Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise In Lewis Carrolls 1871 classic novel Through the Looking Glass, the Red Queen tells Alice: Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. Over the years, evolutionary biologists have used the Red Queens statement to refer to the Red Queen hypothesis, which describes how living organisms, including humans, manage to survive in a changing environment by adapting through sexual reproduction. According to a University of Iowa researcher, the hypothesis is supported. In a paper published in the journal Biology Letters, lead author Deanna Soper, postdoctoral researcher in the UI Department of Biology and currently visiting assistant professor at Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin, and her colleagues write about testing a version of the Red Queen hypothesis. In particular, they addressed whether a particular prediction of the hypothesis was metthat exposure to parasites increases multiple mating in New Zealand freshwater snails (Potamopyrgus antipodarum). What they found was that a challenge to the health of the snails caused the snails to respond by increasing their rate of mating and their number of mates. "Under the Red Queen hypothesis, sexual reproduction gives an advantage over asexual … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise ATLANTA--Dr. Timothy J. Bartness, a Regents Professor of Biology and director of the Center for Obesity Reversal at Georgia State University, has received a five-year, $2.5 million renewal of the MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) Award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) to study lipolysis, the breakdown of body fat, and thermogenesis, or heat production, from specialized fat cells. Bartness, a world-renowned obesity researcher, has studied obesity for more than 30 years. His laboratory is focused on how the brain communicates with adipose tissue (fat) and how fat communicates with the brain, a bidirectional communication that seems to be responsible for controlling the breakdown of fat and functioning as the principal way mammals decrease their body fat. Bartness research addresses why there are differences in fat deposition in humans and non-human animals. Body fat distribution and the consequent changes in metabolism are thought to be critical factors contributing to the metabolic syndrome risk factors (insulin resistance, high blood triglycerides and high blood pressure) that often lead to heart disease, diabetes and other maladies. The prestigious award is bestowed to the recipient, rather than applied … Continue reading →