Biology News

May 20, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Named the Carnarvon flapjack octopus (Opisthoteuthis carnarvonensis), the new species is a small (around 4 cm in diameter), gelatinous octopus with massive eyes and blood-red tentacles. The Carnarvon flapjack octopus (Opisthoteuthis carnarvonensis). Image credit: T.J. Verhoeff, doi: 10.54102/ajt.c46g9. Flapjack octopuses are deep-sea octopods within the family Opisthoteuthidae, members of the finned octopod suborder Cirrata. There are approximately...

May 19, 2025 by News Staff

The newly-discovered species belong to the rare bee subgenus Austrochile (genus Megachile). They construct brood cells from resin that are stuck individually...

May 19, 2025 by News Staff

Topographical wrinkle patterns caused by prolonged human hand immersion in water are repeatable and consistent at different timepoints, according to new...

May 16, 2025 by News Staff

This mutation is located in the Rho GTPase Activating Protein 36 (Arhgap36) gene and appears to occur in no other mammal, according to a research team...

May 14, 2025 by News Staff

Primatologists have documented and analyzed both previously reported and newly observed instances of self-directed and other-directed wound care, snare...

May 13, 2025 by News Staff

New research led by the University of California, Berkeley and the Georgia Institute of Technology reveals that flamingos, far from being passive filter-feeders,...

May 8, 2025 by News Staff

Effective conservation of threatened species depends on accurate scientific assessment of their occurrence and population status. This information is often...

May 7, 2025 by News Staff

Distal regulation — the ability to control genes from far away, over many tens of thousands of DNA letters — appeared at the very dawn of animal...

May 7, 2025 by News Staff

Superb starlings (Lamprotornis superbus) demonstrate ‘reciprocity,’ helping each other with the expectation that the favor will eventually be returned,...

May 5, 2025 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the United Kingdom and Ukraine has developed a new method for the safe reassessment of farmland abandoned after the Chornobyl...

May 5, 2025 by News Staff

Regular light-dark cycles greatly affect organisms, and events like eclipses induce distinctive physiological and behavioral shifts. While well documented...

May 2, 2025 by News Staff

New research from the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of California Santa Cruz suggests the ability to keep time is not unique to our species. Ronan...

May 1, 2025 by News Staff

A multinational team of neuroscientists has tested two competing theories of consciousness: the integrated information theory (IIT) and the global neuronal...

Apr 30, 2025 by News Staff

Neurons communicate by firing electrical pulses, but scientists have found hints that neurons may transmit light as well. Researchers at the University...

Apr 25, 2025 by News Staff

Neotropical crocodiles inhabit a broad geographic range with populations spanning from coastal, inland, and insular locations. In new research, scientists...

Apr 23, 2025 by News Staff

Electricity-conducting cable bacteria form a group of multicellular prokaryotes that enable electron transfer over centimeter-scale distances within marine...

Apr 17, 2025 by News Staff

A juvenile colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) has been filmed alive in its environment by a team of marine biologists on board Schmidt Ocean Institute’s...

Apr 8, 2025 by News Staff

Deep soil — ranging from below 30 cm (12 inches) to hundreds of meters, depending on soil type and region — is a neglected ecosystem within...

Apr 7, 2025 by Natali Anderson

A diverse array of animals has evolved the ability to use tools (e.g., primates, parrots, octopus, crabs, and wasps), but the factors leading to tool use...

Apr 4, 2025 by News Staff

Compositionality, the capacity to combine meaningful elements into larger meaningful structures, is a hallmark of human language. Compositionality can...