Biology News

Study: microRNAs are Key to Evolution of Complex Octopus Brain

Zolotarov et al. propose that miRNAs are intimately linked to the evolution of complex brains in octopuses and other animals. Image credit: Albert Kok / CC BY-SA 3.0.
Dec 30, 2022 by News Staff

Octopuses and their cephalopod relatives are exceptionally intelligent invertebrates with a highly complex nervous system that evolved independently from vertebrates. A team of scientists led by Dartmouth College and the Max Delbrück Center hypothesized that RNA regulation may play a major role in the cognitive success of these marine creatures. In their new study, the authors found that two octopus species contain a high number of microRNAs, which...

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Solanum scalarium. Image credit: T.M. Williams.

New Species of Bush Tomato Discovered in Australia

Dec 29, 2022 by News Staff

The newly-discovered species belongs to Solanum, a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Solanum scalarium....

The Mashpi glassfrog (Hyalinobatrachium mashpi), female. Image credit: Jaime Culebras.

Study: Glassfrogs Hide Red Blood Cells in Their Liver to Achieve Transparency

Dec 28, 2022 by News Staff

Transparency in animals is a complex form of camouflage involving mechanisms that reduce the scattering and absorption of light throughout the organism....

Neri et al. expanded RNA virus diversity from 13,282 to 124,873 distinct clusters at a granularity level between species and genus. Image credit: Neri et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.08.023.

Biologists Discover Over 100,000 New Types of RNA Viruses

Dec 26, 2022 by News Staff

Scientists from Tel Aviv University and elsewhere have detected 111,000 new RNA virus genomes in global environmental data from diverse habitats and hosts....

Scanning electron micrograph of a ‘Candidatus Lokiarchaeum ossiferum’ cell showing the long and complex cell protrusions. Image credit: Thiago Rodrigues-Oliveira, University of Vienna.

Study: Enigmatic Asgard Archaea Have Complex Cellular Architecture and Extensive Cytoskeleton

Dec 22, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Asgard archaea (Asgardarchaeota) are considered to be the closest known relatives of eukaryotes, organisms (including animals, plants and fungi) whose...

Prešeren with Slovenia’s highest mountain Triglav in the background. Image credit: Genov et al., doi: 10.1007/s42991-022-00316-5.

Marine Biologists Document Longest Recorded Movement by Inshore Bottlenose Dolphin

Dec 22, 2022 by News Staff

An international team of marine scientists from the United Kingdom, Slovenia and Italy has documented the longest recorded movement in an inshore common...

This graphical abstract depicts the rise of new genes in humans. Image credit: Vakirlis et al., doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111808.

Homo sapiens is Still Evolving, New Study Shows

Dec 21, 2022 by News Staff

Scientists from the Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research at the Biomedical Sciences Research Center ‘Alexander Fleming’ and the Smurfit Institute...

The Eastern Tropical Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus nuuanu). Image credit: NOAA / NMFS / SWFSC.

New Subspecies of Common Bottlenose Dolphin Identified

Dec 19, 2022 by Natali Anderson

The Eastern Tropical Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus nuuanu) prefers the deep waters off southern Baja California, the Pacific coast of...

Thottea beungongtanoeh flower. Image credit: Wendy A. Mustaqim.

Beautiful New Species of Flowering Plant Discovered

Dec 14, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Botanists from the Universitas Samudra have described a new species of the flowering plant genus Thottea from the lowland mixed forests of northern Sumatra,...

Shlosberg et al. present a method to simultaneously absorb carbon dioxide while producing an electrical current with minimal engineering requirements. Image credit: Shlosberg et al., doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c15123.

Researchers Turn Succulent Plant into Living ‘Bio-Solar Cell’

Dec 14, 2022 by News Staff

Harvesting an electrical current from biological photosynthetic systems, such as live cells, is typically achieved by immersion of the system into an electrolyte...

The nibblerid microbial predator Ubysseya fretuma. Image credit: Tikhonenkov et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05511-5.

Meet Provora, New Supergroup of Eukaryotes

Dec 8, 2022 by News Staff

Ten previously undescribed strains of microbial predators isolated from geographically distinct marine habitats — including coral reefs of Curaçao,...

The Hainan rhinoceros snake (Gonyosoma hainanense). Image credit: Mian Hou / Peng et al., doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2021.085.

Cryptic New Species of Rhinoceros Snake Identified in China

Dec 7, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Scientists have described a new species of the snake genus Gonyosoma from Hainan Island, China. The Hainan rhinoceros snake (Gonyosoma hainanense). Image...

Reconstitution of Spiroplasma swimming in JCVI-syn3B by expressing seven genes. Image credit: Kiyama et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abo7490.

Japanese Scientists Create ‘Smallest Mobile Lifeform’

Dec 1, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Researchers from the Osaka City University, the Osaka Metropolitan University and the Bioproduction Research Institute have created a swimming synthetic...

Galeus arae, a member of the genus Galeus and a relative of the newly-discovered species Galeus friedrichi. Image credit: NOAA Ocean Explorer.

New Species of Sawtail Catshark Discovered in Philippines

Nov 29, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Named Galeus friedrichi, the new species is the third species of the catshark genus Galeus — after Galeus sauteri and Galeus schultzi — documented...

The dinosauroid by Dale Russell and Ron Séguin. Image credit: Canadian Museum of Nature / Darren Naish & Will Tattersdill, doi: 10.1139/cjes-2020-0172.

What If Non-Avian Dinosaurs Hadn’t Gone Extinct?

Nov 28, 2022 by The Conversation

About 66 million years ago, a 10-km-wide asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in what is now Mexico. The impact unleashed...

This phylogenetic tree includes 301 species (ca. 92% species) from all currently recognized genera of the family Muscicapidae. Image credit: Zhao et al., doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107646.

Ornithologists Unveil Family Tree of Old World Flycatchers, Robins and Chats

Nov 28, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Muscicapidae — the chats, robins and Old World flycatchers — is a diverse songbird family with over 300 species. This phylogenetic tree includes...

Great bustards (Otis tarda) near Madrid, Spain. Image credit: Jacinta Lluch Valero / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Great Bustards Use Two Plant Species to Self-Medicate, Scientists Say

Nov 23, 2022 by News Staff

The great bustard (Otis tarda), the largest member of the bustard family Otididae and the only member of the genus Otis, is believed to be the heaviest...

The black-naped pheasant-pigeon (Otidiphaps insularis). Image credit: Doka Nason / American Bird Conservancy.

Ornithologists Capture First-Ever Photos, Video of Long-Lost Ground-Dwelling Pigeon

Nov 21, 2022 by News Staff

The black-naped pheasant-pigeon (Otidiphaps insularis), a large terrestrial pigeon species from an island off Papua New Guinea, had been lost to science...

Lophopetalum tanahgambut and its knee roots system. Image credit: Randi et al., doi: 10.11646/phytotaxa.573.1.7.

New Giant Tree Species Discovered in Indonesia

Nov 21, 2022 by Sergio Prostak

Lophopetalum tanahgambut is a large top canopy tree growing to 40 m tall, with a trunk diameter at breast height (dbh) of up to 1.05 m. Lophopetalum tanahgambut...

Transparent and iridescent appearance of Jeongeupia sacculi HS-3’s colonies; the edge of a colony growing on agar. Image credit: Mizuno et al., doi: 10.7554/eLife.71920.

Newly-Discovered Bacterium Species Has Unique Multicellular Characteristics

Nov 17, 2022 by News Staff

Biologists have isolated a new type of multicellular bacterium, named Jeongeupia sacculi HS-3, from an underground stream in northern Kyushu Island, Japan....

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