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A desert kangaroo rat (Dipodomys deserti) defensively kicking away a sidewinder rattlesnake (Crotalus cerastes) in mid-air. Image credit: Freymiller et al, doi: 10.1093/biolinnean/blz027.

High-Speed Videos Show Kangaroo Rats Using Ninja-Style Kicks to Escape Snakes

Apr 12, 2019 by News Staff

The desert kangaroo rats (Dipodomys deserti) is a species of rodent found in desert areas of southwestern North America. These rats are abundant and seemingly...

The view from the bottom of ‘Menara.’ Image credit: Unding Jami / University of Oxford.

World’s Tallest Tropical Tree Found in Malaysia

Apr 8, 2019 by News Staff

The world’s tallest known tropical tree, and possibly the tallest flowering plant, has been discovered in the Danum Valley Conservation Area in the Malaysian...

Achrioptera manga, an adult male from Foret d’Orangea, Madagascar. Image credit: Glaw et al, doi: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00105.

Malagasy Giant Stick Insects Play with Colors

Apr 4, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

In two new species of giant stick insects from the dry forests of Madagascar, males turn blue or multicolored at sexual maturity. Achrioptera manga, an...

The Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus). Image credit: Francis Franklin / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Researchers Reconstruct Evolutionary History of Passerines

Apr 3, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has reconstructed the tree of life for all major lineages of passerines (perching birds). The Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes...

Mini mum in Manombo Special Reserve, lateral view on a thumbnail. Image credit: Scherz et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213314.

Researchers Find Coin-Sized Frogs in Madagascar

Apr 1, 2019 by News Staff

An international team led by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München scientist Mark Scherz has described a new genus and five new species of tiny frogs...

The cream-eyed bulbul (Pycnonotus pseudosimplex) in Lambir Hills National Park, Miri Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. Image credit: John C. Mittermeier / Shakya et al, doi: 10.25226/bboc.v139i1.2019.a3.

Cream-Eyed Bulbul: New Species of Bird Discovered

Mar 29, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of ornithologists led by Louisiana State University researchers has discovered a cryptic new species of bulbul in the Malaysian part...

Davis et al detected BMAA in the cerebral cortex of stranded dolphins; they also report Alzheimer-like neurodegenerative changes in the brains of dolphins containing BMAA. Image credit: NASA.

Scientists Find Cyanobacterial Neurotoxin and Amyloid Plaques in Brains of Stranded Dolphins

Mar 29, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

High levels of BMAA (β-methylamino-L-alanine), a neurotoxin produced by cyanobacterial blooms, and beta-amyloid plaques, a hallmark in human beings of...

A dark-eyed junco, an American goldfinch, and a house finch feed on sunflower seeds on a snowy day. Image credit: Cynthia Raught.

Study: People Who Feed Wild Birds Notice and Respond to Nature in Their Backyards

Mar 28, 2019 by News Staff

Backyard bird feeding is a popular form of human-wildlife interaction in certain regions of the northern and southern hemisphere including North America,...

Male of Surazomus saturninoae: (A) lateral, (B) dorsal and (C) ventral views. Image credit: G.R.S. Ruiz & R.M. Valente, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213268.

New Species of Short-Tailed Whip Scorpion Discovered

Mar 27, 2019 by News Staff

A duo of arachnologists from Brazil has discovered a new species of short-tailed whip scorpion in eastern Amazon. Male of Surazomus saturninoae: (A) lateral,...

The sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) at Alma Park Zoo, Brisbane, Australia. Image credit: Andrew Napier / CC BY 2.0.

Sun Bears Can Mimic Facial Expressions of Their Playmates

Mar 22, 2019 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Scientific Reports provides evidence that sun bears (Helarctos malayanus), a typically solitary species, have the...

The blackpoll warbler (Setophaga striata). Image credit: Simon Pierre Barrette / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Blackpoll Warblers Migrate Up To 12,400 Miles Roundtrip Every Year

Mar 19, 2019 by News Staff

Blackpoll warblers (Setophaga striata) that breed in western North America migrate up to 12,400 miles (20,000 km) roundtrip each year, some crossing the...

Wang et al report a strong, specific human brain response to ecologically-relevant rotations of Earth-strength magnetic fields. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

First Neuroscientific Evidence that Humans Have Geomagnetic Sense

Mar 19, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of neuroscientists and geoscientists from Caltech, the University of Tokyo, Princeton University and Tokyo Institute of Technology...

A wild sea otter at Bennett Slough Culverts opening mussels using a stone. Image credit: Haslam et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-39902-y.

Study: Wild Sea Otters Leave Archaeological Traces

Mar 15, 2019 by News Staff

Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) are the only marine mammals that use stone tools while foraging, using them to break open hard-shelled foods. In a new study,...

Stormtropis muisca, male. Image credit: Perafán et al, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.830.31433.

Stormtropis: New Genus of Bald-Legged Spiders Named after Star Wars’ Stormtroopers

Mar 15, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of researchers has described six new species of bald-legged spiders from Colombia and established a new genus for four of them, Stormtropis. Stormtropis...

Yamagata et al succeeded in observing the signs of the biological activity of 28,140-year-old mammoth nuclei in mouse oocytes. In this image, proteins that form chromosomes (red) and proteins that form dividing spindles (green) gather around a mammoth cell nucleus (upper right) in the mouse oocyte. Image credit: Yamagata et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-40546-1.

Researchers ‘Revive’ Woolly Mammoth Cell Nuclei

Mar 14, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

In 2010, the 28,140-year-old partial carcass of a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), nicknamed ‘Yuka,’ was found in Siberian permafrost. Now a...

The Branch’s stiletto snake (Atractaspis branchi) in its natural habitat. Image credit: Mark-Oliver Rödel.

Scientists Discover New Stiletto Snake Species in Africa

Mar 13, 2019 by News Staff

A new species of stiletto snake has been discovered living in the rainforests of Liberia and Guinea. The Branch’s stiletto snake (Atractaspis branchi)...

Injectable photoreceptor-binding nanoparticles with the ability to convert photons from low-energy to high-energy forms allow mice to develop infrared vision without compromising their normal vision and associated behavioral responses. Image credit: Ma et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.01.038.

Injectable Nanoparticles Give Mice Infrared Vision

Mar 4, 2019 by News Staff

Humans and other mammals are limited to seeing a range of wavelengths of light called visible light, which includes the wavelengths of the rainbow. But...

Fairy circles seen from the air. Image credit: Stephan Getzin.

Scientists May Have Cracked Mystery of Australian Fairy Circles

Feb 27, 2019 by News Staff

Fairy circles are extremely ordered round patches of bare soil within arid grasslands. They are known from southwestern Africa around the Namib Desert...

In a sample of 1,681 dogs, Chopik & Weaver found reliable age differences in dog personality.

Dogs’ Personalities Can Change Over Time, New Study Suggests

Feb 25, 2019 by News Staff

When humans go through big changes in life, their personality traits can change. In a study published in the Journal of Research in Personality, a duo...