Scientists have discovered a copy of the entire genome of a bacterial parasite residing inside the genome of its host species. The finding suggests that lateral gene transfer -- the movement of genes between unrelated species -- may happen much more frequently between bacteria and multicellular organisms than scientists previously believed, posing dramatic implications for evolution.

A new analysis of last year's near-record U.S. temperatures suggests human activity was the biggest factor in the 2006 warming, according to researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NASA clean rooms, where scientists and engineers assemble spacecraft, have joined hot springs, ice caves, and deep mines as unlikely places where scientists have discovered ultra-hardy organisms collectively known as 'extremophiles'. Some species of bacteria uncovered in a recent NASA study have never been detected anywhere else.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

It's been a while since we last heard about a dolphin getting fitted with an artificial tail, but it looks like Fuji finally has some new bionic company, with Winter the dolphin now starting to get used to a prosthetic tail of its own. Unlike Fuji, Winter lost her both her tail flukes and her peduncle, which posed additional problems for the team of researchers that developed the tail, ultimately requiring them to "MacGyver" one as they went along (a term the researchers themselves used to describe it). While it's apparently not perfected just yet, Winter has started to learn to swim with a prosthetic sleeve, which will eventually be outfitted with artificial tail flukes that could allow it to keep pace with other dolphins. In addition to helping Winter, the researchers behind the tail say that the lessons learned from it could also help human amputees, with the gel sleeve used to hold the tail into place apparently already adapted for use with a human prosthesis.

[Photo courtesy of AP]

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