Biology News

Frozen Microscopic Animals Brought Back to Life after 24,000 Years

A bdelloid rotifer. Image credit: Michael Plewka.
Jun 9, 2021 by News Staff

Microscopic multicellular animals called bdelloid rotifers are known for their ability to survive extremely low temperatures. They had been reported to survive 6-10 years when frozen between minus 20 and 0 degrees Celsius. Now, an international team of biologists has successfully revived bdelloid rotifers that have been frozen in the Siberian permafrost for 24,000 years. A bdelloid rotifer. Image credit: Michael Plewka. In natural, permanently frozen...

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The Urich’s tyrannulet (Phyllomyias urichi), photographed on May 11, 2021. Image credit: David Ascanio.

Tiny Passerine Bird Rediscovered in Venezuela: Urich’s Tyrannulet

Jun 8, 2021 by Natali Anderson

A team of ornithologists from the American Bird Conservancy and Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology has captured the first-ever clear images and...

New species of Cisticola warblers from the Kilombero floodplain of Tanzania: at the top, Kilombero cisticola; at the bottom white-tailed cisticola; for both species, the bird in the front is painted after the type specimen while the bird behind is based on photos of birds in more worn plumages. Image credit: Jon Fjeldså.

Two New Bird Species Identified in Tanzania

Jun 7, 2021 by Natali Anderson

An international team of ornithologists has described and named two new species of the warbler genus Cisticola using museum specimens collected half a...

The mockingbird uses musical techniques like those of humans. Image credit: MPI for Empirical Aesthetics.

Scientists Decode Complex Song of Northern Mockingbird

Jun 4, 2021 by News Staff

In a new study published in May 2021 in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, an interdisciplinary team of researchers made an attempt to describe the specific...

Genetic factors account for nearly half of variation in dog social skills. Image credit: Emily Bray / University of Arizona.

Dogs’ Skills for Cooperating with Humans are Biologically Prepared, Study Says

Jun 4, 2021 by News Staff

A new study, published in the journal Current Biology, suggests that dogs’ social skills emerge early in development and are under strong genetic control. Genetic...

Photographs of worker ants of Myrmica rubra (a), Lasius niger (b) and Camponotus modoc (c) that were used to prepare test stimuli, and of subadult female spiders of Steatoda grossa (d), Latrodectus hesperus (e), Eratigena agrestis (f) and Araneus diadematus (g) that were tested in lab experiments. Scale bar - 1 mm. Image credit: Fischer et al., doi: 10.1098/rsos.210279.

Some Spiders Can Sniff Out Their Natural Predators, New Study Reveals

Jun 3, 2021 by News Staff

Several species of spiders avoid building webs near European fire ants (Myrmica rubra) by sensing the chemicals they give off in the environment, according...

The spread of 46 human chromosomes. Image credit: Bhatiya et al., doi: 10.1007/s10577-021-09660-7.

Researchers Measure Mass of Human Chromosomes

Jun 2, 2021 by News Staff

Each human cell, at metaphase, normally contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, or 46 in total. Within these are four copies of 3.5 billion base pairs of DNA....

A teacher guides a student through a task in this historical photo of the Abecedarian Project. Image credit: Virginia Tech.

Active Early Learning Shapes Adult Brain Structure, New Research Shows

Jun 1, 2021 by News Staff

In new research published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, low socioeconomic status infants were randomized to either five years of cognitively...

Scientists Find Rare Mineral inside Chiton Teeth

Jun 1, 2021 by News Staff

A rare iron mineral called santabarbaraite has never before been seen in a living organism, according to a paper to be published in the Proceedings of...

New Frog Species from New Guinea Has ‘Lovely Chocolate Coloring’

May 28, 2021 by Natali Anderson

A team of researchers led by Griffith University has described a new species of the Australasian tree frog genus Litoria from the rainforests of New Guinea. Litoria...

The JH1078 strain of Metarhizium brunneum. Image credit: Han et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-89811-2.

New Fungus Strain Effective against Varroa Mites in Honeybee Colonies

May 28, 2021 by News Staff

A new strain of Metarhizium brunneum, a common fungus found in soils around the world, could provide a chemical-free method for eradicating Varroa destructor,...

Semi-aquatic anoles live along Neotropical streams and frequently dive for refuge, remaining underwater for up to 16 minutes. Image credit: Lindsey Swierk.

Diving Anole Lizards Can Respire Underwater by Rebreathing Exhaled Air

May 25, 2021 by News Staff

Inspired by natural history observations in Haiti and Costa Rica, a team of biologists from the University of Toronto and elsewhere conducted experiments...

Listeria cossartiae is named for Pascale Cossart, a bacteriologist at the Pasteur Institute of Paris. Image credit: Catharine Carlin, Cornell University.

Five New Species of Listeria Bacteria Discovered

May 24, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of microbiologists from Cornell University has isolated five new non-pathogenic species of Listeria soil samples from an agricultural water sample...

Sifting through studies on various species’ play behavior, Winkler & Bryant tracked vocalization patterns that show a strong similarity to human laughter. Image credit: Katrin B.

Animals Laugh Too, Researchers Say

May 21, 2021 by News Staff

Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles took a closer look at vocal play signals — or what might be thought of as laughter —...

Dog owners and their pets diet together. Image credit: Jagd Prinzessin.

Study: Some Dog Owners Feed Their Pets Diets Similar to Their Own

May 20, 2021 by News Staff

Many dog owners today treat their dogs like family members and consequently, they consider a wide range of important variables, other than price, when...

An artist’s impression of the early Earth. Image credit: NASA.

Earth’s Early Rise in Atmospheric Oxygen May Have Suppressed Evolution of Multicellular Organisms

May 19, 2021 by News Staff

Atmospheric oxygen is thought to have played a vital role in the evolution of complex multicellular organisms. The so-called oxygen control hypothesis...

The western yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava), a small passerine bird in the family Motacillidae. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Ornithologists Estimate There Are 50 Billion Individual Birds on Earth

May 18, 2021 by News Staff

In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ornithologists from the Centre for Ecosystem Science and the Ecology &...

Kennedy et al. found that fetal gut colonization of healthy term infants does not occur before birth. Image credit: Darryl Leja, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health.

Bacteria Colonize Our Gut During and After Birth, New Study Shows

May 18, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of researchers from Germany and Canada has investigated whether bacteria could be detected in prenatal stool (meconium) samples. Kennedy...

Anthocerotibacter panamensis. Image credit: Fay-Wei Li.

New Species Fills Billion-Year Gap in Evolution of Cyanobacteria

May 14, 2021 by News Staff

A team of biologists from the United States, Canada, Panama and Taiwan has isolated a new species of cyanobacteria from a tropical hornwort plant found...

A male Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) eating non-fruit vegetation instead of the fruit orangutans prefer on the island of Borneo. Image credit: Kristana Parinters Makur / Tuanan Orangutan Research Project.

Study: Orangutans Lose Muscle Mass during Episodes of Fruit Scarcity

May 13, 2021 by News Staff

Wild Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) catabolize muscle tissue when the availability of fruit is low, according to new research led by Rutgers University...

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