Biology News

Researchers Generate Gene Sequences for 1,124 Plant Species, Illuminate One Billion Years of Evolution

Diversity within the family Viridiplantae. Image credit: Leebens-Mack et al, doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1693-2.
Oct 28, 2019 by News Staff

As part of the One Thousand Plant Transcriptomes (1KP) Initiative, an international consortium of scientists has sequenced transcriptomes — the set of genes that is actively expressed — of 1,124 plant species to shine a light on one-billion-year history of green plants. Diversity within the family Viridiplantae: (a-e) green algae — (a) Acetabularia sp.; (b) Stephanosphaera pluvialis; (c) Botryococcus sp.; (d) Chara sp.; (e) Spirotaenia...

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The white shark (Carcharodon carcharias). Image credit: Hermanus Backpackers / CC BY 2.0.

White Sharks Choose Who They Hang With, New Study Reveals

Oct 24, 2019 by News Staff

White sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are top marine predators that are typically solitary but can also form seasonal aggregations around seal colonies...

Psammogorgia pax. Image credit: Hector Guzman / Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Marine Biologists Discover New Species of Octocoral

Oct 23, 2019 by News Staff

A previously unknown species of coral has been discovered in Hannibal Bank, a guyot seamount off Pacific Panama. Psammogorgia pax. Image credit: Hector...

A male white bellbird (Procnias albus). Image credit: Anselmo d’Affonseca, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia.

White Bellbird Has Loudest Songs in Avian Kingdom: Study

Oct 22, 2019 by News Staff

A duo of ornithologists from the United States and Brazil has recorded the loudest bird song (up to 125.4 db) ever documented, made by males of the white...

An aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis). Image credit: David Haring.

Scientists Find Pseudothumbs in Aye-Aye’s Hands

Oct 22, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of researchers from North Carolina State University and CNRS have found that aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis) possess pseudothumbs...

Spectacled Flowerpecker: New Species of Bird Discovered

Oct 21, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of ornithologists led by by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History has discovered and scientifically...

Arapaima gigas. Image credit: Shizhao / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Arapaima Fish Scales are One of Nature’s Toughest Flexible Materials

Oct 17, 2019 by News Staff

Arapaima gigas is a large Amazonian fish (weighing up to 150 kg) living primarily in seasonal lakes infested with ferocious piranhas. The freshwater giant...

Polyonyx socialis, female, Mun Island, Nhatrang Bay, south coast of Vietnam, South China Sea; right side of carapace deformed by parasitic isopods. Scale bar – 3 mm. Image credit: A. Hiller & B. Werding, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.876.37244.

Marine Biologists Discover Two New Species of Porcelain Crabs

Oct 16, 2019 by News Staff

A duo of marine biologists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and the Justus-Liebig-Universität in Germany has discovered and...

A capuchin monkey. Image credit: Georgia State University.

Capuchin and Rhesus Monkeys Outsmart Humans When It Comes to Cognitive Flexibility

Oct 16, 2019 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports, when it comes to being willing to explore more efficient options to solving a problem, capuchin...

Wamelink et al were able to harvest radishes and radish seeds, cress and cress seeds, rye seeds, rocket, tomatoes and peas on Mars and Moon soil simulants. This photo shows experimental trays on April 16, 2015, seven days after sowing. Image credit: Wamelink et al, doi: 10.1515/opag-2019-0051.

Tomatoes, Peas and Several Other Crops Grow Well in Simulated Martian and Lunar Dirt

Oct 15, 2019 by Natali Anderson

A new experiment conducted by researchers at the Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands shows that it’s possible to grow crops on Martian...

Humpback whale bubble-net feeding. Image credit: University of Hawai’i at Manoa.

Researchers Capture Stunning Video of Whale Bubble-Net Feeding

Oct 14, 2019 by News Staff

A research team led by University of Hawai’i at Manoa marine biologists has captured whale’s-point-of-view and aerial drone video of humpback whale...

Honeybees are Even Better Mathematicians than We Thought

Oct 11, 2019 by News Staff

Humans have a threshold limit for instantly processing one to four elements accurately; and it seems that our species is not alone, says a team of scientists...

Hsueh et al studied cartilage from the hip, knee and ankle and discovered a pattern of regeneration when looking at proteins within the cartilage. Image credit: Alisa Weigandt, Duke Health.

Humans Have Ability to Regrow Damaged Cartilage, Study Reveals

Oct 10, 2019 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal Science Advances, cartilage in our joints can repair itself through a process similar to that used by...

An adult female Visayan warty pig uses a piece of bark as a digging tool. Image credit: Root-Bernstein et al, doi: 10.1016/j.mambio.2019.08.003.

Visayan Warty Pigs Join Tool-Users Club

Oct 9, 2019 by Natali Anderson

Scientists have uncovered the first evidence of tool use by the Visayan warty pig (Sus cebifrons), a critically endangered species native to the Philippines. An...

Rhizobium sp. forms nodules on bean plant roots, resulting in a more robust plant (right) than on the left. Image credit: Dmitrii Y. Travin.

New Antibiotic Discovered: Phazolicin

Oct 9, 2019 by News Staff

Scientists have discovered an antibiotic produced by a symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacterium from a tropical forest in Mexico that may help lead to a ‘plant...

New Bird Species Discovered in Indonesia: Alor Myzomela

Oct 7, 2019 by Natali Anderson

An international team of ornithologists has discovered a new species of the honeyeater genus Myzomela in the highlands of the Lesser Sunda island of Alor,...

Younger and paler old male giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) are gregarious while darker males are more solitary. Image credit: Albert Dezetter.

Darker Male Giraffes are Less Social than Their Lighter-Colored Counterparts, Study Reveals

Oct 2, 2019 by News Staff

A new University of Queensland-led study has revealed that the color of spots in male giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) more strongly relates to their...

Dorsal view of the left hand of a 10-week old human embryo. The dorsometacarpales are highlighted: these muscles are present in adults of many other limbed animals, while in humans they normally disappear or become fused with other muscles before birth. Image credit: Diogo et al, doi: 10.1242/dev.180349.

Human Embryos Have ‘Lizard-Like’ Limb Muscles: Study

Oct 2, 2019 by News Staff

A new study, published in the journal Development, has confirmed the transient presence of atavistic muscles — present in our ancestors, but normally...

This scanning electron microscope image shows a tardigrade. Image credit: Diane Nelson, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Study: Tardigrades’ Unique Protein Forms Protective Cloud against Extreme Survival Threats

Oct 1, 2019 by News Staff

Tardigrades, also known as water bears and moss piglets, are small invertebrate animals that are found in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats...

The Hall’s New Guinea crocodile (Crocodylus halli) at St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park. Image credit: Murray et al, doi: 10.1643/CG-19-240.

New Freshwater Crocodile Species Found in New Guinea

Oct 1, 2019 by News Staff

Scientists had known that New Guinea was home to a unique species of crocodile since the New Guinea crocodile (Crocodylus novaeguineae) was officially...

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