Biology
Fungi neutralize spruce defense mechanisms with sugar
A research team at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology discovered a previously unknown strategy by which certain fungi neutralize spruce defense compounds. These fungi a…
Dog-guided cameras uncover weasels across Georgia, including regions unseen for 30 years
University of Georgia researchers recently located the mammal equivalent of a needle in a haystack: weasels. Weasels are extremely difficult to find, so not much is known about th…
Why do some chimpanzee mothers carry their dead infants for months?
Chimpanzee and bonobo mothers sometimes continue to carry their infants after they have died, a behavior known as infant corpse carrying (ICC). It is widely documented, and many e…
Dogs show human-like brain activity when they restrain themselves
When we tell a dog "no" and it resists temptation, what happens in its brain? New research from the Department of Ethology at ELTE and the HUN-REN Research Centre of Natural Scien…
Bone strength study reveals new clues about human evolution
Bipedalism, or walking on two legs, is one of the key features that distinguishes humans from other apes. But when and why our ancestors transitioned from a life often spent in tr…
Tyrannosaurus rex teeth reveal a body temperature close to the human average
When picturing a scaled, toothy Tyrannosaurus rex stomping across North America, building nests and eating other dinosaurs, it's easy to forget that scientists have gleaned everyt…
AI reveals novel nighttime feeding behaviors in right whales
Right whales forage near the water's surface at night, putting them at greater risk of potentially fatal collisions with boats, Jay Kirkham at Dalhousie University, Canada, and co…
Hedgehog coronaviruses may threaten cats more than humans, new study finds
Washington State University researchers have discovered how a group of coronaviruses circulating in hedgehogs invades host cells, a key to understanding their potential to jump be…
Prime assembly can correct multiple mutations at once, pointing toward universal gene therapies
Genomic editing holds great potential yet continues to have limitations. Current methods either rely on untargeted gene delivery or short DNA edits that need to be individualized …
Land use and management intensity affect the suitability of habitats for wildlife in Europe
Common, wide-ranging vertebrate species, such as foxes, may be finding more suitable habitat in towns and cities than in the wider landscape, while rarer species—which live in sma…
The science behind greener, healthier lawns
A healthy, green lawn can be the envy of any neighborhood, but how does someone cultivate a yard like that? Assistant Professor of Ecosystem Science Amber Churchill has been getti…
3D scans reveal how lichen fungi grip algae across cell walls
Lichens colonize trees and rocks all over the world. They are symbiotic communities between fungi and photosynthetically active green algae or cyanobacteria, in which both partner…
Scientists create mice with part-human brains
Researchers hope to shed light on conditions such as schizophrenia, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability and rare forms of dementiaResearchers have created mice with …
Pufferfish taste receptor more versatile than a human's, detecting both savory L- and sweet D-amino acids
Our sense of taste is critical for survival, alerting us to substances that provide vital nutrients and those that might poison us. Now, a team led by researchers from the Univers…
Measuring milk's carbon footprint
Every product or service has a "carbon footprint," a measure of the environmental impact of creating or delivering it.
Half-billion-year-old fossils rewrite the origin story of starfish
Scientists have discovered several 518-million-year-old fossils that reshape understanding of the origins of the animal group containing starfish. The fossils show that these anim…
New species of egg-eating snake discovered in Ethiopia's Harenna Forest
A new species of snake that feeds exclusively on birds' eggs has been discovered in the Harenna Forest in Ethiopia, one of the last substantial tracts of natural forest left in th…
Caffeine pollution could disrupt crustacean defenses against predators
While most people are aware of how plastic, arsenic and various industrial chemicals can pollute bodies of water, the effects of caffeine on freshwater environments remain largely…
How bacteria hijack viruses to shuffle their own DNA
When you think of viruses, you probably think of flu-like symptoms and quarantines. Humankind has suffered from viral diseases ranging from smallpox to COVID-19, hantavirus and Eb…
New breeding approach targets crop rotations, not yield alone
Breeding crops for farming systems rather than yield alone could exploit untapped genetic potential and help farmers cut fertilizer bills.
Weeping whales: Stillborn humpback whale grieving documented
Humpback whale mothers may experience grief when their calves die, a rare research observation led by Griffith University and Sea World Foundation has found.
First-of-its-kind preventive phage therapy provides promising results against Salmonella
The mammalian gut microbiome teems with a delicate balance of bacteria and the viruses that keep them in check, called bacteriophages, or phages. Each bacterial species usually ha…
Wildfires push endangered Sumatran elephants to brink: Indonesian NGO
Critically endangered Sumatran elephants are being pushed closer to the brink as wildfires raze vast swaths of their habitat on the western island of Sumatra, Indonesian conservat…
Well-preserved tooth from Pacific mastodon found in a creek in San Francisco Bay Area
Brigid Lynch was working along a wooded creek in a mountainous part of the San Francisco Bay Area when something that didn't look like the rocks she'd been studying caught her eye…