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Biology news
Nature's 'master painters': Study reveals how damselflies break optical barriers to create saturated colors
Scientists at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) have uncovered for the first time the "ingenious" biological strategies that allow blue-tailed damselflies to produce strikingly vivid, angle-independent colors. The ...
Plants & Animals
19 minutes ago
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Zoned tourist vessel routes could curb invasive marine pests across Galápagos Islands
New research from Edith Cowan University (ECU) has identified a smarter, more effective way to protect fragile marine ecosystems from invasive species—an approach with global relevance for island regions around the world. ...
Plants & Animals
59 minutes ago
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Scientists uncover RNA's hidden role as protein chaperone
Proteins are how cells get work done. They carry out nearly every important cellular task, from ferrying messages to controlling which genes are turned on or off. And in order for proteins to perform their various roles, ...
Cell & Microbiology
39 minutes ago
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eDNA metabarcoding evaluated for fish diversity assessment
Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding has emerged as a powerful tool for monitoring aquatic biodiversity, enabling researchers to identify fish species from traces of DNA found in water without using invasive techniques ...
Plants & Animals
39 minutes ago
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Wild bird eggs reveal pollutants' environmental footprints
Monitoring the eggs of wild birds like the bearded vulture and the imperial eagle over a decade reveals the accumulation and persistence of environmental pollutants in ecosystems. At first glance, a wild bird's egg represents ...
Ecology
59 minutes ago
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How animals use leveling behaviors to put alphas in their place
Inequality is not unique to human groups and societies. Individuals with relatively little power possess a variety of behavioral strategies to counterbalance or regulate power differences. In humans, these strategies include ...
Plants & Animals
2 hours ago
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AI in nature conservation: Powerful tool or dangerous shortcut?
Conservationists analyze overwhelming volumes of ecological data in their work. For example, they might need to process decades of weather data or the movements of millions of insects. Up until now, these scientists and decision ...
Ecology
2 hours ago
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Why are sloths slow? It's in their DNA
Sloths are the slowest mammals on the planet, but living in dense jungles has made them notoriously difficult to study. For the first time, scientists have now sequenced and analyzed the two-toed sloth genome and revealed ...
Evolution
5 hours ago
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Farmed oysters may boost New York's dwindling wild populations
Farmed oysters are mixing with and potentially adding to populations of wild oysters—a once-abundant species in New York's estuaries and rivers that has declined drastically over the last century. A new study, published in ...
Ecology
3 hours ago
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Savanna chimpanzees use tools for capturing and feeding on army ants, study shows
Chimpanzees are the only great apes, apart from humans, that have adapted to living on savannas as well as in forests. However, it is not yet well understood how the harsh ecological conditions of the savanna—compared with ...
Evolution
5 hours ago
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Ancient ground squirrel droppings reveal Arctic's rich evolutionary history
Ground squirrel droppings, preserved for millennia in the Yukon's deep permafrost, have yielded an enormous amount of environmental DNA from dozens of species of plants, insects, microbes and large mammals, offering detailed ...
Evolution
6 hours ago
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Chasing the ghost dog of the Amazon: New insights into a mythical canid
For decades, the short-eared dog (Atelocynus microtis) has been considered one of the least-known carnivores in Latin America, and potentially one of the least-known canids in the world. Because of its highly secretive nature, ...
Plants & Animals
8 hours ago
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These underwater 'living pink rocks' help store carbon: Scientists just found four new species
Rhodoliths may look like small rocks on the seafloor, but they are actually living algae that create habitats for marine life and contribute to long-term carbon storage. A new study found that the deeper, low-light waters ...
Ecology
7 hours ago
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Some drugs 'fail' because of unrealistic testing conditions, scientists discover
A drug once dismissed as ineffective suddenly worked—when scientists tested it under more realistic conditions that mimic the human body. In this surprising new discovery, Northwestern University scientists uncovered a hidden ...
Biotechnology
7 hours ago
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Dogs uncover invasive pests that experts missed in real-world vineyard tests
At a Maryland vineyard, Debi Persing guided her Boston terrier, Xephyr, slowly down a row of grapevines. Vineyard workers and scientists had already identified several invasive spotted lanternfly egg masses hidden among the ...
Veterinary medicine
10 hours ago
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A lack of sex held back life's diversity for millions of years, fossil study finds
The way that Earth's first animals reproduced held back life's diversity for millions of years, until stress and competition led to the development of sexual reproduction, which in turn accelerated the pace of evolution.
Evolution
12 hours ago
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New 3D microscope technology captures high-resolution tissue images at a fraction of the cost
A team led by Raju Tomer, professor of biological sciences at Columbia University, has created a new design for microscopes and microscope lenses that could push 3D tissue imaging beyond state-of-the-art systems while drastically ...
Cell & Microbiology
12 hours ago
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Koala numbers crashed across Australia 100,000 years ago. Global glacial cycles are likely to blame
It's surprising how easy it is to see a koala every day in Australia's major cities. The cute, gray marsupial can be found on T-shirts, hanging off people's bags and pencils, and decorating any decent souvenir shop. But seeing ...
Plants & Animals
6 hours ago
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New maps chart old-growth forests across Alaska and British Columbia
Mature and old-growth forests are vital for biodiversity, carbon storage, cultural traditions and economic activity. But in Alaska and British Columbia, these rich resources have not been reliably mapped, leaving much unknown ...
Ecology
7 hours ago
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Koala population crash came before humans, genomic study reveals
A genomic study has reshaped our understanding of the evolutionary history of the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus), revealing the iconic Australian marsupial experienced a severe population decline around 100,000 years ago, ...
Plants & Animals
17 hours ago
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More news
How plants survive constant DNA damage: Newly identified repair protein protects growth-critical stem cells
Peptide blocks DNA breaks tied to treatment-induced leukemia, offering new prevention route
Magnesium transporter discovery could improve rice nutrition and taste
Agricultural waste can be used to clean wastewater
Frozen rat chromosome springs back to life inside a mouse embryo
How wax moth larvae can help reduce animal testing in research
Bacteria can learn and form memories without a brain
Recovered wild maize gene boosts crop protein without yield loss
Ribosome tunnel interactions reveal how bacteria can pause protein production
Antibiotics drive resistance in waterways—even after they break down
Why does the Y chromosome retain UTY?
Sesame dynamically rewires lignan metabolism during germination
Why plant cells need heme: Hidden signal reshapes photosynthesis gene control
First nonrepeating biological clock discovered in C. elegans guides growth
