Rodents are mammals of the order Rodentia, characterized primarily by a single pair of ever-growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws, separated from the cheek teeth by a diastema and adapted for gnawing. This order encompasses extensive taxonomic diversity, including families such as Muridae, Cricetidae, Sciuridae, and Caviidae, occupying a wide range of terrestrial and arboreal habitats. Rodents exhibit high reproductive rates, diverse dietary strategies (from herbivory to omnivory), and complex social structures in some lineages. They play key ecological roles as primary consumers, seed predators and dispersers, and prey species, and serve as important model organisms in biomedical and evolutionary research.
Humans develop at a slower rate than other mammalian species, like mice, but scientists are still trying to understand the molecular basis of these differences. Now, researchers from the Ebisuya Group at EMBL Barcelona and ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 23, 2026
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141
In a new research report, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have developed a technology that allows them to capture a 3D molecular "snapshot" of hundreds of hair follicles as they develop and then reconstruct ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 21, 2026
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39
A molecular pathway known for controlling cell shape and movement also helps regulate the rhythm by which the vertebrate body is divided into repeated segments, FMI researchers report in the journal Development.
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 20, 2026
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7
Scientists analyzed the genomes of gut microorganisms from an extensive population of 875 wild house mice (Mus musculus) collected from farms in Germany. They searched for genes responsible for resistance to common antibiotics ...
Ecology
Aug 20, 2026
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26
New research reveals that microbial clocks—forensic tools that track the succession and development of bacteria and fungi involved in decomposition after death—are highly accurate for estimating time since death, or postmortem ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 19, 2026
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11
Mice use almost completely distinct sets of neurons for their two different types of vocalizations—the squeaks they produce when in distress or fighting and the whistle-like ultrasonic vocalizations they use when communicating ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 18, 2026
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9
The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of living organisms contains regulatory elements that control when, where and to what extent specific genes are turned on or off. They can be co-opted to create "gene switches" that hold significant ...
Biotechnology
Aug 17, 2026
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16
Tick-borne diseases are on the rise in the United States. Lyme disease is the most commonly reported, with nearly half a million people diagnosed each year. Caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, it is most often spread ...
Ecology
Aug 17, 2026
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283
Adjusting to a new time zone or work schedule can leave the body's internal clock out of sync for days, contributing to sleep disruption, metabolic changes and other health consequences. Researchers at Rice University and ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 14, 2026
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17
Being an elite athlete—at least for a mouse—does not shorten lifespan or limit how many children one can have. This is the finding of a study 30 years in the making, and it runs counter to accepted evolutionary theory.
Ecology
Aug 13, 2026
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