Biology
Newly discovered amoeba reproduces at 145 F, breaking heat record for eukaryotic life
Organisms are products of the environments they live and evolve in. While the physical world is governed by universal laws like thermodynamics and gravity, there are few laws of b…
Light reshapes gelatin scaffolds to steer cell growth in three dimensions
Soft, flexible hydrogels have enabled significant advancements in engineering biological tissue by mimicking the natural scaffolding that provides structure and support to cells. …
Experimental study on moths supports the molecular cookie cutter idea proposed for butterflies
Have you ever thought about reinventing yourself? According to a new study on moths conducted by Andrei Sourakov, collection coordinator of Lepidoptera at the Florida Museum of Na…
Is it a boy or a girl? For alligators, it may come down to one degree
The future of the alligator species could come down to a one- or two-degree temperature difference, according to new research from the University of Georgia. The findings are publ…
Famed oceanographer calls for ending krill catch near Antarctica as governments debate fishing quota
Renowned oceanographer Sylvia Earle is calling for an end to krill fishing near Antarctica as officials from the U.S., China, Russia and 24 other governments negotiate a possible …
Nighttime songs could reveal when endangered pygmy blue whales feed off Western Australia
Listening to the songs of endangered pygmy blue whales could help researchers identify when the animals are feeding off Western Australia's coast, improving scientists' ability to…
Researchers create first whole-body single-cell atlas of an adult vertebrate
Viewed from above, Danionella cerebrum offers a rare sight in a vertebrate: its brain, visible through the top of its head. Since the species was adopted for neuroscience research…
Birds and humans share fundamental song and speech patterns, study finds
McGill University researchers have identified "universal" vocal patterns across hundreds of bird species and found that many of the same patterns also appear in human song and spe…
Long-distance flights can throw seabirds' internal clocks out of sync, causing navigation errors
A study led by Oxford University has found that seabirds flying long distances across the Atlantic can experience a mismatch between their internal body clocks and local time (the…
Why jet lag throws even foraging seabirds off course
Oxford study shows Manx shearwaters lose direction when their body clocks get out of syncSeabirds returning from foraging trips can be thrown hundreds of miles off course by a for…
Global maps reveal farming, dams and agricultural runoff as leading threats to freshwater species
Farming, dams and agricultural runoff are the biggest threats to freshwater biodiversity globally, with Europe and Northwest Africa the hardest-hit regions, McGill researchers hav…
Unusual whale sightings around Australia may signal changing ocean conditions
Whales never cease to amaze me. After nearly two decades of studying these majestic mammals, I've learned every whale season is slightly different. Each migration along Australia'…
Newly characterized Streptomyces strain yields previously unknown natural products
In a collaboration, researchers from the Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures and the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) have di…
Shrinking bat populations can weaken ecosystem benefits even while species remain widespread
Bats promote the health of ecosystems in many ways. Insect-eating species help regulate insect populations, including agricultural and forest pests. In tropical and subtropical re…
Werewolf mice, ghostly frogs and cockroach zombies: The animal versions of our Halloween horrors
Around this time of year, elaborate decorations featuring ghosts, vampires, zombies, witches and werewolves adorn front doors, gardens and store windows across the country. But yo…
‘My hands are shaking’ - what it’s like to be an expert witness - video
As one of the world’s leading forensic anthropologists, Dame Sue Black has acted as an expert witness in a myriad of high-profile criminal cases. Her work has taken her from the l…
Heat-evolved algae offer clues to helping corals withstand warming seas
A research team led by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) has found that heat-evolved algae maintain more stable biomolecular profiles under elevated temperatures t…
Capturing our closest archaeal relatives offers clues to the origin of eukaryotes
A collaborative research team led by Hiroyuki Imachi and Masaru K. Nobu of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and Satoshi Nakagawa of Kyoto Univers…
New tropical protea flowers expand floriculture opportunities across Hawaiʻi
Researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR) have bred new "tropical" pincushion protea (Leucospermum) hybrids th…
New fossil scans challenge insect flight timeline, suggesting origins up to 80 million years later
A tiny fossil discovered exactly a century ago has caused an enormous change in our understanding of when flying insects first appeared on Earth.
Museum specimens reveal shrinking flying foxes in Madagascar, with commercial hunting suspected
Flying foxes are the biggest bats in the world; they look like German shepherd puppies with 5-foot (1.5-meter) wingspans. But Madagascar's flying foxes are shrinking.
Ancient Alberta fish fossils reveal evolutionary secrets of modern species
Rare, complete fossils of ancient fish discovered in Alberta are helping fill in the gaps in our knowledge about which freshwater fish were living in North America at the end of t…
Amino acid boosts last-resort antibiotic's effectiveness
Worldwide, antibiotic resistance is associated with millions of deaths every year, and the World Health Organization warns that the number of resistant infections is rising. Colis…
Smaller ants devote more of their resting energy budget to their brains
The energy required for brains of different sizes to function could play a role in how different species evolved over time. While the energetic costs of brains have long been deem…