Biology News

Staring at Seagulls Makes Them Less Likely to Snatch Your Food

Goumas et al found that human gaze direction significantly affected gulls’ latency to approach the food: gulls took less time to approach when a human was facing away versus looking directly at them. Image credit: Circe Denyer.
Aug 8, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the University of Exeter, UK, put a bag of chips on the ground and tested how long it took herring gulls (Larus argentatus) to approach when a human was watching them, compared to when the human looked away: on average, gulls took 21 seconds longer to approach the food with a human staring at them. Goumas et al found that human gaze direction significantly affected gulls’ latency to approach the food: gulls took less time...

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During the fruiting season, western lowland gorillas consistently opened African walnuts using their teeth. Image credit: van Casteren et al, doi: 10.1002/ajpa.23911.

Gorillas Use Their Teeth to Crack Open and Eat African Walnuts

Aug 6, 2019 by News Staff

Gorilla diets are characterized by large amounts of fruits and plants. Hard-object feeding is not generally associated with these great apes as the high...

Reconstruction of Archaeopteryx albersdoerferi. Image credit: Zhao Chuang / Martin Kundrát.

Study: Dinosaur Feathers Evolved for Sexual Display

Aug 5, 2019 by News Staff

New research, published recently in the journal Evolution, shows that some dinosaurs may have taken flight thanks to sex appeal. Persons & Currie explored...

The rain frogs comprise a unique group lacking a tadpole stage of development. Their eggs are laid on land and hatch as tiny froglets. Image credit: BIOWEB-PUCE.

Researchers Discover Eleven New Species of Rain Frogs in Ecuador

Aug 2, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Nadia Paez, a PhD student at the University of British Columbia, and Pontifical Catholic University’s Professor Santiago Ron have discovered eleven new...

Asperoteuthis mangoldae is known only from the waters off the Hawaiian Islands. Image credit: Ocean Exploration Trust.

Elusive Long-Tailed Squid Captured on Film for First Time

Jul 31, 2019 by News Staff

A team of marine biologists with the Nautilus Expedition succeeded in filming Asperoteuthis mangoldae, a recently discovered deep-sea squid species, at...

An artist’s reconstruction of an ancient duck-billed platypus. Image credit: Peter Schouten.

Platelet Cells First Evolved in Carboniferous Platypus-Like Animal

Jul 26, 2019 by News Staff

Platelets are tiny blood cells that help our bodies form clots to stop bleeding. They are found in all mammals but no other group of animals. According...

We consume about 100 million bacterial cells with one apple. Image credit: Pixel2013.

One Apple Contains 100 Million Bacterial Cells, New Study Shows

Jul 25, 2019 by News Staff

Apples are among the most consumed fruits worldwide. They represent a source of direct human exposure to bacterial communities. A new study, published...

The American pocket shark (Mollisquama mississippiensis). Image credit: Michael Doosey.

New Species of Pocket Shark Discovered

Jul 24, 2019 by News Staff

A research team led by NOAA marine biologists has described a new species of pocket shark from the Gulf of Mexico. The American pocket shark (Mollisquama...

Littered cigarette filters reduce growth and alter short-term primary productivity of terrestrial plants. Image credit: Green et al, doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2019.109418.

Study: Littered Cigarette Butts Significantly Reduce Plant Growth

Jul 24, 2019 by News Staff

Most cigarette butts contain a filter made of cellulose acetate fiber, a type of a bioplastic. Around 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered every year,...

The Mount Gaoligong flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus gaoligongensis). Image credit: Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden.

New Flying Squirrel Species Discovered in China

Jul 23, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has discovered a new species of the genus Biswamoyopterus living in the evergreen broad-leaved forests of Mount Gaoligong...

Mischogyne iddii grows white flowers. Image credit: Andrew R. Marshall.

Botanists Discover New Tree Species in Tanzania

Jul 19, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of researchers has discovered a new species of tree growing in the forests of the Usambara Mountains in Tanzania. Mischogyne iddii...

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

Insects Experience Chronic Pain after Serious Injury

Jul 15, 2019 by News Staff

Insects can enter a neuropathic pain-like state after nerve injury, according to a new study in fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster). Khuong et al offer...

Three western gorilla groups (Conan, Morpheus and Zulu) mingle peacefully as they feed at the Mbeli Bai clearing in the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo. Image credit: Wildlife Conservation Society.

Study: Gorillas Live in Complex, Multi-Tiered Societies

Jul 12, 2019 by News Staff

According to new research, gorillas have complex social structures, from lifetime bonds forged between distant relations, to social tiers with striking...

A fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster). Image credit: Sanjay Acharya / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Parental Environment May Have Impact on Future Generations, Says Study

Jul 12, 2019 by News Staff

In a study published online this week in the journal eLife, researchers from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth examined how environmental stressors...

An image illustrating how the Cas9 protein rearranges itself (indicated by the arrow) to enable the ‘scissoring’ action for cutting DNA. Image credit: Zhu et al, doi: 10.1038/s41594-019-0258-2.

Researchers Capture High-Resolution Images of Active Cas9 Enzyme

Jul 11, 2019 by News Staff

Using a technique called cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM), a team of scientists from the United States and Canada has captured atomic-level, 3D...

Snowball, a male sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita eleonora). Image credit: Patel et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.03.038.

Snowball the Dancing Cockatoo Knows 14 Dance Moves, Study Reveals

Jul 9, 2019 by News Staff

Snowball is a male sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita eleonora). In 2007, he garnered YouTube fame for his uncanny ability to dance — including...

The yellow-spotted barbet (Buccanodon duchaillui). Image credit: Romain Risso / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two New Bird Species Discovered in West Africa

Jul 9, 2019 by Natali Anderson

An international team of ornithologists has identified two new, cryptic species of birds — a long-tailed cuckoo and a barbet — living in West...

Yu et al report a method to translate amino acid sequences into audible sound, use the representation in the musical space to train a neural network, and then apply it to generate protein designs using artificial intelligence. Image credit: Yu et al, doi: 10.1021/acsnano.9b02180.

Researchers Translate Proteins into Musical Compositions, and Back

Jul 8, 2019 by News Staff

A team of scientists at MIT has developed a system for converting protein sequences into audible sound that resembles musical passages. Then, reversing...

World’s Largest Macroalgal Bloom Discovered

Jul 5, 2019 by News Staff

Free-floating mats of brown macroalgae called Sargassum in the center of the North Atlantic were first reported by Christopher Columbus in the 15th century...

According to Taiz et al, plants don’t think, they grow. Image credit: Johannes Plenio.

Plants Neither Possess Nor Require Consciousness, Biologists Say

Jul 5, 2019 by News Staff

In a review paper published this week in the journal Trends in Plant Science, University of California, Santa Cruz’s Professor Lincoln Taiz and colleagues...

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