https://phys.org/biology-news/ en-us Read the latest science news from Phys.org on biology, evolution, microbiology, biotechnology Scientists have identified dozens of previously overlooked cultural behaviors in wild chimpanzees, suggesting that the great ape's culture extends far beyond complex skills like tool use. In a single community, they found nearly 70 behaviors that chimpanzees appear to learn from one another—almost doubling previous estimates of cultural behaviors across African chimpanzee populations. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-chimpanzees-reveal-socially-behaviors-cultural.html Plants & Animals Thu, 21 May 2026 16:00:02 EDT news698593021 When researchers test whether an antibiotic will work, they usually do so in a controlled laboratory environment. But when an infection happens inside the human body, things aren't so clean and tidy. New research from the Levin Lab at WashU published in mBio, found that even a slight change in acidity may dramatically shift how bacteria respond to treatment. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-antibiotics-body-ph-conditions-bacteria.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 21 May 2026 15:00:06 EDT news698591522 Blessed are the tiny cheesemakers: scientists have mapped out the bacteria responsible for giving three British cheeses their distinct flavor, which may also be beneficial to human health. Scientists in the Food Microbial Sciences Unit at the University of Reading, identified the microbial and biochemical profiles of three artisan cheeses made locally in Oxfordshire across their maturation process, and found that the bacteria responsible for a cheese's character could also benefit the people who eat it. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-bacteria-artisan-cheeses-ease-disease.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 21 May 2026 14:20:02 EDT news698585761 A new large-scale study led by a research team from the Yale Center for Biodiversity and Global Change has found that wildlife responds not only to how humans reshape their habitats, but also to the simple presence of humans—and sometimes in surprising ways. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-wildlife-behavior-response.html Plants & Animals Thu, 21 May 2026 14:00:14 EDT news698571662 Hair, nails, and horns, all made up of keratin, are some of the hardest and most resilient structures in animals. Inside zebrafish cells, keratin plays a distinct role, giving them the strength they need to move together as a coherent tissue while modulating the driving forces behind their movement during early development. But what happens when keratin is missing? https://phys.org/news/2026-05-cell-movement-embryo-zebrafish-keratin.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 21 May 2026 13:40:07 EDT news698582521 Certain epigenetic modifications can directly control how genetic material is packed in the nucleus, RIKEN researchers have shown. This has important implications for our understanding of how genes are expressed in different cell types. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-uncovering-link-epigenetic-modifications-chromatin.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 21 May 2026 13:00:05 EDT news698581861 G protein-coupled receptors, or GPCRs, sit in the plasma membrane, the boundary that defines the inside and outside of a living cell. They communicate with nearly every physiological process in our bodies—from the ability to see and smell, to sensing of adrenaline, insulin, nutrients and medicines. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ai-miniproteins-key-cell-receptors.html Biotechnology Thu, 21 May 2026 11:00:12 EDT news698574662 Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have created a new artificial intelligence (AI) model that helps reveal how genes function together inside human cells, offering a powerful new way to understand biology and disease. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ai-genes-human-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 21 May 2026 11:00:04 EDT news698479815 A study led by researchers from the Department of Microbiology at the University of Malaga has revealed how organic farming—using natural substances and processes and avoiding the use of synthetic chemicals—can, in the long term, help crops become more resistant to drought in a natural way. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-farming-solution-natural-drought-resilience.html Ecology Thu, 21 May 2026 10:20:03 EDT news698576221 Seeds like wheat, rice, and corn are at the center of the global food supply and provide most of the daily calories consumed worldwide. But despite their importance, scientists still do not fully understand many of the basic biological processes that allow these seeds to grow, transport nutrients, and develop traits that determine crop resiliency. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-seed-atlas-uncovers-genes-crop.html Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 21 May 2026 05:00:08 EDT news698509562 Fish who display dominant traits are more at risk of consuming microplastic pollution than others in their social group, according to new research. The study, led by the University of Glasgow and published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, details the different levels of risk microplastic pollution poses to aquatic life, with some fish in hierarchical social groups affected more than others. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-dominant-fish-higher-microplastic-subordinates.html Plants & Animals Wed, 20 May 2026 16:20:06 EDT news698501763 In a silent war that has raged for millions of years, plants have evolved a sophisticated chemical arsenal to fight back against invading pathogens. Now, a team of researchers from Peking University and Tsinghua University has finally mapped out the blueprints for one of nature's most effective deterrents, solving a biological puzzle that has baffled scientists for nearly half a century. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-scientists-year-mystery-immunity-debneyol.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 20 May 2026 15:40:07 EDT news698500987 The vulnerability of a shark population to losing even small numbers to fishing has been highlighted by researchers from the University of Chester and partners in the Philippines using a remote stereo camera system. The team has found that pelagic thresher sharks in the Central Visayan Sea would be vulnerable to a fishing mortality rate of 5.3% each year, and that the removal of 15 to 18 females would result in a potentially catastrophic decline in the population. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-fragility-high-shark-population.html Plants & Animals Wed, 20 May 2026 15:20:01 EDT news698500045 A new paper calls for ecologists and evolutionary biologists to consider how organisms experience climate rather than how weather stations record it when doing climate–biology research. The paper, "Matching climate to biological scales," is published in the April 2026 edition of Trends in Ecology & Evolution. Postdoctoral associate David Klinges, an incoming assistant professor at Rutgers University, was the lead author, and Yale Peabody Museum curators David Skelly and Martha Muñoz were among the co-authors. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-paper-biologists-rethink-impact-climate.html Ecology Wed, 20 May 2026 15:00:08 EDT news698499649 The sight of a saltwater crocodile basking on a mudbank is one of the most iconic and intimidating images of northern Australia. Yet the crocodiles that inhabit the region today are just the survivors of a much richer and stranger lost world. