How nearby galaxies form their stars

Stars are born in dense clouds of molecular hydrogen gas that permeates interstellar space of most galaxies. While the physics of star formation is complex, recent years have seen substantial progress towards understanding ...

Prehistoric shark hid its largest teeth

Early sharks that lived 300 to 400 million years ago not only dropped their lower jaws downward but rotated them outward when opening their mouths. This enabled them to make the best of their largest, sharpest and inward-facing ...

Host genetic factors shape composition of virus communities

Plants can be infected by multiple viruses at once. However, the composition of the pathogen community varies, even if individuals belong to the same species and the same population. Ecologists at the University of Zurich ...

Evolution in action: A new plant species in the Swiss Alps

A new plant species named Cardamine insueta appeared in the region of Urnerboden in the Swiss alps, after the land has changed from forest to grassland over the last 150 years. The inheritance of two key traits from its parent ...

New Guinea has the world's richest island flora

New Guinea is the most floristically diverse island in the world, an international collaboration led by the University of Zurich has shown. The study presents a list of almost 14,000 plant species, compiled from online catalogs ...

How Venus flytraps snap

Venus flytraps catch spiders and insects by snapping their trap leaves. This mechanism is activated when unsuspecting prey touch highly sensitive trigger hairs twice within 30 seconds. A study led by researchers at the University ...

Human presence weakens social relationships of giraffes

The effects of human presence on the social relationships of wild animals have rarely been studied. Even if the animals are not hunted or killed, increasing contact with humans could have profound indirect impacts. This is ...

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