Primates are an order (Primates) of eutherian mammals characterized by a suite of derived traits associated with arboreal locomotion and enhanced sensory and cognitive capacities. Defining features include grasping extremities with opposable thumbs and, in many taxa, opposable great toes; nails instead of claws on most digits; a postorbital bar or plate; forward-facing orbits enabling stereoscopic vision; and a relatively enlarged brain, especially in regions mediating vision and complex behavior. The order encompasses strepsirrhines (lemurs, lorises), tarsiers, and haplorhine simians (monkeys and apes, including humans), and is a core model group in evolutionary biology, comparative anatomy, neurobiology, and behavioral ecology.
When spider monkeys want to tell others about the best fruit trees in the forest or ones they've missed, they do so by changing their social groups to share what they know, according to a new study published in the journal ...
Incidents that make us consider the relationship between humans and wild animals are happening all over Japan, from bear attacks to crop damage by wild animals. How should we interpret the current situation, and how should ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 26, 2026
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17
Despite being one of the most cooperative species on the planet, humans routinely fail to manage shared resources sustainably. We overfish from the oceans, burn fossil fuels, and over-prescribe antibiotics; behaviors that ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 22, 2026
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437
Increasing paternal age has been linked to elevated health risks for the next generation, including higher risks of obesity and stillbirth. But what drives this increased risk remains unknown.
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 20, 2026
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696
A new study shows how one of the cell's most important energy-producing machines is built. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have mapped late steps in the formation of the human respirasome, a large protein assembly that ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 19, 2026
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763
A multidisciplinary team has uncovered a key mechanism that allows the human bacterium Mycoplasma pneumoniae—responsible for atypical pneumonia and other respiratory infections—to obtain cholesterol and other essential lipids ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 18, 2026
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33
Scientists at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB-FORTH) and the University of Crete, together with collaborators from Greece, Europe, the U.S., and India, have discovered a novel role of albumin, the ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 17, 2026
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2721
Understanding human gene function in living organisms has long been hampered by fundamental differences between species. Although mice share most protein-coding genes with humans, their regulatory landscapes often diverge, ...
Biotechnology
Jan 17, 2026
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125
Michel Tama Sadiakhou's future dramatically changed course some 15 years ago thanks to a clan of spear-wielding apes: instead of the dangerous work in informal gold mines that is the fate of many in Senegal's far southeast, ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 15, 2026
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78
Ai, a "genius" chimpanzee who could recognize more than 100 Chinese characters and the English alphabet, has died aged 49, Japanese researchers said.
Plants & Animals
Jan 12, 2026
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25
