Biology News

Chernobyl-Level Radiation Exposure Increases Bumblebees’ Appetite for Nectar

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.
Dec 12, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the University of Stirling and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in the UK has demonstrated that simulated Chernobyl-levels of radiation exposure negatively affect energy use in buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) by increasing their metabolic rate and driving elevated nectar consumption. Radiologically contaminated sites such as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone have created novel environmental stressors with the...

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Stressed tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants emit remotely-detectable and informative airborne sounds. Image credit: V. Wald.

Plants Produce Ultrasonic Clicks under Stress

Dec 11, 2019 by Sergio Prostak

A team of biologists at Tel-Aviv University, Israel, has discovered that stressed plants emit sounds — similarly to many animals — using ultrasonic...

Spieden J8, a 72-year-old killer whale (Orcinus orca), breaches the water. Image credit: Kenneth Balcomb, Center for Whale Research.

Study: Killer Whale Grandmothers Improve Chances of Survival for Their Grandoffspring

Dec 10, 2019 by News Staff

Postmenopausal female killer whale (Orcinus orca) have a big beneficial impact on the survival chances of their grandoffspring, a University of York-led...

Stentor roeseli is colorless, trumpet shaped, and visible to the naked eye. Image credit: Protist Image Database.

Single-Celled Microorganism Can Make Complex Decisions, Study Shows

Dec 9, 2019 by News Staff

A free-living ciliate species called Stentor roeseli, which lacks a central nervous system, is capable of decision making, according to a study published...

Root-Gutteridge et al show that the ability to spontaneously recognize both the same phonemes across different speakers, and cues to identity across speech utterances from unfamiliar speakers, is present in domestic dogs and thus not a uniquely human trait. Image credit: Anja Gh.

Dogs Understand Spoken Words Better than We Thought

Dec 9, 2019 by News Staff

Dogs are able to listen to different people saying the same word and recognize it as the same word, ignoring the differences between speakers, and can...

Hospital insects present a potential to contribute to persistence and spread of antimicrobial-resistant pathogenic bacteria in the hospital environment. Image credit: Virvoreanu Laurentiu.

‘Milk Yeast’ Originated from Chance Encounter between Fruit Fly and Milk 5,500 Years Ago

Dec 8, 2019 by The Conversation

Historians often trace the dawn of human civilization back 10,000 years, when Neolithic tribes first settled and began farming in the Fertile Crescent,...

SEM image showing Metallosphaera sedula cells colonizing the surface of the NWA 1172 particles. Image credit: Milojevic et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-54482-7.

Scientists Find Meteorite-Eating Microorganism

Dec 5, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

A species of archaea called Metallosphaera sedula is capable of growth on stony meteorites, utilizing metals trapped within these extraterrestrial objects...

People can infer cats’ affective states from subtle aspects of their facial expressions -- although most find this challenging -- and some individuals are very good at doing so. Image credit: CaptainMeo.

Cats Have Facial Expressions and Some People Can Read Them, Scientists Say

Dec 3, 2019 by News Staff

A new study, published in the journal Animal Welfare, shows that some people are particularly good at identifying feline emotions from cats’ faces; women...

King Charles II of Spain was the last in the Habsburg line and one of the most afflicted with the facial deformity.

‘Habsburg Jaw’ Was Result of Inbreeding, New Research Confirms

Dec 3, 2019 by News Staff

A facial condition called the ‘Habsburg jaw’ (mandibular prognathism) owes its name to its high prevalence in the Habsburg dynasty of Spanish and Austrian...

Tufted puffins (Fratercula cirrhata). Image credit: Judy Alderson / USFWS.

Puffins Regulate Their Body Temperature Thanks to Their Impressively Large Bills

Nov 29, 2019 by News Staff

Tufted puffins (Fratercula cirrhata) possess large bills and are members of the bird family with energetically expensive flight. In a new study, a team...

