Biology News

Bumblebees May Self-Medicate when Their Colony Faces Fungal Pathogen

Radiologically contaminated sites such as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone have created novel environmental stressors with the potential to substantially influence the ecology of organisms and wider ecosystem function. Nevertheless, radiation dose rates at which negative effects occur are uncertain. Burrows et al investigated a potential mechanism for these sub-lethal consequences by testing whether radiation exposure makes bees less metabolically efficient. Image credit: Josef Pichler.
Aug 27, 2026 by Natali Anderson

In a new study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) exposed to a brood-killing fungus shifted their foraging habits toward nectar laced with a natural antimicrobial compound, offering a rare glimpse of behavior consistent with self-medication in a social insect. Debeuckelaere et al. used robotic flowers to test the hypothesis that bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) modify nectar choice after pathogen...

read more...
Animals often rely on scent marks to communicate identity across time, yet how chemically dynamic signals remain individually informative is unresolved; Ichizawa et al. show that domestic cats achieve durable chemical individuality through a reservoir-buffered system based on branched-chain fatty acid. Image credit: Ichizawa et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2026.07.045.

Scientists Solve Century-Old Feline Mystery

Aug 20, 2026 by News Staff

For nearly 110 years, biologists have puzzled over why domestic cats’ kidneys are packed with unusually large numbers of fat-storing structures called...

Adansonia za. Image credit: Hectonichus / CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Baobab Species Identified in Madagascar

Aug 17, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Scientists analyzing DNA of Madagascar’s iconic baobab trees have concluded that a widespread species called Adansonia za is actually two, formally resurrecting...

The Baturité antthrush (Chamaeza baturitensis). Image credit: Fábio Nunes.

Ornithologists Discover New Bird Species in Brazil

Aug 14, 2026 by Natali Anderson

A previously unrecognized species of the antthrush genus Chamaeza has been discovered in the isolated highland rainforests of northeastern Brazil. The...

Life reconstruction of a group of Chiniquodon theotonicus individuals, a pregnant female (left) as well as a female (right) breastfeeding few, relatively large neonates. Image credit: María de los Ángeles Miceli Baro.

Fossil Evidence Pushes Back Origin of Live Birth by 90 Million Years

Aug 13, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists studying a 236-million-year-old cynodont fossil from Argentina say they have found the earliest evidence yet of viviparity (live birth)...

This image shows a shelling event that occurred on January 4, 2019. Image credit: Levengood et al., doi: 10.1111/mms.70252.

Dolphins Filmed Using Sea Shells as Tools in Rare Sighting off Australia

Aug 12, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Marine biologists have documented Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) using large sea shells to hunt for fish off the coast of Queensland,...

Torvosaurus gurneyi. Image credit: © Sergey Krasovskiy.

Why Were There No Tiny Non-Avian Dinosaurs? Mammals May Have Been to Blame

Aug 10, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Dinosaurs evolved into some of the largest animals ever to walk the Earth, but a new mathematical model suggests that early mammals may have crowded them...

The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) by Frederick William Frohawk, 1905.

Dodo Had Surprisingly Keen Sense of Smell and Owl-Like Vision, New Study Reveals

Aug 6, 2026 by Natali Anderson

New research led by University of Lethbridge scientists offers the most detailed look yet at how the dodo (Raphus cucullatus) — the flightless bird...

Morphology of Saxifraga candelabrum. Image credit: Zhang et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-75288-y.

Scientists Add Unlikely New Member to World’s Carnivorous Plants

Aug 5, 2026 by Natali Anderson

More than 150 years after Charles Darwin first wondered whether certain sticky-leaved Saxifraga plants might be secretly carnivorous, Kunming Institute...

The owner experiences of transitioning cats indoors suggest that, for most owners and cats, a transition to indoor cat management is manageable and worthwhile. Image credit: Natali Anderson.

Moving Cat Indoors is Easier than Owners Expect: Study

Aug 5, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Moving a free-roaming cat indoors for good is a decision many owners approach with dread: guilt over confining a former outdoor explorer, worry about litter...

Reda Ismaieel et al. examined the olfactory capabilities of the wings of the tobacco hawkmoth (Manduca sexta). Image credit: Reda Ismaieel et al., doi: 10.1242/jeb.252047.

