Biology News

Scientists Discover Soil Bacteria Enzyme that Breaks Down Both Plastic and Antibiotics

SEM images of LCAP films incubated undisturbed for more than a year in pristine forest soil. The arrow in panel (d) points at an object inside of such a cavity that might represent a (damaged) microbial cell; however, these were found very rarely; empty cavities were more representative (a-c). Image credit: Lerner et al., doi: 10.1093/ismejo/wrag203.
Sep 7, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Biologists studying how bacteria break down a new generation of plant-based bioplastics — long-chain aliphatic polyesters — have discovered an enzyme that can dismantle both plastic and antibiotics. SEM images of LCAP films incubated undisturbed for more than a year in pristine forest soil. The arrow in panel (d) points at an object inside of such a cavity that might represent a (damaged) microbial cell; however, these were found very...

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Eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii), a mother with a young, at Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. Image credit: Ikiwaner.

Young Chimps Develop Their Own Accents, New Study Finds

Sep 4, 2026 by News Staff

Researchers tracking grunts, whimpers and laughter across two geographically separated chimpanzee populations found that vocal differences sharpen with...

According to Professor Graur, the functional fraction within the human genome cannot exceed 25%, and is probably considerably lower.

Scientists Map Genetics of Personality across Million People

Sep 3, 2026 by News Staff

Researchers have identified more than 1,200 locations in the human genome associated with personality traits, offering the most detailed look yet at the...

The blue-banded bee Amegilla murrayensis. Image credit: Callin Switzer.

Some of Smallest Bee Species See Best, New Study Finds

Sep 2, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Size, it turns out, is not everything when it comes to insect vision. According to a new paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy...

The serval (Leptailurus serval), a medium-sized wild cat native to Africa. Image credit: Florida Atlantic University.

Camera Traps Reveal Congo Basin’s Hidden Wildlife

Sep 1, 2026 by News Staff

A new camera technique in Congo’s Lomami National Park reveals how monkeys, pangolins and civets divide up life between the ground, the understory and...

Tasmanian tigers (Thylacinus cynocephalus) in captivity. Image credit: University of Melbourne / Museums Victoria.

Tasmanian Tiger Hunted Like Opportunist, Not Wolf, New Research Suggests

Sep 1, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new study analyzing the walking patterns of predatory mammals suggests that the extinct thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) likely hunted more like an...

A pair of thylacines, a male and female, c. 1905. Image credit: Smithsonian Institutional Archives / E. J. Keller, National Zoological Park.

Tasmanian Tiger’s Skull Reveals Hunting Style with No Modern Match

Aug 31, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

For nearly a century, scientists have treated the thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) as a textbook case of convergent evolution — a marsupial that...

Radiologically contaminated sites such as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone have created novel environmental stressors with the potential to substantially influence the ecology of organisms and wider ecosystem function. Nevertheless, radiation dose rates at which negative effects occur are uncertain. Burrows et al investigated a potential mechanism for these sub-lethal consequences by testing whether radiation exposure makes bees less metabolically efficient. Image credit: Josef Pichler.

Bumblebees May Self-Medicate when Their Colony Faces Fungal Pathogen

Aug 27, 2026 by Natali Anderson

In a new study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) exposed to a brood-killing fungus shifted...

Animals often rely on scent marks to communicate identity across time, yet how chemically dynamic signals remain individually informative is unresolved; Ichizawa et al. show that domestic cats achieve durable chemical individuality through a reservoir-buffered system based on branched-chain fatty acid. Image credit: Ichizawa et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2026.07.045.

Scientists Solve Century-Old Feline Mystery

Aug 20, 2026 by News Staff

For nearly 110 years, biologists have puzzled over why domestic cats’ kidneys are packed with unusually large numbers of fat-storing structures called...

Adansonia za. Image credit: Hectonichus / CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Baobab Species Identified in Madagascar

Aug 17, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Scientists analyzing DNA of Madagascar’s iconic baobab trees have concluded that a widespread species called Adansonia za is actually two, formally resurrecting...

The Baturité antthrush (Chamaeza baturitensis). Image credit: Fábio Nunes.

Ornithologists Discover New Bird Species in Brazil

Aug 14, 2026 by Natali Anderson

A previously unrecognized species of the antthrush genus Chamaeza has been discovered in the isolated highland rainforests of northeastern Brazil. The...

Life reconstruction of a group of Chiniquodon theotonicus individuals, a pregnant female (left) as well as a female (right) breastfeeding few, relatively large neonates. Image credit: María de los Ángeles Miceli Baro.

Fossil Evidence Pushes Back Origin of Live Birth by 90 Million Years

Aug 13, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists studying a 236-million-year-old cynodont fossil from Argentina say they have found the earliest evidence yet of viviparity (live birth)...

This image shows a shelling event that occurred on January 4, 2019. Image credit: Levengood et al., doi: 10.1111/mms.70252.

Dolphins Filmed Using Sea Shells as Tools in Rare Sighting off Australia

Aug 12, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Marine biologists have documented Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) using large sea shells to hunt for fish off the coast of Queensland,...

Torvosaurus gurneyi. Image credit: © Sergey Krasovskiy.

Why Were There No Tiny Non-Avian Dinosaurs? Mammals May Have Been to Blame

Aug 10, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Dinosaurs evolved into some of the largest animals ever to walk the Earth, but a new mathematical model suggests that early mammals may have crowded them...

The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) by Frederick William Frohawk, 1905.

Dodo Had Surprisingly Keen Sense of Smell and Owl-Like Vision, New Study Reveals

Aug 6, 2026 by Natali Anderson

New research led by University of Lethbridge scientists offers the most detailed look yet at how the dodo (Raphus cucullatus) — the flightless bird...

Morphology of Saxifraga candelabrum. Image credit: Zhang et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-75288-y.

Scientists Add Unlikely New Member to World’s Carnivorous Plants

Aug 5, 2026 by Natali Anderson

More than 150 years after Charles Darwin first wondered whether certain sticky-leaved Saxifraga plants might be secretly carnivorous, Kunming Institute...

The owner experiences of transitioning cats indoors suggest that, for most owners and cats, a transition to indoor cat management is manageable and worthwhile. Image credit: Natali Anderson.

Moving Cat Indoors is Easier than Owners Expect: Study

Aug 5, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Moving a free-roaming cat indoors for good is a decision many owners approach with dread: guilt over confining a former outdoor explorer, worry about litter...

Reda Ismaieel et al. examined the olfactory capabilities of the wings of the tobacco hawkmoth (Manduca sexta). Image credit: Reda Ismaieel et al., doi: 10.1242/jeb.252047.

Moths Can Smell With Their Wings, Researchers Say

Jul 30, 2026 by News Staff

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology have found that moth wings are equipped with odor-detecting receptors, suggesting the insects...

Examples of bonobo and chimpanzee reassurance behaviors. Image credit: Z. Clay / J.S. Brooker.

Hugs May Be an Ancient Peacekeeping Tool, Ape Study Suggests

Jul 22, 2026 by News Staff

In a new study of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus), scientists found that embraces, touches and other reassuring gestures before...

Colobus congoensis. Image credit: Daniel Rosengren, Frankfurt Zoological Society.

Scientists Discover New Monkey Species in Democratic Republic of Congo

Jul 16, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Researchers have identified and formally described a new species of the African monkey genus Colobus living in the remote interior of the Democratic Republic...

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