Yin et al use X-ray microtomography to show that the 609-million-year-old Caveasphaera develops within an envelope by cell division, ingression, detachment, and polar aggregation in a manner analogous to gastrulation; together with evidence of functional cell adhesion and development within an envelope, this is suggestive of a holozoan affinity. The image shows a life cycle of Caveasphaera and a simplified phylogenetic tree of Holozoa. Image credit: Yin et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.10.057.

Animal-Like Embryos Evolved Long Before Complex Animals, Scientists Say

Nov 28, 2019 by News Staff

Complex animals evolved from single-celled ancestors, before diversifying into 30-40 distinct anatomical designs. When and how this major evolutionary...

A honeybee fallen on a water surface creates a wave and hydrofoils atop it. Image credit: Roh & Gharib, Caltech.

Honeybees Use Their Wings as Hydrofoils to Maneuver on Water Surface, Study Shows

Nov 19, 2019 by News Staff

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) trapped on a water surface use their wetted wings as hydrofoils for their water surface propulsion, according to a paper published...

Cheng et al report genome sequences and analyses of two early diverging Zygnematophyceae species, Spirogloea muscicola and Mesotaenium endlicherianum, that share the same subaerial/terrestrial habitat with the earliest-diverging embryophytes, the bryophytes. Image credit: Cheng et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.10.019.

Natural Genetic Engineering Allowed Plants to Move from Water to Land

Nov 15, 2019 by News Staff

Horizontal gene transfer from soil bacteria to algae allowed early life to move to land, according to new research. Cheng et al report genome sequences...

Strumigenys ananeotes. Image credit: Jack Longino / University of Utah.

Entomologist Discovers New Ant Species in His Own Backyard

Nov 14, 2019 by News Staff

Dr. John Longino, an ant expert in the Department of Biology at the University of Utah, has discovered a new ant species in an urban yard in Salt Lake...

Silver-Backed Chevrotain Rediscovered in Vietnam

Nov 12, 2019 by News Staff

The silver-backed chevrotain (Tragulus versicolor), a deer-like species the size of a rabbit or small cat, has been rediscovered by an international team...

The Great Barrier Reef anemonefish (Amphiprion akindynos) at Siaes Tunnel, Palau. Image credit: Lux Tonnerre / CC BY 2.0.

Study: Anemonefish Can See Ultraviolet Light

Nov 11, 2019 by News Staff

The Great Barrier Reef anemonefish (Amphiprion akindynos) can see ultraviolet light and may use it as a ‘secret channel’ to find both friends and food,...

An illustrated meteorite impact scenario to exemplify the Siljan impact event. Image credit: Henrik Drake.

Signs of Ancient Microbes Found within 381-Million-Year-Old Crater

Nov 6, 2019 by News Staff

Fractured rocks of impact craters may be suitable hosts for deep microbial communities on Earth and potentially other terrestrial planets, yet direct evidence...

Gynacantha vargasi, a male (top) and a female. Image credit: William A. Haber, doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4612.1.3.

Beautiful New Species of Dragonfly Discovered

Nov 6, 2019 by Natali Anderson

A new species of dragonfly, officially named Gynacantha vargasi, has been discovered on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica. Gynacantha vargasi, a male (top)...

A deep-sea hydrothermal vent. Image credit: Oregon State University / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Life Originated in Hydrothermal Vents, New Study Suggests

Nov 5, 2019 by News Staff

By creating protocells — seen as a key stepping stone to the development of cell-based life — in hot, alkaline seawater, a team of scientists...

Groups of vulturine guineafowl can become very large, and when multiple groups come into contact the number of birds moving together can reach into the hundreds. However, when these ‘super-groups’ eventually split, they do so back into their original stable group units, meaning that individuals are knowledgeable about who is part of their group and who is not. Image credit: Danai Papageorgiou.

Vulturine Guineafowl Found to Live in Multilevel Societies

Nov 5, 2019 by News Staff

Vulturine guineafowl (Acryllium vulturinum), a species of large terrestrial bird from East Africa, live in large, multi-male, multi-female groups that...

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