Biology News | Sci.News

Microbes drive most ecosystems and are modulated by viruses that impact their lifespan, gene flow, and metabolic outputs. However, ecosystem-level impacts of viral community diversity remain difficult to assess due to classification issues and few reference genomes. Gregory et al established an 12-fold expanded global ocean DNA virome dataset of 195,728 viral populations, now including the Arctic Ocean. Image credit: Arek Socha.

Biologists Find Nearly 196,000 Virus Species in Earth’s Oceans

Apr 26, 2019 by News Staff

Marine biologists on the Tara Oceans global oceanographic research expedition have identified nearly 196,000 marine virus species, which vastly exceeds...

The Wakatobi white-eye and the Wangi-wangi white-eye. Image credit: Nicola Marples / David Kelly.

Two New Species of White-Eyes Discovered in Indonesia

Apr 25, 2019 by News Staff

Two new species of the bird genus Zosterops (white-eyes) have been discovered in the forests of the Wakatobi Archipelago, Sulawesi, Indonesia. The Wakatobi...

Researchers Find Odor Receptors on Human Tongue

Apr 24, 2019 by News Staff

Functional olfactory receptors — the sensors that detect odors in the nose — are also present in taste cells found on the human tongue, according...

A coelacanth. Image credit: Laurent Ballesta, Gombessa expeditions, Andromede Oceanology Lt.

Coelacanth Reveals Secrets of Vertebrate Skull Evolution

Apr 23, 2019 by News Staff

A new study into one of the world’s oldest types of fish, the coelacanth, illuminates for the first time the development of the brain and skull of this...

A desert kangaroo rat (Dipodomys deserti) defensively kicking away a sidewinder rattlesnake (Crotalus cerastes) in mid-air. Image credit: Freymiller et al, doi: 10.1093/biolinnean/blz027.

High-Speed Videos Show Kangaroo Rats Using Ninja-Style Kicks to Escape Snakes

Apr 12, 2019 by News Staff

The desert kangaroo rats (Dipodomys deserti) is a species of rodent found in desert areas of southwestern North America. These rats are abundant and seemingly...

The view from the bottom of ‘Menara.’ Image credit: Unding Jami / University of Oxford.

World’s Tallest Tropical Tree Found in Malaysia

Apr 8, 2019 by News Staff

The world’s tallest known tropical tree, and possibly the tallest flowering plant, has been discovered in the Danum Valley Conservation Area in the Malaysian...

Achrioptera manga, an adult male from Foret d’Orangea, Madagascar. Image credit: Glaw et al, doi: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00105.

Malagasy Giant Stick Insects Play with Colors

Apr 4, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

In two new species of giant stick insects from the dry forests of Madagascar, males turn blue or multicolored at sexual maturity. Achrioptera manga, an...

The Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus). Image credit: Francis Franklin / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Researchers Reconstruct Evolutionary History of Passerines

Apr 3, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has reconstructed the tree of life for all major lineages of passerines (perching birds). The Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes...

Mini mum in Manombo Special Reserve, lateral view on a thumbnail. Image credit: Scherz et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213314.

Researchers Find Coin-Sized Frogs in Madagascar

Apr 1, 2019 by News Staff

An international team led by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München scientist Mark Scherz has described a new genus and five new species of tiny frogs...

The cream-eyed bulbul (Pycnonotus pseudosimplex) in Lambir Hills National Park, Miri Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. Image credit: John C. Mittermeier / Shakya et al, doi: 10.25226/bboc.v139i1.2019.a3.

Cream-Eyed Bulbul: New Species of Bird Discovered

Mar 29, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of ornithologists led by Louisiana State University researchers has discovered a cryptic new species of bulbul in the Malaysian part...

Davis et al detected BMAA in the cerebral cortex of stranded dolphins; they also report Alzheimer-like neurodegenerative changes in the brains of dolphins containing BMAA. Image credit: NASA.

Scientists Find Cyanobacterial Neurotoxin and Amyloid Plaques in Brains of Stranded Dolphins

Mar 29, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

High levels of BMAA (β-methylamino-L-alanine), a neurotoxin produced by cyanobacterial blooms, and beta-amyloid plaques, a hallmark in human beings of...

A dark-eyed junco, an American goldfinch, and a house finch feed on sunflower seeds on a snowy day. Image credit: Cynthia Raught.

Study: People Who Feed Wild Birds Notice and Respond to Nature in Their Backyards

Mar 28, 2019 by News Staff

Backyard bird feeding is a popular form of human-wildlife interaction in certain regions of the northern and southern hemisphere including North America,...

Male of Surazomus saturninoae: (A) lateral, (B) dorsal and (C) ventral views. Image credit: G.R.S. Ruiz & R.M. Valente, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213268.

New Species of Short-Tailed Whip Scorpion Discovered

Mar 27, 2019 by News Staff

A duo of arachnologists from Brazil has discovered a new species of short-tailed whip scorpion in eastern Amazon. Male of Surazomus saturninoae: (A) lateral,...

The sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) at Alma Park Zoo, Brisbane, Australia. Image credit: Andrew Napier / CC BY 2.0.

Sun Bears Can Mimic Facial Expressions of Their Playmates

Mar 22, 2019 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Scientific Reports provides evidence that sun bears (Helarctos malayanus), a typically solitary species, have the...

The blackpoll warbler (Setophaga striata). Image credit: Simon Pierre Barrette / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Blackpoll Warblers Migrate Up To 12,400 Miles Roundtrip Every Year

Mar 19, 2019 by News Staff

Blackpoll warblers (Setophaga striata) that breed in western North America migrate up to 12,400 miles (20,000 km) roundtrip each year, some crossing the...

Wang et al report a strong, specific human brain response to ecologically-relevant rotations of Earth-strength magnetic fields. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

First Neuroscientific Evidence that Humans Have Geomagnetic Sense

Mar 19, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of neuroscientists and geoscientists from Caltech, the University of Tokyo, Princeton University and Tokyo Institute of Technology...

A wild sea otter at Bennett Slough Culverts opening mussels using a stone. Image credit: Haslam et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-39902-y.

Study: Wild Sea Otters Leave Archaeological Traces

Mar 15, 2019 by News Staff

Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) are the only marine mammals that use stone tools while foraging, using them to break open hard-shelled foods. In a new study,...

Stormtropis muisca, male. Image credit: Perafán et al, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.830.31433.

Stormtropis: New Genus of Bald-Legged Spiders Named after Star Wars’ Stormtroopers

Mar 15, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of researchers has described six new species of bald-legged spiders from Colombia and established a new genus for four of them, Stormtropis. Stormtropis...

Yamagata et al succeeded in observing the signs of the biological activity of 28,140-year-old mammoth nuclei in mouse oocytes. In this image, proteins that form chromosomes (red) and proteins that form dividing spindles (green) gather around a mammoth cell nucleus (upper right) in the mouse oocyte. Image credit: Yamagata et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-40546-1.

Researchers ‘Revive’ Woolly Mammoth Cell Nuclei

Mar 14, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

In 2010, the 28,140-year-old partial carcass of a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), nicknamed ‘Yuka,’ was found in Siberian permafrost. Now a...