The Malayan sun bear is the smallest bear in the world and is active only at night. It spends its days sleeping in tree nests and basking in the sun.
Little fly makes a big buzz in health science
Little fly makes a big buzz in health science In a special issue of the journal 'Science', 230
researchers from 8 countries have reported that they have
unravelled the entire genetic map of the fruit fly. Research has
been conducted on fruit flies for years and findings have taught
scientists much about genes, heredity and the place of humans in
the natural world. Fruit flies are very good to study because they
breed quickly and have short lifespans. A female fruit fly can lay
up to 3,000 eggs that grow into fertile adults within 2 weeks,
enabling investigators to conduct cross-breeding experiments that
get results quickly. Unravelling and understanding the genetic map
of the fruit fly will help scientists to pinpoint genes, such as
those that cause diseases like cancer, in the human genome. This
understanding will also help scientists to discover how genes
normally function, and how some genes develop defects that can lead
to tumors. The fruit fly (drosophila melanogaster) is the second
animal to have its genome fully unravelled and is the most complex,
having eyes, a nervous system and specialized organs. 24 MARCH 2000
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