Biology News

Coelacanths Are Not ‘Living Fossils,’ New Study Shows

Latimeria chalumnae off Pumula on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, South Africa, on November 22, 2019. Image credit: Bruce Henderson, doi: 10.17159/sajs.2020/7806.
Feb 10, 2021 by News Staff

The primitive-looking coelacanth has long been regarded as a ‘living fossil,’ with extant specimens looking very similar to fossils dating back to the Cretaceous period. But while the coelacanth’s body may have changed little, its genome tells another story. Latimeria chalumnae off Pumula on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, South Africa, on November 22, 2019. Image credit: Bruce Henderson, doi: 10.17159/sajs.2020/7806. Coelacanths are lobe-finned...

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This helium ion microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (blue). Image credit: N. Frese / Bielefeld University.

Helium Ion Microscope Captures New Images of SARS-CoV-2

Feb 8, 2021 by News Staff

New images of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus demonstrate the potential of the helium ion microscopy in bioimaging, especially for the imaging of interactions...

A Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) with three cubs at Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, 1909. Image credit: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

Study: Tasmanian Tiger’s Skull Closely Resembled That of Gray Wolf from Birth

Feb 5, 2021 by News Staff

Researchers in Australia have examined thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) and gray wolf (Canis lupus) skulls of different ages, stages and sizes, from...

Bare-nosed wombats (Vombatus ursinus). Image credit: Scott Carver.

Biologists Discover Why Wombat Feces are Square Shaped

Feb 3, 2021 by News Staff

The bare-nosed wombat (Vombatus ursinus) is an herbivorous Australian marsupial, renowned for its cubic feces. However, the ability of the wombat’s intestine...

The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). Image credit: Conrad Erb, Science History Institute / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Venus Flytraps Produce Measurable Magnetic Fields, Study Shows

Feb 2, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers in Germany has detected biomagnetic fields associated with electrical activity in a species of carnivorous plant called the Venus...

Brookesia nana, male. Image credit: Glaw et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-80955-1.

World’s Tiniest Reptile Found in Madagascar

Feb 1, 2021 by Natali Anderson

An international team of scientists has discovered a new, extremely miniaturized species of the chameleon genus Brookesia living in a montane rainforest...

The naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber). Image credit: Txan Txunai / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Naked Mole-Rats Have Colony-Specific Dialects, New Study Shows

Jan 29, 2021 by News Staff

Naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) form some of the most cooperative groups in the animal kingdom, living in multigenerational colonies under the...

Casiraghi et al. show that on nights before a full moon, people sleep less and go to bed later on average. Image credit: Florian Kurz.

Study: Sleep Starts Later and is Shorter on Nights before Full Moon

Jan 28, 2021 by News Staff

Before the availability of artificial light, moonlight was the only source of light sufficient to stimulate nighttime activity; still, evidence for the...

The buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris). Image credit: Myriam.

Neonicotinoid Insecticides Disrupt Sleep of Bees and Fruit Flies, New Research Shows

Jan 22, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Neonicotinoid insecticides, such as imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam and thiacloprid, affect the amount of sleep taken by both buff-tailed bumblebees...

The neurophysiological and functional significance of silver vine response in cats: the olfactory system in cats detects cis-trans nepetalactol emitted from silver vine leaves and then stimulates release of β-endorphin; activation of μ-opioid receptors by a high level of β-endorphin evokes rubbing and rolling, which is inhibited by naloxone, an antagonist of μ-opioid receptors; face rubbing and rolling over transfer nepetalactol with repellent activity against Aedes albopictus from the leaves onto the cat’s face, head, and body fur where it helps to protect them from mosquito bites. Image credit: Reiko Uenoyama, Iwate University.

Bioactive Compounds Found in Catnip and Silver Vine Protect Cats against Mosquito Bites

Jan 21, 2021 by News Staff

Domestic cats and other felids rub their faces and heads against catnip (Nepeta cataria) and silver vine (Actinidia polygama) and roll on the ground as...

The Volta’s electric eel (Electrophorus voltai) in Xingu River in north Brazil. Image credit: L. Sousa.

Volta’s Electric Eels Hunt in Packs

Jan 18, 2021 by News Staff

New observations made near the mouth of a small lake on the banks of the Iriri River in Brazil’s state of Pará show Volta’s electric eels (Electrophorus...

Myotis nimbaensis. Image credit: Bat Conservation International.

Spectacular New Species of Bat Discovered in Guinea

Jan 14, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has discovered a new dichromatic species of bat in the Guinean Nimba Mountains belonging in the genus Myotis. An artist’s...

Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy map of nuclear DNA in live cells stained with the DAOTA-M2 probe; colors represent fluorescence lifetimes between 9 (red) and 13 (blue) nanoseconds. Scale bars - 20 µm. Image credit: Summers et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-20414-7.

Researchers Visualize Quadruple-Helix DNA in Living Human Cells

Jan 14, 2021 by News Staff

A team of scientists from the United Kingdom and Spain has demonstrated that a technique called fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy in conjunction...

Head of a female of Lasioglossum dorchini. Image credit: Nahal Alexander / A. Pauly.

New Species of Wild Bee Discovered in Israel

Jan 11, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of scientists has discovered a new species of the bee genus Lasioglossum living in sand dunes in Israel. Head of a female of Lasioglossum...

Bacillus subtilis. Image credit: Ákos Kovács, Technical University of Denmark.

Non-Photosynthetic Bacteria Have Their Own Circadian Clocks

Jan 8, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Germany, Denmark and the United Kingdom has identified circadian rhythms in non-photosynthetic, Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus...

Zhou et al. revealed that the miR-183/96/182 cluster has functional impacts on circadian rhythms in mammals; they can modulate circadian systems either by direct targeting of the core clock machinery or through a more indirect mechanism that ultimately feeds into the circadian clock. Image credit: Kelvin Ma / CC BY 3.0.

MicroRNAs Play Key Role in Regulation of Circadian Rhythms

Jan 6, 2021 by News Staff

Formerly thought to be ‘junk DNA,’ microRNAs (miRNAs) are small chains of about two dozen non-coding nucleotides. They are emerging as important regulators...

Arabidopsis thaliana. Image credit: Carl Davies, CSIRO / CC BY 3.0.

Flowering Plants Can Be Larks or Night Owls: Study

Jan 4, 2021 by News Staff

A single letter change in DNA code can potentially decide whether a plant is a lark or a night owl, according to a study published in the journal Plant,...

A palm cockatoos (Probosciger aterrimus). Image credit: Doug Janson / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Australian Palm Cockatoos Threatened with Extinction

Dec 29, 2020 by News Staff

Palm cockatoos (Probosciger aterrimus), renowned for their human-like musical drumming behavior, are in severe decline, according to a paper published...

Cancellus heatherae, female holotype, shield length - 4 mm: (A) habitus, dorsal; (B) habitus, right side; (C) habitus, ventral; (D) sixth tergite and telson, dorsal. Image credit: Felder & Lemaitre, doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4890.4.10.

New Species of Hermit Crab Discovered in Gulf of Mexico

Dec 29, 2020 by Natali Anderson

Marine biologists from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History have described a new species of...

Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii). Image credit: Elliott Devries.

Weddell Seals Can Produce Ultrasonic Vocalizations: Study

Dec 28, 2020 by News Staff

Marine biologists from the University of Oregon and the University of New Brunswick have recorded common, previously unknown, ultrasonic vocalizations...

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