Biology News

Plants Neither Possess Nor Require Consciousness, Biologists Say

According to Taiz et al, plants don’t think, they grow. Image credit: Johannes Plenio.
Jul 5, 2019 by News Staff

In a review paper published this week in the journal Trends in Plant Science, University of California, Santa Cruz’s Professor Lincoln Taiz and colleagues argue against the suggestion from ‘plant neurobiologists’ that plants possess consciousness. According to Taiz et al, plants don’t think, they grow. Image credit: Johannes Plenio. The topic of whether plants possess many of the same mental features as animals, such as consciousness, cognition,...

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This scanning electron microscopic (SEM) image depicts a close up of Aspergillus sp. fungal fruiting body. This reproductive structure is composed of a septate filament known as a conidiophore, which is topped by chains of conidiospores. Image credit: Janice Haney Carr & Robert Simmons, CDC.

Fungal Spores Can Withstand High Doses of Cosmic Radiation, Microbiologists Find

Jul 4, 2019 by News Staff

According to new research, spores of the fungus Aspergillus niger are able to withstand higher doses of radiation than previously thought, which can have...

An adult female bonobo retrieving water lillies (Nymphea lotus) from a back water. Image credit: Zana Clay, LuiKotale Bonobo Project.

Bonobos Consume Iodine-Rich Aquatic Plants, Study Says

Jul 3, 2019 by News Staff

Scientists have for the first time observed wild bonobos (Pan paniscus), a hominoid species endemic to the central Congo basin, searching for and eating...

Scheiman et al found Veillonella bacteria in the microbiome of elite athletes. Image credit: Composita.

Researchers Find Performance-Enhancing Bacteria in Gut Microbiome of Marathon Runners

Jul 3, 2019 by News Staff

In a study published online in the journal Nature Medicine, an international team of researchers identified a link between members of the bacterial genus...

Hospital insects present a potential to contribute to persistence and spread of antimicrobial-resistant pathogenic bacteria in the hospital environment. Image credit: Virvoreanu Laurentiu.

Hospital Insects Harbor Potentially Harmful Bacteria, Finds New Study

Jun 28, 2019 by News Staff

In a new study published this month in the Journal of Medical Entomology, researchers from Aston University collected and analyzed 19,937 flying insects...

A giant squid, at least 10-12 feet in length, approaches the Medusa’s e-jelly lure before realizing the e-jelly is not food and retreating. Image credit: Edie Widder & Nathan Robinson.

Elusive Giant Squid Caught on Video for First Time in U.S. Waters

Jun 25, 2019 by News Staff

On June 19, 2019, marine biologists on the Journey into Midnight research mission captured footage of the living giant squid Architeuthis dux about 100...

A group of gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) on sands at Stiffkey, Norfolk, UK. Image credit: Duncan Harris / CC BY 2.0.

Study: Gray Seals Can Copy Human Speech and Songs

Jun 25, 2019 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal Current Biology, gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) can copy human speech and songs using the same sound...

The North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica). Image credit: NOAA.

Researchers Record Songs of North Pacific Right Whale for First Time

Jun 21, 2019 by News Staff

The North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica) is a very large, thickset baleen whale species that is extremely rare and endangered. It ranges from...

Marine Biologists Identify First Narwhal-Beluga Hybrid

Jun 21, 2019 by News Staff

Narwhals (Monodon monoceros) and beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) are medium-sized toothed whales and the sole representatives of the Monodontidae...

Rock-boring and rock-ingesting Lithoredo abatanica shipworms live in carbonate limestone bedrock in the Abatan River on the Philippine Island of Bohol. Image credit: Dan Distel.

Rock-Eating Shipworm Discovered in Philippines

Jun 20, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international research team led by Northeastern University marine biologists has discovered a new genus and species of shipworm burrowing into the bedrock...

Mycobacterium vaccae. Image credit: Christopher Lowry, University of Colorado, Boulder.

Novel Anti-Inflammatory Molecule Isolated from Soil-Dwelling Bacterium

Jun 19, 2019 by News Staff

About three decades after scientists coined the term ‘hygiene hypothesis’ to suggest that increased exposure to microorganisms could benefit health,...

Choanocyte-derived archaeocytes are capable of generating new choanocyte chambers (dotted line). Scale bar - 10 μm. Image credit: Sogabe et al, doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1290-4.

