Biology News

Study: Elongated Snouts Protect Snow-Diving Foxes from Injury

Yuk et al. examined the hunting technique employed by red and arctic foxes, known as mousing, wherein they dive head-first into snow to capture prey. Image credit: Yellowstone National Park.
Apr 30, 2024 by News Staff

Certain fox species plunge-dive into snow to catch prey, a hunting mechanism called mousing. Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) can dive into snow at speeds ranging between 2 and 4 m/s. In new research, scientists at Cornell University found that the elongated snout with higher curvature generates less impact force when it penetrates the snow, reducing the possibility of injury during impact. This skull shape also allows foxes...

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Time-calibrated phylogenetic tree for angiosperms based on 353 nuclear genes; all 64 orders, all 416 families and 58% (7,923) of genera are represented. Image credit: Zuntini et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07324-0.

Researchers Construct New Family Tree for Flowering Plants

Apr 26, 2024 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has created the tree of life for almost 8,000 (about 60%) genera of flowering plants (angiosperms). This achievement...

Cacao tree with cacao pods attached directly to the tree trunk and branches. Image credit: Gyamera et al., doi: 10.1094/PDIS-10-22-2412-FE.

Rapidly Spreading Virus Threatens Health of Cacao Trees, Researchers Say

Apr 24, 2024 by News Staff

The cacao swollen shoot virus disease is among the most economically damaging diseases of cacao trees and accounts for almost 15-50% of harvest losses...

Illustrative workflow showcasing the process of comparative genomics analysis of Enterobacter bugandensis, evaluating its prevalence and metabolic interactions within the microbial community, and its successful adaptation within the ISS habitat. Image credit: Sengupta et al., doi: 10.1186/s40168-024-01777-1.

Biologists Find Mutated and Genetically Distinct Strains of Multi-Drug Resistant Bacterium on ISS

Apr 23, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

Enterobacter bugandensis is primarily found in clinical specimens including the human gastrointestinal tract. Illustrative workflow showcasing the process...

An artist’s impression of the tardigrade species Hypsibius exemplaris.

Tardigrades Have Unusual Response to Ionizing Radiation, Study Reveals

Apr 16, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Tardigrades can survive remarkable doses of ionizing radiation, up to about 1,000 times the lethal dose for humans. How they do so is incompletely understood....

Coffea arabica. Image credit: Sci.News.

Arabica Coffee Originated More Than 600,000 Years Ago in Ethiopia: Study

Apr 16, 2024 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has generated the highest quality reference genome to date of the world’s most popular coffee species, Arabica coffee...

The great kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus) in Beeville, Texas, the United States, in July 2011. Image credit: Tess Thornton / CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed.

Scientists Translate Vocal Muscle Activity of Birds during Sleep into Synthetic Songs

Apr 15, 2024 by News Staff

During sleep, sporadically, it is possible to find neural patterns of activity in areas of the avian brain that are activated during the generation of...

Uenoyama et al. improve our understanding of the mechanism of scent marking via the spraying of urine for chemical communication in cats.

New Research Explains Why Sprayed Cat Urine Emits Pungent Odor

Apr 10, 2024 by News Staff

Spraying urine on vertical objects by raising the tail is a commonly observed functional behavior for chemical communication in felids, including domestic...

Computational models are used to examine the effect of schooling on flow generated noise of fish swimming using their caudal fins. Zhou et al. simulated the flow as well as the far-field hydrodynamic sound generated by the time-varying pressure loading on these carangiform swimmers. Image credit: Zhou et al., doi: 10.1088/1748-3190/ad3a4e.

Schools of Fish Can Make Less Noise than Solitary Swimmer, Study Shows

Apr 10, 2024 by News Staff

A team of engineers at Johns Hopkins University has found that a school of fish moving together in just the right way is stunningly effective at noise...

