Barks in the night lead to the discovery of new species

The raucous calls of tree hyraxes—small, herbivorous mammals—reverberate through the night in the forests of West and Central Africa, but their sound differs depending on the location.

How plants sense touch, gravity and other physical forces

(PhysOrg.com) -- At the bottom of plants' ability to sense touch, gravity or a nearby trellis are mechanosensitive channels, pores through the cells' plasma membrane that are opened and closed by the deformation of the membrane. ...

Naked mole rat found to defy Gompertz's mortality law

A team of researchers at Google-owned Calico Life Sciences LLC has found that the naked mole rat defies Gompertz's mortality law. In their paper published in eLife, the group describes their study of the unusual-looking rodent ...

What medieval artists teach us about animal sex

The prevailing view is that animals mainly have sex to reproduce. Until recently, therefore, scientists assumed that animals were relentlessly heterosexual. This is the message conveyed by countless zoos, wildlife documentaries, ...

'Tree of life' for 2.3 million species released

A first draft of the "tree of life" for the roughly 2.3 million named species of animals, plants, fungi and microbes—from platypuses to puffballs—has been released.

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