Biology News

May 29, 2018 by News Staff

Although using flashy colors as camouflage may seem counterintuitive, iridescence obstructs the bumblebee’s ability to identify shape, according to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports. This is a bumblebee landing on an iridescent target. Image credit: Karin Kjernsmo. Iridescence is a taxonomically widespread and striking form of animal coloration which uses regular repeating nanostructures to reflect light at slightly different...

May 23, 2018 by News Staff

A rare species of orangutan, a majestic tree, a beetle that looks like part of an ant, the world’s deepest-living fish, and the fossil of a marsupial...

May 23, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of researchers led by Dr. Jean-Lou Justine of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, has identified at least five species...

May 21, 2018 by News Staff

Humans are known to have one functioning and three non-functioning chitinase genes — those that make an enzyme that digests the insect exoskeletal...

May 18, 2018 by News Staff

Several species of skinks (a type of lizard) from the island of New Guinea have lime-green colored blood — which in turn results in bright green...

May 15, 2018 by News Staff

A group of Montana State University microbiologists has discovered a new archaeal lineage living in the extreme geothermal environments in Yellowstone...

May 15, 2018 by News Staff

A team of Indiana University researchers has reported the first evidence that non-human animals (rats) can replay a stream of multiple episodic memories....

May 10, 2018 by News Staff

A new study, undertaken by a team of University of Exeter researchers using captive Eurasian beavers (Castor fiber), has demonstrated the significant impact...

May 8, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of biologists from the United States and Germany has discovered a new species of shrew living in a forested area on Mt. Mantalingahan,...

May 4, 2018 by News Staff

The European mistletoe (Viscum album) is a plant steeped in ancient associations with druids and Northern European folklore and since the 18th century,...

May 3, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of entomologists from the Netherlands and Philippines has discovered three new species of aquatic beetles in the remote Maliau Basin, Malaysian...

Apr 30, 2018 by News Staff

A duo of scientists at the University of Oxford, UK, has proposed an evolutionary framework to understand why our gut microbiota affects the brain and...

Apr 27, 2018 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal Current Biology, domestic horses can read and then remember people’s emotional expressions, enabling...

Apr 24, 2018 by News Staff

A team of scientists from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the Universities of New South Wales and Sydney has identified a new DNA structure...

Apr 23, 2018 by News Staff

Entomologists are claiming they have discovered a new species of so-called ‘exploding ant’ living in the remote rainforests of Borneo, Thailand, and...

Apr 18, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of researchers from the United States, UK and Brazil has engineered an enzyme which can digest polyethylene terephthalate (PET),...

Apr 18, 2018 by News Staff

One of New Guinea’s dancing birds-of-paradise — the Vogelkop Superb Bird-of-Paradise (Lophorina niedda) — was finally confirmed to be an...

Apr 18, 2018 by News Staff

A team of scientists from the University of California, Riverside (UCR) has identified three new species of bacteria — Lactobacillus micheneri, L....

Apr 16, 2018 by News Staff

The Costa’s hummingbird (Calypte costae) is a small species of hummingbird endemic to the far west region of the United States and Mexico. During breeding...

Apr 13, 2018 by News Staff

A team of marine biologists from the University of Kansas and the Field Museum, Chicago has discovered a remarkable defensive system — ‘lachrymal...