Frog Toxins For Medicine
Saving frogs couldhelp save lives
January 23, 2017
As bacterial infections become more resistant to antibiotics, the toxins on the skin of frogs presents huge opportunity for new drug discovery.
As bacterial infections become more resistant to antibiotics, the toxins on the skin of frogs presents huge opportunity for new drug discovery.
To save frogs from an extinction-causing fungus, Smithsonian scientists needed to innovate captive feeding and breeding techniques.
As part of the Smithsonian’s program to save frogs from an extinction-causing disease, the Punta Culebra Nature Center offers an exclusive glimpse at some of the amphibians we and our partner institutions are trying to save.
At one of the oldest Maya sites, STRI staff archaeologist, Ashley Sharpe, discovered dog bones from the Guatemalan highlands deep within two pyramids.
It is much faster to learn to recognize a new prey item from a neighboring species, than to learn by trial and error.
What slows or stops a disease epidemic if the pathogen is still present? It appears that wild frogs are becoming increasingly resistant to the chytrid fungal disease that has decimated amphibian populations around the world.
White-faced capuchin monkeys in Panama’s Coiba National Park habitually use hammer and anvil stones to break hermit crab shells, snail shells, coconuts and other food items, according to visiting scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). This is the first report of habitual stone-tool use by Cebus monkeys.
How do animals adapt to urban environments? In the case of the Tungara frog, city males put on a more elaborate display than males in forested areas.
A small bump in the ear canal of skulls from burials near the Gulf of Panama, may indicate that ancient coastal residents dove in icy waters to recover pearls and valuable orange Spondylus shells.
Some organisms adapt more quickly than others and may have a better chance to survive climate change. 2018 Tupper Fellow, Mike Logan, follows lizards as they adapt to islands.