Biology News | Sci.News

Giant pandas are found in the mountains of central China in dense bamboo and coniferous forests at altitudes of 5,000 to 10,000 feet (1,500-3,000 m). Image credit: Chester Ho.

Mitochondrial DNA of 22,000-Year-Old Giant Panda Reveals Long-Lost Lineage

Jun 20, 2018 by News Staff

A research team led by scientists at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has analyzed mitochondrial...

The short-faced Niata cow. Image credit: Journal of Heredity, doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a110716.

Research Reveals Secrets of Short-Faced Niata Cow

Jun 19, 2018 by News Staff

New research published in the journal Scientific Reports shows the Niata cow, a now-extinct animal with a short face like a bulldog that fascinated Charles...

The five newfound species of snail-eating snakes, from top left to bottom right: the Bev Ridgely’s snail-eater (Sibon bevridgelyi), male; the Bob Ridgely’s snail-eater (Dipsas bobridgelyi), male; the Klebba’s snail-eater (Dipsas klebbai), male; the Oswaldo Báez’ snail-eater (Dipsas oswaldobaezi), female; and the George Jett’s snail-eater (Dipsas georgejetti), male. Image credit: Arteaga et al, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.766.24523.

Scientists Discover Five New Species of South American Snail-Eating Snakes

Jun 18, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has discovered five new species of snail-eaters (tribe Dipsadini) living in the forests of Ecuador and Peru. The five...

Colony of Chroococcidiopsis thermalis cells where the different colors represent photosynthesis driven by chlorophyll-a (magenta) and chlorophyll-f (yellow). Image credit: Dennis Nuernberg.

Scientists Discover New Type of Photosynthesis

Jun 15, 2018 by News Staff

The vast majority of life on our planet uses red light (680 to 700 nm) in the process of photosynthesis, but the new type uses near-infrared light (750...

A honeybee (Apis mellifera). Image credit: Vijaya Narasimha.

Study: Honeybees Understand Concept of Zero

Jun 11, 2018 by News Staff

The honeybee (Apis mellifera) has joined the ranks of dolphins, parrots, and primates, in demonstrating the ability to understand the concept of zero numerosity....

Thioflavin S positive amyloid plaques in the hippocampus (left) and cortex of lab mice inoculated with the artificial human prion, rhuPrion. Image credit: Kim et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04584-z.

Scientists Synthesize First Artificial Human Prion

Jun 11, 2018 by News Staff

A team of scientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has created the first artificial human prion. Thioflavin S positive amyloid...

Group of dwarf mongooses in which different cooperative acts are exchanged even with a delay in time. Image credit: Shannon Wild.

Mongooses Reward Helpful Groupmates, New Research Finds

Jun 1, 2018 by News Staff

Dwarf mongooses (Helogale parvula) provide more grooming to those groupmates who contribute more to sentinel behavior — acting as a raised guard...

This is a bumblebee landing on an iridescent target. Image credit: Karin Kjernsmo.

Study: Intense Iridescence Confuses Bumblebees

May 29, 2018 by News Staff

Although using flashy colors as camouflage may seem counterintuitive, iridescence obstructs the bumblebee’s ability to identify shape, according to a...

The Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis). Image credit: Andrew Walmsley.

Tapanuli Orangutan, Marsupial Lion and Mariana Snailfish among ESF’s Top Ten Species of 2017

May 23, 2018 by News Staff

A rare species of orangutan, a majestic tree, a beetle that looks like part of an ant, the world’s deepest-living fish, and the fossil of a marsupial...

Diversibipalium sp. ‘blue’ from Mayotte, Indian Ocean. Image credit: Laurent Charles.

Giant Hammerhead Flatworms Invade France and Its Overseas Territories

May 23, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of researchers led by Dr. Jean-Lou Justine of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, has identified at least five species...

A spectral tarsier (Tarsius tarsier) feeding on a grasshopper in Tangkoko National Park, Northern Sulawesi, Indonesia. Tarsiers have five chitinase genes to digest the high amount of chitin in their insectivorous diet, which likely represents the ancestral condition of all placental animals, including humans. Image credit: Quentin Martinez / University of California, Berkeley.

Common Ancestor of All Placental Mammals Was Insect-Eater: Study

May 21, 2018 by News Staff

Humans are known to have one functioning and three non-functioning chitinase genes — those that make an enzyme that digests the insect exoskeletal...

Prasinohaema prehensicauda, a green-blooded lizard with high concentrations of biliverdin, a toxic green bile pigment. Image credit: Chris Austin, Louisiana State University.

Scientists Find Four Lineages of Green-Blooded Lizards in New Guinea

May 18, 2018 by News Staff

Several species of skinks (a type of lizard) from the island of New Guinea have lime-green colored blood — which in turn results in bright green...

Three major populations from Echinus Geyser, Yellowstone National Park: Marsarchaeota (>1 µm cocci, red arrow), Thermocladium spp. (0.3–0.4 µm diameter filaments), and Sulfolobus islandicus-like organisms (

Marsarchaeota: Microbiologists Discover New Lineage of Archaea in Yellowstone

May 15, 2018 by News Staff

A group of Montana State University microbiologists has discovered a new archaeal lineage living in the extreme geothermal environments in Yellowstone...

Panoz-Brown et al show that rats remember a stream of multiple episodes and the order in which they occur by engaging hippocampal-dependent episodic memory replay; rats remember the order of events using episodic memory replay and that replay is part of long-term memory, resistant to interference, and hippocampal dependent. The discovery could help advance the development of new drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Image credit: Panoz-Brown et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.006.

Non-Human Animals Can Mentally Replay Past Events: Study

May 15, 2018 by News Staff

A team of Indiana University researchers has reported the first evidence that non-human animals (rats) can replay a stream of multiple episodic memories....

Eurasian beavers (Castor fiber), a mother and her kit. Image credit: Ray Scott / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Study: Beavers Could Help Curb Soil Erosion, Clean Up Polluted Rivers

May 10, 2018 by News Staff

A new study, undertaken by a team of University of Exeter researchers using captive Eurasian beavers (Castor fiber), has demonstrated the significant impact...

An illustration of the Palawan moss shrew (Palawanosorex muscorum). Image credit: Velizar Simeonovski, Field Museum of Natural History.

Researchers Discover New Species of Shrew in Philippines

May 8, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of biologists from the United States and Germany has discovered a new species of shrew living in a forested area on Mt. Mantalingahan,...

The European mistletoe (Viscum album). Image credit: Etienne Meyer.

European Mistletoe is Unique among Multicellular Organisms, Biologists Say

May 4, 2018 by News Staff

The European mistletoe (Viscum album) is a plant steeped in ancient associations with druids and Northern European folklore and since the 18th century,...

Grouvellinus leonardodicaprioi. Scale bar - 1 mm. Image credit: Hendrik Freitag / Taxon Expeditions.

Water Beetle Discovered in Borneo Named after Leonardo DiCaprio

May 3, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of entomologists from the Netherlands and Philippines has discovered three new species of aquatic beetles in the remote Maliau Basin, Malaysian...

Oxford researchers Katerina Johnson and Kevin Foster argue that understanding why gut microbiome influences behavior requires a focus on microbial ecology and local effects within the host. Image credit: Open Clipart-Vectors.

Does Gut Microbiota Manipulate Our Minds?

Apr 30, 2018 by News Staff

A duo of scientists at the University of Oxford, UK, has proposed an evolutionary framework to understand why our gut microbiota affects the brain and...