Biology News

Scientists Discover New Type of Lung Cell

Pulmonary ionocytes (orange) extend through neighboring epithelial cells in the upper respiratory tract of the mouse, to the surface of the epithelial lining; cell nuclei in cyan. Image credit: Montoro et al, doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0393-7.
Aug 3, 2018 by News Staff

Two independent teams of scientists have identified a rare cell type in airway tissue — previously uncharacterized in the literature — that appears to play a key role in the biology of cystic fibrosis, a multiorgan disease that affects more than 70,000 people worldwide. Named pulmonary ionocytes, these cells appear to be the primary source of activity of a gene called cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), mutations...

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Due to a phenomenon called categorical perception, zebra finches partition the range of hues from red to orange into two discrete categories. Image credit: Ryan Huang, TerraCommunications LLC.

Zebra Finches Perceive Color Like Humans

Aug 3, 2018 by News Staff

The rainbow of visible colors varies over a continuous range of wavelengths, but small songbirds called zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) break it into...

The mauve stinger (Pelagia noctiluca) trapped among colonies of the orange coral (Astroides calycularis). Image credit: Musco et al, doi: 10.1002/ecy.2413.

Corals Cooperate to Hunt Stinging Jellyfish

Aug 1, 2018 by News Staff

Marine biologists have shown for the first time that corals can cooperate to catch and eat stinging jellyfish which are swept against the walls by sea...

In many ant species, workers are much smaller than queens and cannot reproduce; Chandra et al wanted to know: how did these physical and behavioral differences evolve? Image credit: Andreas Metallerreni.

Study: Single Gene Drove Evolutionary Rise of Ant Queen’s Reproductive Royalty

Jul 27, 2018 by News Staff

All ants are thought to be eusocial insects, with most individual ants within a colony foregoing their own reproductive potential to support an egg-laying...

The Genie’s dogfish (Squalus clarkae), adult, Belize. Image credit: MarAlliance.

Marine Biologists Discover New Shark Species: Genie’s Dogfish

Jul 18, 2018 by News Staff

A team of marine biologists has discovered a new species of deep-water dogfish shark in the Gulf of Mexico and western Atlantic Ocean, and named it after...

Vermicella parscauda. Image credit: Freek Vonk.

New Venomous Snake Discovered in Australia: Vermicella parscauda

Jul 17, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of scientists led by a University of Queensland biologist has discovered a new species of bandy-bandy snake on the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula...

The Baltic flounder (Platichthys solemdali). Image credit: Mats Westerbom.

Meet Baltic Flounder, First Fish Species Endemic to Baltic Sea

Jul 12, 2018 by Natali Anderson

A newly-discovered flatfish species, the Baltic flounder (Platichthys solemdali), is the first endemic fish known from the Baltic Sea, according to new...

Horses produce more snorts in favorable situations. Image credit: Rihaij.

Horses Snort When They’re Happy, Study Says

Jul 12, 2018 by News Staff

Snorts — non-vocal signals produced by the air expiration through the nostrils — are associated with more positive contexts and states in horses,...

An European bee-eater (Merops apiaster) with an insect. Image credit: Antonios Tsaknakis / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Insect-Eating Birds Consume 400-500 Million Metric Tons of Prey Annually

Jul 10, 2018 by News Staff

World’s insectivorous birds eat 400 to 500 million metric tons of beetles, flies, ants, moths, aphids, grasshoppers, crickets and other arthropods per...

Clistopyga crassicaudata. Image credit: University of Turku.

New Species of Parasitoid Wasp Has Extremely Large Stinger

Jul 9, 2018 by News Staff

A new wasp species with a fierce weapon — dubbed Clistopyga crassicaudata — has been discovered in the western Amazonia. Clistopyga crassicaudata....

Ballooning spider showing a tiptoe stance on a daisy. Image credit: Michael Hutchinson.

Spiders Use Atmospheric Electricity to Fly Hundreds of Miles

Jul 6, 2018 by News Staff

When one thinks of airborne organisms, spiders do not usually come to mind. However, these wingless creatures have been found 2.5 miles (4 km) up in the...

