’t share all of the same types of colour-producing cells, known as chromatophores. For example, snakes have a type of chromatophore called iridophores that can generate iridescent colours by reflecting light.</p> Fri, 03 Feb 2023 14:08:06 +0000 webfull 186986 at /channels /channels/news/honey-i-shrunk-ants-how-environment-controls-size-243448 <p>Until now scientists have believed that the variations in traits such as our height, skin colour, tendency to gain weight or not, intelligence, tendency to develop certain diseases, etc., all of them traits that exist along a continuum, were a result of both genetic and environmental factors. But they didn’t know how exactly these things worked together. By studying ants, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ researchers have identified a key mechanism by which environmental (or epigenetic) factors influence the expression of all of these traits, (along with many more). Wed, 11 Mar 2015 11:05:19 +0000 webfull 108724 at /channels /channels/news/new-breast-cancer-gene-identified-248713 Mon, 27 Apr 2015 18:04:50 +0000 webfull 109740 at /channels