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-years-crocodiles-australasia-ancient-apex.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 20 May 2026 14:40:07 EDT news698499640 Azara's owl monkeys, a small primate species found in South America, are heavier today than those that lived a quarter-century ago, and evidence suggests that rising temperatures might have driven the weight gain, according to a Yale-led study of a wild population. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-climate-spurs-weight-gain-owl.html Plants & Animals Wed, 20 May 2026 14:03:45 EDT news698504595 Researchers have uncovered a remarkable fossil site in a remote part of Canada's Northwest Territories, offering unprecedented insight into the earliest evolution of complex animal life on Earth. Findings from the site represent life from the Ediacaran biota—soft-bodied organisms that lived on the seafloor more than 500 million years ago—and push back the origins of animal movement and sexual reproduction by 5–10 million years. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-discovery-fossils-northwest-canada-view.html Evolution Wed, 20 May 2026 14:00:15 EDT news698486161 Cows show a visual preference for new human faces over a familiar one and can match a known handler's voice to their face, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS One by Océane Amichaud of INRAE in Nouzilly, France, and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-cows-familiar-human-voices.html Ecology Wed, 20 May 2026 14:00:09 EDT news698488922 Tropical coral reefs support the highest levels of biodiversity in the ocean. This vital ecosystem depends on reef-building corals, which form colonies of thousands of tiny coral animals that secrete calcium carbonate skeletons, creating the reef's complex structure. While corals are visually striking, they are also highly sensitive to environmental changes driven by global warming and other consequences of climate change. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-seawater-collapse-coral-oxygen.html Plants & Animals Wed, 20 May 2026 14:00:01 EDT news698501581 What renders a city garden attractive to insects such as solitary bees, bumblebees and hoverflies? And how well do they pollinate plants in urban areas? A study by the Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape shows that insects can pollinate plants in the entire city. However, they still require more insect-friendly green spaces. The findings are published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-insects-city-sustain.html Plants & Animals Wed, 20 May 2026 13:40:04 EDT news698497802 Urbanization is rapidly transforming natural habitats and poses growing challenges for wildlife. One lesser-known consequence is its potential impact on bird song, which plays a crucial role in communication, reproduction, and survival. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-city-life-bird-song-species.html Plants & Animals Wed, 20 May 2026 12:40:05 EDT news698495281 Scientists have long known that the DNA code in genes is not the only way to pass genetic traits from parents to offspring. "Epigenetic" marks—chemical modifications to DNA that don't change the DNA code itself—can also be passed down. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-mendel-dont-mouse-reveals-hidden.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 20 May 2026 11:20:06 EDT news698492093 The offspring of a common coral branching species set up a new home up to 100 kilometers or more from their parents in one of the longest dispersal distances ever measured, according to new international research. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-genes-borders-coral-babies-vast.html Plants & Animals Wed, 20 May 2026 11:00:11 EDT news698491755 From the highest mountains to the deepest ocean, the driest desert to the lushest jungle, Earth displays a dazzling array of life-forms. And eukaryotes account for many of these life-forms, including nearly all of the multicellular life we can see in the landscape. But scientists are still piecing together exactly how this domain of life evolved from simpler predecessors. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-early-complex-life-clung-oxygenated.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 20 May 2026 11:00:10 EDT news698493481 Even if you haven't heard of Botrytis cinerea, you've likely seen it—slowly growing in your store-bought blueberries, tomatoes or even on your beautiful orchids. Commonly known as gray mold, the fungus attacks hundreds of plants. For years, scientists have unsuccessfully tried to breed crops that could resist the fungus. New research from the University of California, Davis, suggests decades of crop breeding strategies may have overlooked a crucial piece of the puzzle: the pathogen itself. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-fungus-gray-mold-secret-revealed.html Plants & Animals Wed, 20 May 2026 10:20:03 EDT news698488562 New research published in NeoBiota has found that the Western honey bee—an introduced species to Australia—and the devastating, invasive plant fungus known as myrtle rust (Austropuccinia psidii) may have formed a mutually beneficial relationship known as "invasional mutualism." https://phys.org/news/2026-05-bees-food-source-reshape-destructive.html Plants & Animals Wed, 20 May 2026 09:20:05 EDT news698484781 When researchers moved medaka—a fish commonly used in experiments—out of the lab and into more natural conditions, their reproductive clock shifted by hours, suggesting that laboratory findings may not fully capture their natural reproductive timing. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-lab-fish-hours-sync-natural.html Plants & Animals Wed, 20 May 2026 09:00:01 EDT news698484661 A new study of the blue button (Porpita porpita), a small and elusive sea creature which lives on the surface of the ocean, has found that it may live for several years adrift at sea, much longer than previously estimated. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-tiny-sea-creature-porpita-adrift.html Plants & Animals Wed, 20 May 2026 08:40:03 EDT news698484541 Early in development, a group of migrating cells called cranial neural crest cells go on to form many different parts of the face, including the nose, jaw, ears, and throat. To build these structures correctly, genes must switch on in the right cells at the right time. But many of the DNA switches that control those genes sit far away on the genome, and scientists still know little about how genes find and communicate with these distant switches during development. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-genes-ready-early-genome-prime.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 20 May 2026 07:40:10 EDT news698479924 A new study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution examining human populations in Sri Lankan tropical rainforests shows that people's consumption of plants began increasing thousands of years before the introduction of agriculture. The research focuses on human and animal remains dating from approximately 20,000 to 3,000 years ago and uses zinc isotope analysis of tooth enamel to reconstruct an organism's position in the food web—known as a trophic position—and dietary composition. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-sri-lanka-teeth-reveal-diets.html Evolution Wed, 20 May 2026 05:00:02 EDT news698398201