Moths Can Smell With Their Wings, Researchers Say

Jul 30, 2026 by News Staff

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology have found that moth wings are equipped with odor-detecting receptors, suggesting the insects...

Examples of bonobo and chimpanzee reassurance behaviors. Image credit: Z. Clay / J.S. Brooker.

Hugs May Be an Ancient Peacekeeping Tool, Ape Study Suggests

Jul 22, 2026 by News Staff

In a new study of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus), scientists found that embraces, touches and other reassuring gestures before...

Colobus congoensis. Image credit: Daniel Rosengren, Frankfurt Zoological Society.

Scientists Discover New Monkey Species in Democratic Republic of Congo

Jul 16, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Researchers have identified and formally described a new species of the African monkey genus Colobus living in the remote interior of the Democratic Republic...

Gibbons et al. showed that bumblebees are capable of modifying their response to noxious stimuli in order to get a higher sugar reward. Image credit: Ralphs Fotos.

Bumblebees Display Emotion-Like Reactions to Sweet and Bitter Tastes

Jul 13, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Slow-motion video reveals that buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) respond to sweet and bitter tastes with distinct, context-dependent behaviors...

Recent findings document the domestication of cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) in the Ecuadorian Amazon region, its region of origin, by at least 5,300 years ago. Lanaud et al. demonstrate the large landscape of domestication of cacao, out of its area of origin, along the Pacific coast of South America, occurring concurrently during this same early time period and in subsequent time periods. Image credit: Fernando Graniel.

Scientists Discover Four New Genetic Lineages of Cacao in Peru

Jul 7, 2026 by News Staff

In an analysis of 390 traditionally cultivated cacao trees representing traditional Amazonian varieties, researchers identified four previously unknown...

Cell cycle of synthetic cells with 90-kbp genome, undergoing selection replication. Image credit: Gaut et al., doi: 10.64898/2026.07.01.735724.

Biologists Build Synthetic Cell that Can Feed, Grow, Divide and Evolve

Jul 4, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Biologists at the University of Minnesota say they have built a synthetic cell — made entirely from non-living chemical components — that can...

Revised distributions of the four planigale species formerly attributed to Planigale ingrami. Image credit: Umbrello et al., doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlag082.

World’s Smallest Marsupial is Actually Four Distinct Species

Jun 29, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Scientists in Australia have revealed that what was long thought to be a single widespread planigale species is actually four distinct ones, including...

Variation in laughter tempo across five great ape species (orangutans, gorillas, bonobos, chimpanzees, and humans): each dot represents an individual observation; color indicates phylogenetic distance (in million years ago); each square contains an image of the corresponding species, with a matching dot color for intuitive reference. Image credit: De Gregorio et al., 10.1038/s42003-026-10499-z.

New Research Traces Origins of Human Laughter

Jun 28, 2026 by Natali Anderson

The way humans laugh — in rapid, rhythmically timed bursts — is not uniquely ours. New research by the University of Warwick and the University...

Testing situation and hunters with their dogs -- examples from each of the four non-WEIRD societies: (a) pointing test in Mongolia, (b) unsolvable problem test in Vanuatu, (c) showing test in Mongolia, (d) Vanuatu, (e) Mongolia, (f) Madagascar, (g) Peru. Image credit: Bräuer et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-57657-1.

Human-Dog Bond is Ancient, Universal and Strikingly the Same Everywhere: Study

Jun 23, 2026 by News Staff

New research spanning five continents and vastly different cultures — from the steppes of Mongolia to the rainforests of the Pacific — shows...

Lauren Scott & Brittany Florkiewicz show that cat facial signals correspond to different social functions, which have likely been influenced by domestication. Image credit: Sci.News / Makieni777 / Rise-a-mui / Alexas_Fotos / Dorothe / Vaclav Zavada / Artem Makarov / Daga Roszkowska / Birgit / Pasi Mammela.

Domestic Cats Age Like Humans, New Study Shows

Jun 23, 2026 by News Staff

Domestic cats (Felis catus) develop the same patterns of brain shrinkage and neurological decline as aging humans, and scientists think that makes them...

© 2011-2026. Sci.News. All Rights Reserved. | Back to top