Navigation doesn't always go as planned—a lesson that flies learn the hard way, when a strong headwind shunts them backward in defiance of their forward-beating wings. Fish swimming upriver, crabs scuttling sideways, and ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Dec 15, 2021
0
602
Depending on the outcome of social conflicts, ants of the species Harpegnathos saltator do something unusual: they can switch from a worker to a queen-like status known as gamergate. Now, researchers reporting in the journal ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 4, 2021
0
65
Whether chatting with friends at a dinner party or managing a high-stakes meeting at work, communicating with others in a group requires a complex set of mental tasks. Our brains must track who is speaking and what is being ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 21, 2021
0
190
Nestled deep in the middle of the vertebrate brain is a multi-sensory integration and movement control center called the superior colliculus. In rodents, this brain region integrates multi-sensory inputs—visual cues, sounds, ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 18, 2021
0
95
Watching a mother mouse gather her pups into the family's nest trains other female mice without pups to perform the same parenting task, a new study shows. Furthermore, these observations lead to the production of oxytocin ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 11, 2021
0
2214
Individuals are likely to prioritize food over sex after being deprived of both, according to researchers at the University of Birmingham, who studied this behavioral conflict in fruit flies.
Molecular & Computational biology
Aug 5, 2021
1
244
Today, being "birdbrained" means forgetting where you left your keys or wallet. But 66 million years ago, it may have meant the difference between life and death—and may help explain why birds are the only dinosaurs left ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jul 30, 2021
1
2916
What makes humans unique? Scientists have taken another step toward solving an enduring mystery with a new tool that may allow for more precise comparisons between the DNA of modern humans and that of our extinct ancestors.
Biotechnology
Jul 16, 2021
22
6607
An interdisciplinary team of researchers, led by the Universities of Cambridge and Tübingen, has gathered measurements of body and brain size for over 300 fossils from the genus Homo found across the globe. By combining ...
Evolution
Jul 8, 2021
3
659
A team of researchers from the University of Aveiro and the University of Porto, both in Portugal, and the University of Birmingham in the U.K. has found that for humans, the brain and testis have the highest number of common ...
