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Chimps and bonobos use gestures to initiate and change positions during grooming. Image credit: Catherine Hobaiter.

Bonobo and Chimp Gestures Overlap in Meaning, Study Finds

Feb 28, 2018 by News Staff

According to a study published in the journal PLoS Biology, two closely related great ape species — the bonobo (Pan paniscus) and the common chimpanzee...

Little skates (Leucoraja erinacea). Image credit: Monash University.

Study: Fish Were Walking 400 Million Years Ago — Long Before Land-Dwelling Vertebrates

Feb 27, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has uncovered information about the nerve networks required for walking on land, suggesting the last common ancestor...

A Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) with three cubs at Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, 1909. Image credit: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

3D Digital Models Reveal Tasmanian Tiger’s Development from Joey to Adulthood

Feb 27, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of scientists led by Museums Victoria and the University of Melbourne has scanned all known joey specimens of the Tasmanian tiger...

Some of the Botai horses were found to carry genetic variants causing white and leopard coat spotting patterns. Image credit: Ludovic Orlando / Sean Goddard / Alan Outram.

Research Sheds New Light on Origins of Domestic and Przewalski’s Horses

Feb 26, 2018 by News Staff

New research overturns a long-held assumption that Przewalski’s horses (Equus ferus przewalskii), a rare and endangered animal native to the steppes...

Transmission electron micrograph of ranaviruses (hexagons), members of the family Iridoviridae. Image credit: Electron Microscopy Unit, Australian Animal Health Laboratory / CSIRO.

Researchers Discover ‘Insulin-Producing’ Viruses

Feb 23, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of scientists led by Harvard Medical School’s Joslin Diabetes Center has identified four viruses that can produce insulin-like...

Seltmann et al studied Asian timber elephants in Myanmar. Image credit: John Jackson.

Study: Asian Elephants Have Complex Personalities

Feb 22, 2018 by News Staff

A team of scientists from the University of Edinburgh, UK, and the University of Turku, Finland, has investigated the personality structure of Asian elephants...

An adult Atlantic sixgill shark (Hexanchus vitulus) swims in the waters off Belize. Image credit: Ivy Baremore, MarAlliance.

Cryptic New Species of Shark Identified: Atlantic Sixgill Shark

Feb 22, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of marine biologists from the United States and Belize has confirmed that sixgill sharks residing in the Atlantic Ocean are a different...

The human spermatozoon tail is a highly complex machine that consists of around a thousand different types of building blocks. Image credit: University of Gothenburg.

Researchers Find Previously Unknown Structure in Human Spermatozoon Tails

Feb 22, 2018 by News Staff

By using cryo-electron tomography, an international team of scientists has identified a completely new nanostructure — named the Tail Axoneme Intra-Lumenal...

First comprehensive map of butterfly evolution: branch support is color coded according to the support thresholds indicated on the legend, and the shape indicates whether the branch was supported using one or more methods; pie charts on certain nodes in Lycaenidae and Riodinidae indicate the probability of ant association (red) and no ant association (blue) based on ancestral state reconstruction; ants before tribe/subfamily names indicate at least one ant-associated species in the group; question marks denote taxa for which no data on ant association could be found. POLYOMMAT, PL – Polyommatinae, TH – Theclinae, PORITI – Poritiinae, NEM – Nemeobiinae, HED – Hedylidae, PARN – Parnassiinae, PAP – Papilionidae. Image credit: Espeland et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.01.061.

Scientists Complete Butterfly Evolutionary Tree

Feb 20, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of lepidopterists has compiled the most comprehensive evolutionary tree for butterflies to date. The results appear in the journal...

Rhynia gwynne-vaughanii, 400 million-year-old fossil plant stem from Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Image credit: Natural History Museum, London.

Study: First Land Plants Appeared 500 Million Years Ago

Feb 19, 2018 by News Staff

According to a new study to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the first plants to colonize the Earth originated around...

New Species of Pygmy Squid Discovered

Feb 19, 2018 by Natali Anderson

James Cook University researcher Dr. Jan Strugnell and Australian Museum Research Institute’s Dr. Mandy Reid have discovered and described a new species...

Young Tasmanian devil. Image credit: Keres H. / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Wild Populations of Tasmanian Devils Continue to Decline, Study Shows

Feb 16, 2018 by News Staff

The overall population numbers of wild Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) are continuing to decline, due to the presence of a transmissible cancer,...

Marseilleviridae particles; arrows indicate ‘large dense bodies.’ Image credit: Okamoto et al, doi: 10.1101/139097.

Giant Viruses May Have Played Important Role in Evolution of Life

Feb 14, 2018 by News Staff

Dr. Albert Erives, a biologist at the University of Iowa, has identified a virus family whose set of genes is similar to that of eukaryotes, an organism...

This is the first study to examine the relation between general intelligence scores and delayed gratification abilities in common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Image credit: Bernd Hildebrandt.

Chimps’ Self-Control is Related to General Intelligence: Study

Feb 9, 2018 by News Staff

Chimpanzees’ overall intelligence is correlated to their ability to exert self-control and delay gratification, according to a study published in the...

Flowering plants likely originated between 149 million years ago (Jurassic period) and 256 million years ago (Permian period). Image credit: Ilona Ilyés.

Flowering Plants Originated Between 149 and 256 Million Years Ago, Researchers Say

Feb 8, 2018 by News Staff

Angiosperms (flowering plants) are neither as old as suggested by previous molecular studies, nor as young as a literal interpretation of their fossil...

Viruses are circulating in the atmosphere of our planet. Image credit: Arek Socha.

Study: Viruses are Circulating in Earth’s Atmosphere — and Falling from It

Feb 8, 2018 by News Staff

Viruses fall back to Earth via dust storms and precipitation, according to new research published in the International Society for Microbial Ecology Journal. Viruses...

Venus flytrap in its native habitat. Image credit: Clyde Sorenson.

Venus Flytraps Don’t Trap Their Pollinators

Feb 7, 2018 by News Staff

Scientists have for the first time discovered which insects pollinate a rare carnivorous plant called the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) — and...

The downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens). Image credit: Wolfgang Wander.

Woodpeckers Show Signs of What Looks Like Brain Damage in Humans

Feb 5, 2018 by News Staff

Woodpeckers experience forces up to 1,200-1,400 g while pecking. It is assumed due to evolutionary adaptations, the woodpecker is immune to brain injury....

According to Seaborne et al, ‘muscle memory’ exists at DNA level. Image credit: Composita.

Human Muscles Possess ‘Memory’ of Earlier Growth — at DNA Level: Study

Jan 31, 2018 by News Staff

Human skeletal muscles have an epigenetic memory of earlier encounters with growth, according to a Keele University-led study. According to Seaborne et...