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Mountain gorilla silverback chest beating. Image credit: Wright et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-86261-8.

Male Gorillas Beat Their Chests to Advertise Body Size, Study Shows

Apr 12, 2021 by News Staff

The chest beat of male mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) is an honest signal of body size, according to a paper published in the journal Scientific...

Cuckoo wasps. Image credit: Arnstein Staverløkk, NINA / CC BY3.0.

Scientists Discover New Species of Cuckoo Wasp

Apr 12, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of biologists has discovered a new species of the cuckoo wasp genus Chrysis living in Norway. Cuckoo wasps. Image credit: Arnstein...

Bombus incognitus is indistinguishable from Bombus sylvicola using typical diagnostic characters. Image credit: Jennifer Geib.

Cryptic New Species of Bumblebee Discovered in Rocky Mountains

Apr 8, 2021 by News Staff

A research team led by Uppsala University scientists has sequenced and compared the genomes of a bumblebee species called Bombus sylvicola and a previously...

The black-throated trogon (Trogon rufus). Image credit: Moisés Silva Lima / CC BY 2.0.

New Species of Bird Discovered in Brazil

Apr 6, 2021 by Natali Anderson

A team of ornithologists from the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Paraguay has described a new species of trogon from the Atlantic Forest of north-eastern...

The Walter’s duiker (Philantomba walteri). Image credit: Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, University of Oxford.

Walter’s Duiker Photographed for First Time in the Wild

Apr 5, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of zoologists led by scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) at the University of Oxford has snapped an...

Streptococcus agalactiae (round spheres) on the surface of the bladder where they encounter urine to make their DNA. Image credit: Glen Ulett.

Streptococci Can Generate DNA using Human Urine: Study

Apr 1, 2021 by News Staff

Streptococcus agalactiae, a commensal urogenital tract bacterium and opportunistic pathogen, can produce new DNA using human urine, according to new research...

The Indus river dolphin (Platanista minor). Image credit: WWF-Pakistan / Braulik et al., doi: 10.1111/mms.12801.

Indus and Ganges River Dolphins are Separate Species, New Study Shows

Mar 30, 2021 by Natali Anderson

The two subspecies of the South Asian river dolphin (Platanista gangetica) — the Indus river dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) and the Ganges...

Maratus nemo. Image credit: Joseph Schubert.

New Species of Dancing Peacock Spider Discovered

Mar 30, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Arachnologists have discovered a new species of peacock spider (genus Maratus) in the vicinities of Mount McIntyre and Nangwarry in Australia. Maratus...

This artist’s illustration depicts how, centuries ago, people believed that small worms living within the tooth caused excruciating pain via their cold breath. Proof of tooth worms came when an inflamed tooth was ripped out and small stringy structures -- the nerves and blood vessels -- were visible within the disintegrating pulp and dentin. The tooth worms are actually odontoblasts, cells that form the dentin layer of the tooth, which encases the soft tooth pulp. Bernal et al. demonstrated that the cold sensation in our teeth is mediated by the odontoblast (green structures) and transmitted to the brain via nerves (red), where pain is perceived. Image credit: Katharina Zimmermann.

Scientists Figure Out How Teeth Sense Cold

Mar 29, 2021 by News Staff

Odontoblasts, cells that form dentin, the shell beneath the tooth’s enamel that encases the soft dental pulp containing nerves and blood vessels, contain...

The Alagoas screech owl (Megascops alagoensis) in Brazil. Image credit: Gustavo Malacco.

Two New Species of Screech Owls Identified

Mar 29, 2021 by News Staff

Ornithologists from the United States, Brazil and Finland have described two new species of the owl genus Megascops from the Amazon and Atlantic forests. The...

Scanning electron micrograph of a human T cell. Image credit: NIAID.

Biologists Discover New Type of T Cell

Mar 26, 2021 by News Staff

Biologists have analyzed T cells from the gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica) and uncovered a previously unknown lineage, called γµ T cells,...

Brazil reef octopuses (Octopus insularis) have ‘quiet’ and ‘active sleep,’ with different episode duration and periodicity. Image credit: Medeiros et al., doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102223.

Octopuses, Like Humans, Have Quiet and Active Sleep States

Mar 26, 2021 by News Staff

In a new study, published this week in the journal iScience, a team of researchers showed that Brazil reef octopuses (Octopus insularis) have two different...

Silverleaf whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci) carry a plant-derived phenolic glucoside malonyltransferase gene BtPMaT1, which enables the insects to neutralize phenolic glycosides in host plants. Image credit: Xia et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.02.014.

Silverleaf Whiteflies Carry Plant-Derived Detoxification Gene, New Study Shows

Mar 26, 2021 by News Staff

The silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) incorporated a gene called BtPMaT1 from plants into its genome roughly 35 million years ago and now uses it to...

Living individual of Trioceros wolfgangboehmei from Dinsho, Ethiopia showing a prominent white temporal spot and dorsolateral longitudinal stripe. Image credit: Petr Nečas.

New Chameleon Species Discovered in Ethiopia

Mar 24, 2021 by News Staff

A team of zoologists from Germany and Czech Republic has discovered a new species of chameleon living on the slopes of the Bale Mountains in Ethiopia. Living...

A fully bloomed Rafflesia tiomanensis. Image credit: Yunoh et al.

New Species of Rafflesia Discovered in Malaysia

Mar 23, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Researchers have found a new species of parasitic flowering plant in the forests of Pulau Tioman, an island in Malaysia. A fully bloomed Rafflesia tiomanensis....

Biologging 3D movement data revealed circling behaviors in marine animals. Image credit: Narazaki et al., doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102221.

Mysterious Circling Behavior Found in Marine Animals

Mar 22, 2021 by News Staff

In a paper published in the journal iScience, a team of marine biologists from Japan, the United States and France reports the discovery of circling behavior...

Transmission electron micrograph showing the general cell morphology of Methylobacterium jeotgali. Image credit: Aslam et al., doi: 10.1099/ijs.0.64625-0.

Previously Unknown Species of Bacterium Found on International Space Station

Mar 17, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Biologists have found four bacterial strains of the Methylobacteriaceae family in surface samples collected from the International Space Station (ISS)...

This image shows the head and the body of Elysia marginata, a day after autotomy; the shed body is much heavier (over 80% of the total weight) than the head. Image credit: Sayaka Mitoh.

Sacoglossan Sea Slugs Can Shed, Then Regenerate Their Main Body

Mar 9, 2021 by News Staff

A biological phenomenon called autotomy is the voluntary shedding of a body part. It is common to distantly-related animals such as arthropods, gastropods,...

Tagged peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus). Image credit: Andrew Dixon.

Biologists Find Evidence of Migration Gene in Birds

Mar 9, 2021 by News Staff

Millions of migratory birds occupy seasonally favorable breeding grounds in the Arctic, but scientists know little about the formation, maintenance and...