Biology
Gatineau Park foliage reveals local Cold War nuclear testing legacy
For more than six decades, local scientists have collected sugar maple leaves from Gatineau Park to measure their radiocarbon levels, creating the longest continuous record of its…
Study identifies single amino acid change that alters Andes virus protein behavior in human cells
Mount Sinai researchers have identified a single amino acid difference between rodent- and human-derived Andes virus isolates that changes how a key viral protein behaves inside h…
Starling numbers are declining—we're investigating whether their spectacular murmuration displays are changing too
Every autumn, from city centers to wetlands, starling murmurations attract crowds of spectators. Thousands of birds fill the sky, twisting and turning in extraordinary waves as th…
Methane-eating microbes grown on electrodes build electrically conductive nanowires
Certain microorganisms (anaerobic methanotrophic archaea, or ANME) consume methane and convert it into electricity, as research conducted four years ago by microbiologist Cornelia…
Water may play critical role in how our tissues stretch and spring back
Every time your heart beats, your lungs expand, or your skin stretches, a remarkable protein called elastin helps your body return to its original shape. But what exactly gives th…
Endangered leatherbacks find new nesting beaches in Ecuador as Pacific Ocean warms
A hopeful story for the world's largest, critically endangered sea turtle may be playing out along the sandy beaches of Ecuador.
Machine learning reveals how often fish schooling evolved—and repeatedly disappeared
Scientists have used new machine learning techniques to investigate a topic no one has ever found a way to study: the evolution of fish moving together in schools across thousands…
A parasite linked to cats may also threaten dogs' eyesight, researchers find
A parasitic infection commonly associated with cats may be associated with severe, potentially sight-threatening ocular disease in dogs, according to a new study by researchers at…
Tree-rich landscapes help birds and bats nearly double cacao yields in Peru
Tropical farmers are often expected to choose between high crop yields and protecting wildlife. However, an international team of researchers led by the University of Vienna, in c…
Male lizard 'perfumes' may be more about rivalry than seduction
Animals communicate in ways that are sometimes obvious to us and sometimes almost completely hidden. Bright colors, songs and courtship displays are easy to notice. Chemical signa…
Sewers could hold the key to detecting deadly fungal infections
Every year, fungal infections kill around 2.5 million people worldwide, more than tuberculosis and malaria combined. Yet most people may have never heard of the fungi responsible,…
New review maps a 'structure-to-physiology' roadmap for functional fruit packaging
Freshly harvested fruit remains metabolically active, respires vigorously and is highly sensitive to ethylene. It is therefore highly susceptible to softening, browning, water los…
3-million-year-old Taung Child once again shakes up our human family tree
A century after the Taung Child permanently altered our view of human origins, a new study published in npj Palaeoecosystems dates the famous fossil to between 2.96 and 3.03 milli…
Canines could help anthropological studies, answering questions about human evolution
Anthropologists seeking to understand human evolution often include primates such as chimps or apes in their studies. But a new review paper by Kyle Smith, a postdoctoral research…
Not a 'night owl' yet: Extraordinary bird fossil from Messel Pit suggests species still hunted by day
An exceptionally well-preserved, approximately 47-million-year-old owl fossil from the UNESCO World Heritage Site Messel provides new clues as to when owls became nocturnal. The n…
Tiny beetle trapped in 53-million-year-old amber is named after Twenty One Pilots
Preserved in amber for about 53 million years, a beetle has been described as a new species by researchers in Spain and France. Named Cnopus twentyonepilotorum, it is the first pu…
Chimpanzees blowing raspberries offer first evidence of learned vocal conventions in great ape communication
Chimpanzees may learn how to use some of their calls from the adults around them, in a surprising parallel with how human children learn words, finds a study from the CNRS Institu…
Giving wheat breeders hyper vision
Aswin Singaram Natarajan rolls a stem of wheat in his hands. It looks perfectly healthy, but the senior experimental scientist at CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, knows…
Pollutants threaten rivers and streams even in protected areas
Organic pollutants such as pesticides and industrial chemicals commonly pose risks to aquatic ecosystems, even in protected rivers and streams, according to a new study by RPTU Un…
Knowing how plants stretch out when warm could help dial back their response
When they start to get too warm but before they're dangerously hot, most plants employ a similar playbook. They change their shape, a host of adaptations that includes growing lon…
Study reveals overcompensation in desert plant-weevil interactions
A research team led by professor Zhang Yuanming from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has revealed that the outcomes of de…
Genetic hitchhikers make Aspergillus infections even harder to treat
Resistance to antifungal medicines in the pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus is proving more persistent than previously thought. Research by Wageningen University & Research …
Prehistoric whale reveals extreme skull asymmetry
Sperm whales and pygmy sperm whales are known among mammals for their unusually shaped heads. Unlike most vertebrates, which are bilaterally symmetrical, toothed whales have asymm…
Did you solve it? The multi-choice maths quiz taking over the world
The answer to today’s Kangaroo puzzleEarlier today I set you the following problem from the international maths Kangaroo, a multiple choice challenge taken by more than seven mill…