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Plants & Animals news
Hydra loses its immortality after cold triggers switch to sexual reproduction
The freshwater polyp Hydra oligactis is essentially immortal and reproduces asexually by cloning itself. Except when it gets too cold: then the animal switches to sexual reproduction, begins to age, and eventually dies. A ...
Plants & Animals
4 hours ago
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Shape-shifting sensory cells may help insects process visual information with less delay
Anyone who has ever tried and failed to swat a fly has experienced the speed of a tiny nervous system. Now, a new review brings together evidence that its secret lies partly in microscopic movements and shape changes within ...
Plants & Animals
4 hours ago
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Viewing honey bee colonies as superorganisms could reshape beekeeping practices
A new study seeks to challenge the conventional view of a honey bee colony. Viewing colonies as superorganisms redefines the fundamental biology of the honey bee colony. These insights may have implications for modern beekeeping.
Plants & Animals
5 hours ago
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Meet the long-legged giants that light up the deep ocean
Thousands of meters below the waves off Australia's east coast, far beyond where sunlight can reach, a stunning light show takes place in the dark. The cause? Two species of long-legged creatures emitting a blue glow.
How invasive Egyptian geese exploit food sources and carry parasites
The Egyptian goose, native to Africa, is considered an invasive species of Europe-wide significance. Researchers from the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center and Goethe University Frankfurt spent four years ...
Plants & Animals
6 hours ago
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Warming oceans reshape plankton, potentially leaving fish with less nutritious food
The world is changing. As humans, we tend to focus on what happens on land, but the planet's food systems depend on both terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
Plants & Animals
10 hours ago
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Africa's rhinos often get the spotlight—but Indonesia's two rhino species are far closer to extinction
Small, hairy and cheekily charismatic. Those words sprang to mind when I first met a Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) after traversing the maze of wooden slat paths at the conservation center in the dense, humid ...
Plants & Animals
12 hours ago
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Seagrass meadows bounce back with new fish communities
Seagrasses are flowering plants that thrive in marine environments and form extensive meadows along the tropical Queensland coast. New James Cook University research shows the seagrass meadows of Trinity Inlet in Cairns Harbor ...
Plants & Animals
13 hours ago
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Nature's capacity to 'bounce back' when species are lost is vastly overestimated, global analysis finds
The idea that ecosystems carry plenty of backup, so if a small number of species become extinct there is little harm, has been greatly overestimated, according to the largest global study of its kind.
Plants & Animals
16 hours ago
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Vitamin B1 gains in wild lake trout embryos challenge assumptions drawn from hatcheries
For decades, fisheries managers have struggled to restore recruitment in wild lake trout populations across the Great Lakes region, with limited success. Returning this species to its former abundance is hampered by overfishing, ...
Plants & Animals
23 hours ago
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Unusual senses: The secret superpowers of amphibians and reptiles
The Surinam toad is one of the strangest frogs on Earth. Flat-bodied, tiny-eyed and adapted to the murky waters of the Amazon basin, it hunts well despite having very poor vision. When a fish swims close, the frog suddenly ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 5, 2026
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What a locust can teach us about how neuromodulators alter odor processing
When you walk into a bakery and smell fresh cookies, the enticing smell draws you in. After you eat a handful of cookies, though, the same smell likely doesn't send you back for more. Researchers in the McKelvey School of ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 5, 2026
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Rhinos and elephants can cause huge problems if reintroduced badly—here's how to get it right
Moving large animals around is a seductive idea in conservation. If there are plenty of animals in one place and too few in another, moving some between the two seems an obvious solution. Sometimes it is. But with animals ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 5, 2026
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Rare insect discovery reveals a new species from the dinosaur age
Some 99 million years ago, during the age of the dinosaurs, a tiny insect belonging to a species previously unknown to science became trapped in tree resin. The resin hardened and turned into amber, and the fossil preserved ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 5, 2026
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Unmowed strips attract insects, but many abandon partially mowed dikes
Municipalities are increasingly mowing dikes and verges in stages, so that insects can make longer use of the plants growing there. Mowing is essential to keep a dike strong, explains ecologist Constant Swinkels of Radboud ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 5, 2026
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Florida Keys heat wave reveals nearly fourfold death risk for diseased coral
Disease and heat pose a deadly combination for coral reefs, according to a new University of Georgia study published in the journal Coral Reefs.
Plants & Animals
Oct 5, 2026
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Why can't people regenerate limbs like salamanders?
Imagine losing an arm and simply growing a new one. This amazing ability of regeneration isn't just something from a superhero movie—it actually happens in real life for some animals.
Plants & Animals
Oct 5, 2026
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Resource scarcity influences maternal brain activity and caregiving in rats
When mothers do not have the necessary resources to raise their children, this adversity causes substantial stress that can hinder caregiving and lead to postpartum depression. In a new study in JNeurosci, Millie Rincón-Cortés ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 5, 2026
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Bumblebees carry bacteria-killing viruses to cherry blossoms, reducing bacterial populations in experiments
As they fly about their usual business of pollinating flowers, bumblebees could help protect fruit trees from disease by carrying a natural treatment directly to where it is needed.
Plants & Animals
Oct 5, 2026
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Tortoises win support, hyenas face doubts in survey on adding exotic wildlife to UK parks
Zebras grazing in a UK park might sound like the stuff of a high-budget Hollywood blockbuster, but new research suggests it could one day be vital in the fight against climate change, and that the British public might not ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 5, 2026
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More news
A short breath extends the mating calls of male tokay geckos
A conservation success story for New Zealand's heaviest insect
Mowing less, spraying smarter give pollinators a boost
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Yosemite toad killer may be hiding in their own homes
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Pigeon fathers take on more responsibility when times get tough
How sea squirts perceive underwater noise
