Biology News

Jan 10, 2018 by News Staff

The common treeshrew (Tupaia glis) — a small mammal native to Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia — defies two widely tested rules that describe patterns of geographical variation within species: the island rule and Bergmann’s rule, according to a research team led by Yale University Professor Eric J. Sargis. The common treeshrew (Tupaia glis). Image credit: Benjamin Balazs. “There are a number of ecogeographical ‘rules’ that describe...

Jan 9, 2018 by News Staff

Using 3D images, biologists at Imperial College London, UK, have shown how bacteria have evolved their ‘flagellar’ motors of different powers to optimize...

Jan 9, 2018 by News Staff

A small coastal shark called the bonnethead shark (Sphyrna tiburo) eats copious amounts of seagrass (Thalassia testudinum) and has adaptations in its digestive...

Jan 5, 2018 by News Staff

While humans generally prefer individuals who are nice to others, a new study finds bonobos (Pan paniscus) — our closest relatives in the animal...

Jan 4, 2018 by News Staff

Though calcium taste doesn’t fit into the five established tastes the tongue’s receptors can identify, humans describe it as slightly bitter and sour....

Jan 3, 2018 by News Staff

A team of scientists at the College of Engineering (CoE) in Pune, India, is developing an efficient method for monitoring and recognizing bird species...

Jan 2, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of large Pacific octopus has been discovered in the waters of Prince William Sound, Alaska. The frilled giant Pacific octopus. Image credit:...

Dec 27, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of ornithologists has revealed that a rare Amazonian bird called the golden-crowned manakin (Lepidothrix vilasboasi) — first...

Dec 26, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of marine biologists has described a new species of intertidal spider from tropical Queensland, Australia, and named it after the...

Dec 21, 2017 by News Staff

An international team led by University of York researchers has directly observed microbial activity in Antarctic and Arctic snow — an environment...

Dec 20, 2017 by News Staff

A wide range of flowers produce not just signals that we can see and smell, but also ones that are invisible such as heat. According to new research from...

Dec 19, 2017 by News Staff

Viruses can transfer genes to organisms they are not known to infect, including organisms in different domains (superkingdoms) of life, according to a...

Dec 15, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A distinctive new species of antbird has been discovered in the humid montane forests of the San Martin region in north-central Peru. The Cordillera Azul...

Dec 14, 2017 by News Staff

A team of scientists from the University of California and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has found a way to infuse plants with the luminescence...

Dec 12, 2017 by Natali Anderson

The silky anteater (Cyclopes didactylus) has previously been recognized to be a single species divided into several sub-species. But a new genetic analysis,...

Dec 10, 2017 by News Staff

A team of researchers at the University of St Andrews has discovered how New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) make one of their most sophisticated...

Dec 8, 2017 by Natali Anderson

The microbial community composition on the International Space Station (ISS) is more similar to home surfaces than to the human microbiome samples, according...

Dec 6, 2017 by News Staff

Pigeons can discriminate the abstract concepts of space and time — and seem to use a different region of the brain than humans and primates to do...

Dec 5, 2017 by News Staff

Gorillas can spontaneously clean their food before eating it, without first watching another animal to learn from them, an international team of researchers...

Dec 1, 2017 by News Staff

An international group of biologists from Israel and Sweden has obtained a detailed view of a scallop’s visual system — an arrangement of up to...