Illustration of the body plan of a toothed whale, with a cross section of the head showing the melon (dark yellow) and the extramandibular fat bodies (light yellow) which are key organs for using sound such as echolocation. Image credit: Takeuchi et al., doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2024.148167.

Echolocation Organs of Toothed Whales Evolved from Jaw Muscles, New Research Suggests

Apr 8, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Toothed whales have developed specialized echolocation abilities that are crucial for their underwater activities. Acoustic fat bodies — the melon...

Chettih et al. propose that animals recall episodic memories by reactivating hippocampal barcodes. Image credit: Chettih et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.02.032.

Chickadees Have Unique Neural Barcodes for Episodic Memories, Researchers Say

Apr 2, 2024 by News Staff

Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), small North American passerine birds that live in deciduous and mixed forests, have extraordinary memories...

A compilation of evidence for ancient chickens in Central Asia: SEM images of a Bash Tepa egg shell, emphasizing morphologically distinct breathing pores at magnifications x30 (a), x150 (b), x750 (e, f); (c) a ceramic egg with clay balls from Bukhara dating between the tenth and twelfth centuries CE; (d) the Sophytes coin from Bactria in 300 BCE; (g) a fragment of an ossuary from Bash Tepa dating to the last centuries BCE, with an apparent chicken on the top; (h) a selection of eggshells from the Bukhara site, showing color (essentially all white) and burning, which was evident on many of the shells. Image credit: Peters et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-46093-2.

Study: Chickens Were Widely Raised across Southern Central Asia as Early as 400 BCE

Apr 2, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The origins and dispersal of the chicken (Gallus gallus) across the ancient world is one of the most enigmatic questions regarding Eurasian domesticated...

The updated bird family tree delineating 93 million years of evolutionary relationships between 363 bird species. Image credit: Jon Fjeldså / Josefin Stiller.

Scientists Create Largest and Most Detailed Bird Family Tree to Date

Apr 1, 2024 by Natali Anderson

The updated family tree, detailed in two complementary papers published today in the journal Nature and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,...

Sanchez-Martinez et al. provide insights into how tardigrades induce reversible biostasis through the self-assembly of labile CAHS gels.

Study: Introduced Tardigrade Proteins Slow Metabolism in Human Cells

Mar 27, 2024 by News Staff

New research led by the the University of Wyoming, Laramie, provides additional evidence that tardigrade proteins eventually could be used to make life-saving...

Excastra albopilosa. Image credit: James Tweed.

New Species of Fluffy Beetle Discovered in Australia

Mar 21, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Entomologists have discovered a remarkable new genus and species of longhorn beetle living in the subtropical rainforests of southeastern Queensland, Australia. Excastra...

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.

Cacao May Have Spread from Amazonia to Other South and Central American Regions 5,000 Years Ago

Mar 20, 2024 by News Staff

Humans have a long history of transporting and trading plants, contributing to the evolution of domesticated plants. The cacao tree (Theobroma cacao),...

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus).

Study: Cheetahs’ Intermediate Size Explains Their Unrivalled Speed

Mar 12, 2024 by News Staff

The fastest animals are neither large elephants nor tiny ants, but intermediately sized, like cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus). Why does running speed break...

GluK2 KO mice are defective in cold sensing. Image credit: Cai et al., 10.1038/s41593-024-01585-8.

Neuroscientists Identify Cold-Sensing Receptor in Mice

Mar 12, 2024 by News Staff

Neuroscientists at the University of Michigan have identified a thermoreceptor that mediates cold sensing in somatosensory neurons. GluK2 KO mice are defective...

Pudella carlae. Image credit: Sernanp.

New Species of Dwarf Deer Discovered in Peru

Mar 11, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Pudella carlae is the first living cervid species described in the 21st century and the first from the New World in over six decades. Pudella carlae. Image...

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 Can Learn Complex Tasks through Social Interaction, New Study Says

Mar 8, 2024 by News Staff

Culture refers to behaviors that are socially learned and persist within a population over time. Increasing evidence suggests that animal culture can,...

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