sea-maid submitted, created time 3 months 5 days (www.nature.com)

Despite thousands of years of coexistence, exploitation and cheese, humanity seems to have missed an intriguing fact about cows: they like to point north. Or possibly south. After some exploration, it was found that other animals, such as deer, do this too.

Researchers have explored the matter and found that the ruminants are aligning themselves to magnetic north, not true north. In other words, this is about the magnetic field, not maximizing heat from the sun or getting out of the wind.

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Eric wu submitted, created time 10 months 2 weeks (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

When you eat a cup of yogurt, billions of bacteria make their way to your gut. Some researchers believe that these "probiotics" can be good for you, alleviating everything from bowel disease to allergies. Now, a team of researchers has shown that, at least in mice, supplementing food with a helping of "good" bacteria can cause profound metabolic changes, including some that may be linked to weight loss.

This idea foretells an exciting and potentially revolutionary future in which microbial interventions can correct metabolic abnormalities.

1 comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: mutualism digestion dairy nutrition obesity probiotics weight loss symbiosis parasites Bacteria