First Multicellular Organisms Were Collections of Stem Cell-Like Cells, Research Suggests

Jun 19, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the University of Queensland and the University of Alabama has found that the first multicellular organisms probably weren’t...

Perry et al provide evidence for stimulation of a glucocorticoid-AgRP neuron axis that promotes food intake and suggest that AgRP neurons may be an attractive therapeutic target to suppress hyperphagia under conditions of leptin deficiency or glucocorticoid excess including Cushing’s disease. Image credit: N.R. Voss / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Study Provides New Insights into Biology of ‘Satiety Hormone’ Leptin

Jun 18, 2019 by News Staff

Leptin, a hormone secreted by fat cells, informs the brain about sufficiency of fuel stores. When insufficient, leptin levels fall, triggering increases...

Kaminski et al show that, in only 33,000 years, domestication transformed the facial muscle anatomy of dogs specifically for facial communication with humans; dogs with expressive eyebrows had a selection advantage and ‘puppy dog eyes’ are the result of selection based on humans’ preferences. Image credit: JacLou DL.

Dogs Evolved New Muscles around Eyes to Better Communicate with Humans, Study Says

Jun 18, 2019 by News Staff

Domestication shaped wolves (Canis lupus) into dogs (Canis familiaris) and transformed both their behavior and their anatomy. A new study, published in...

An Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) with a sponge in Shark Bay, Western Australia. Image credit: Simon Allen.

Study: Bottlenose Dolphins Form Friendships through Shared Interests

Jun 14, 2019 by News Staff

According to new research, published in the published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) living...

The Mingan shrew-rat (Rhynchomys mingan). Image credit: Velizar Simeonovski, Field Museum.

Researchers Discover Two New Species of Shrewlike Rats in Philippines

Jun 12, 2019 by News Staff

Two new species of shrewlike rats have been discovered living in the montane and mossy forests of Luzon Island, Philippines. The Mingan shrew-rat (Rhynchomys...

A northern pitcher plant with a trapped salamander. Image credit: M. Alex Smith.

Biologists Find Salamander-Eating Pitcher Plants in Canada

Jun 11, 2019 by News Staff

A team of biologists from the Universities of Guelph and Toronto has discovered that a species of carnivorous plant called the northern pitcher plant (Sarracenia...

Sundman et al reveal, for the first time, an interspecific synchronization in long-term stress levels. Image credit: Roman Michael Gottfried.

Dogs Mirror Stress Level of Their Owners, Study Suggests

Jun 11, 2019 by News Staff

A team of scientists from Linköping University, Sweden, has examined how stress levels in dogs are influenced by their owners and lifestyle factors. The...

Deep-sea fishes living in darkness have evolved unique predation and communication mechanisms involving bioluminescence and other strategies. Another adaptation is the transparency of the teeth of several species, which is hypothesized to provide stealth for predation. Velasco-Hogan et al investigated the transparent teeth of Aristostomias scintillans and discovered that it is due to the mixture of nanocrystalline and amorphous phases in both its enamel-like and dentin layers and the absence of tubules. This structure significantly decreases the Rayleigh scattering of the hydroxyapatite-collagen mixture. Image credit: Velasco-Hogan et al, doi: 10.1016/j.matt.2019.05.010.

Why Deep-Sea Dragonfish Has Transparent Teeth

Jun 10, 2019 by News Staff

A species of dragonfish called Aristostomias scintillans is a voracious predator of the deep sea with an arsenal of tools to hunt prey. It has proportionately...

Extant and extinct sloths: in the tree, going clockwise from left -- extinct West Indian sloth (Acratocnus), extant three-fingered sloth or ai (Bradypus), and extant two-fingered sloth or unau (Choloepus); from left to right on the ground are representative giant ground sloths -- Mylodon (South America), Megalonyx (North America), and Megatherium (South America). According to the new molecular studies, Bradypus is most closely related to a group that includes Megalonyx and Megatherium. Choloepus is related to Mylodon, but Acratocnus and its West Indian kin represent a separate branch that is distinct from that of all other sloths. Human for scale: 1.85 m. Image credit: Jorge Blanco.

DNA and Protein Studies Shake Up Sloth Family Tree

Jun 7, 2019 by News Staff

Sloths once roamed the Americas, ranging from cat-sized animals that lived in trees all the way up to giant ground sloths. The only species we know today,...

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