Biology News

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

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.
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 like the modern-day sponge cells, but were more like a collection of cells that could transition into multiple types, much like modern stem cells that give rise to the specialized cells in animals. Their work appears in the journal Nature. Choanocyte-derived archaeocytes are capable of generating...

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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,...

A honeybee. Image credit: Padmanemi.

Honeybees May Be Capable of Connecting Symbols to Numbers, Says New Study

Jun 5, 2019 by News Staff

A team of scientists from RMIT University, Monash University and the University of Toulouse III has trained honeybees (Apis mellifera) to match a character...

Reconstruction of Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.

Feathers Arose 80 Million Years before Birds, Scientists Say

Jun 5, 2019 by News Staff

According to a new review paper published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, feathers arose 250-230 million years ago, during the Early...

New Species of Rat Snake Discovered

May 30, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of scientists has described a cryptic new species of rat snake in the genus Elaphe. The Urartian rat snake (Elaphe urartica) in Armenia....

de la Cuesta-Zuluaga et al find age and sex of an individual strongly influences the bacterial diversity of the gut microbiome. Image credit: University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

Young Women Have Higher Gut Bacterial Diversity than Young Men

May 23, 2019 by News Staff

In a new study in the journal mSystems, an international team of researchers analyzed the relationship of age and sex to gut bacterial diversity in adult...

A young juvenile male bonobo is groomed by his mom in the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Image credit: Martin Surbeck.

Study: Bonobo Mothers Play Strong Role in Helping Adult Sons Find Mate

May 22, 2019 by News Staff

In many group-living mammals, mothers may increase the reproductive success of their adult daughters. However, whether such maternal effects exist for...

This study was conducted on a colony of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) housed at the Kristiansand Zoo in Kristiansand, Norway. Image credit: Motes-Rodrigo et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215644.

Chimps Use Tools to Excavate Underground Food, Study Says

May 17, 2019 by News Staff

Naïve chimpanzees are able to spontaneously use tools in order to excavate underground food, according to a new study, published in the journal PLoS ONE....

This digitally-colorized scanning electron micrograph revealed some of the ultrastructural morphology displayed on the ventral surface of Cimex lectularius; from this view you can see the insect’s skin piercing mouthparts it uses to obtain its blood meal, as well as a number of its six jointed legs. Image credit: Janice Harney Carr, CDC.

Bedbugs Arose 115 Million Years Ago, Roamed Earth alongside Dinosaurs

May 17, 2019 by News Staff

Bedbugs are blood-sucking parasites in the family Cimicidae. A multinational research team led by University of Sheffield, the University Museum Bergen...

The lanternfish has bioluminescent organs and an increased number of rod opsin genes. Image credit: Zuzana Musilová, Charles University.

Deep-Sea Fishes Catch Color with Rods

May 13, 2019 by News Staff

Some deep-sea fishes have developed highly sensitive color vision that could help them determine predator from prey in the dimly-lit depths. The lanternfish...

The bald cypress (Taxodium distichum). Image credit: Dan Griffin.

Researchers Find ‘World’s Oldest Wetland Tree’

May 13, 2019 by News Staff

Bald cypress trees (Taxodium distichum) over 2,000 years old grow in the forested wetlands along Black River south of Raleigh, North Carolina. One of the...

Cryo-EM image of a DNA-filled medusavirus particle viewed from a 3-fold axis; spike, capsid, and membrane are labeled. Scale bar - 100 nm. Image credit: Yoshikawa et al, doi: 10.1128/JVI.02130-18.

Medusavirus: Newly-Discovered Giant Virus Turns Its Hosts into ‘Stone’

May 10, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers has isolated a new giant virus from hot spring water in Japan. Named medusavirus, the virus infects a species of amoeba called Acanthamoeba...

The European paper wasp (Polistes dominula). Image credit: Adrian Benko / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Paper Wasps are Capable of Logical Thinking, Suggests New Study

May 9, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the University of Michigan has found evidence of transitive inference — a form of logical reasoning that involves using...

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