The mitochondrial genome is regulated by factors encoded in the nucleus. Kim et al now show that a mitochondrial-encoded protein called MOTS-c can dynamically translocate to the nucleus in response to metabolic stress and regulate adaptive nuclear gene expression; the findings suggest that mitonuclear communication is genetically integrated. Image credit: Kim et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2018.06.008.

Mitochondrial and Nuclear Genomes Cross-Regulate Each Other, Study Finds

Jul 6, 2018 by News Staff

Transfer of vital genetic information within a cell isn’t the one-way telegraph, according to a new study published in the journal Cell Metabolism. The...

Hoaxed photo of the Loch Ness ‘monster’ from April 21, 1934.

Researchers Hunting for Environmental DNA in Loch Ness

Jul 2, 2018 by News Staff

An international research team led by University of Otago’s Professor Neil Gemmell is using the latest DNA technologies to compile a census of life in...

Galbraith et al identified 27 novel viruses in bees. Image credit: Joanna Jankowski.

Biologists Find Twenty Seven New Bee Viruses

Jul 2, 2018 by Natali Anderson

A team of scientists has identified 27 new viruses that infect European honeybees (Apis mellifera) and other bee species. Galbraith et al identified 27...

Sevvana et al achieved a structure of mature Zika virus at 3.1Å resolution; the three envelope glycoproteins are colored yellow, blue and red. Image credit: Madhumati Sevvana / Purdue University.

Researchers Create Most Detailed 3D Model of Zika Virus to Date

Jun 28, 2018 by News Staff

A research team led by Purdue University structural biologist Michael Rossmann was the first to discover the structure of Zika virus — emerging mosquito-borne...

Dolichogenidea xenomorph. Image credit: Erinn Fagan-Jeffries.

New Species of Parasitic Wasp Has Alien-Like Lifecycle

Jun 27, 2018 by News Staff

A bizarre new species of wasp, named Dolichogenidea xenomorph, has been discovered in Australia. Dolichogenidea xenomorph. Image credit: Erinn Fagan-Jeffries. Dolichogenidea...

One of the four images of an Australasian cockatoo gifted to Frederick II of Sicily by the Kurdish al-Malik Muhammad al-Kamil, the ‘Sultan of Babylon.’ Codex Ms. Pal. Lat 1071, folio 20r. Image credit: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

Images of Australasian Cockatoo on 13th-Century Sicilian Manuscript Spark Rethink on Medieval Trade Routes

Jun 27, 2018 by News Staff

Four sketches and a written description of a white cockatoo survive in a mid 13th-century manuscript from Sicily, now held in the Vatican Library, according...

Gibbons at play (c. 1427) by the Xuande Emperor, the fifth emperor of the Ming dynasty of China.

Extinct Gibbon Found in 2,250-Year-Old Tomb of Chinese Noblewoman

Jun 22, 2018 by News Staff

The remains of a previously unknown genus and species of gibbon, Junzi imperialis, have been found in an approximately 2,200-2,300 year-old royal tomb...

The Bogong moth (Agrotis infusa), female. Image credit: Lucinda Gibson & Ken Walker, Museum Victoria / CC BY 3.0.

Study: Nocturnally Migrating Insects Use Earth’s Magnetic Field to Navigate

Jun 22, 2018 by News Staff

Like many migrating birds, numerous species of nocturnal moths undertake long-distance migrations at night. Each spring, billions of Bogong moths (Agrotis...

Ostroverkhova et al examined responses of wild bees to traps designed to selectively stimulate either the blue or the green photoreceptor using sunlight-induced fluorescence in the 420-480 nm or 510-540 nm region. Image credit: Rebekka D.

Bees Prefer Specific Wavelength Range of Blue Fluorescent Light

Jun 21, 2018 by News Staff

A team of scientists from Oregon State University and the University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, has learned that blue fluorescent light in the 430- to 480-nm...

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