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The Bob Marley’s intertidal spider (Desis bobmarleyi), male holotype. Image credit: Robert Raven.

New Marine Spider Species Named after Reggae Legend Bob Marley

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...

Research conducted in laboratories has previously shown that bacteria can stay alive at extremely cold temperatures, but the new study by Redeker et al is the first time that bacteria have been observed altering the polar snow environment in situ. Image credit: Robyn M.

Researchers Directly Observe Microbial Activity in Polar Snow for First Time

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...

Floral temperature patterns are a hidden signal to bumblebees and other pollinators that, together with other cues like color and scent, attracts them to the flowers and helps them locate any reward, like nectar. This image shows floral temperature patterns from a rock rose. Image credit: University of Bristol.

Bumblebees Use Temperature Patterns to Choose Flowers, Says New Study

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...

Viruses Can Transfer Genes Across Domains of Life, Research Shows

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...

Cordillera Azul Antbird: New Bird Species Discovered in Peru

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...

Plants infused with the luminescence of fireflies could help reduce our dependence on conventional lighting. Image credit: Seon-Yeong Kwak.

Researchers Create Nanobionic Light-Emitting Plants

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...

The silky anteater (Cyclopes didactylus). Image credit: Quinten Questel / CC BY-SA 3.0.

DNA Reveals that Silky Anteaters Are Seven Species

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,...

New Caledonian crows know what it takes to make a good tool. Image credit: James St Clair.

Study Provides Insights into How New Caledonian Crows Make Their Hooked Stick Tools

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...

The International Space Station. Image credit: NASA.

Study: Microbial Community on International Space Station Resembles Homes on Earth

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...

Pigeons aren’t so bird-brained after all. Image credit: Harsh Vardhan.

Pigeons Can Discriminate Abstract Concepts of Space and Time, Study Shows

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...

Gorillas appear to be born with an instinct to clean their food. Image credit: Skeeze.

Gorillas Can Learn to Clean Their Food without Observing Others

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...

Palmer et al found that spatial vision in the scallop is achieved through precise control of the size, shape, and packing density of the tiles of guanine that together make up an image-forming mirror at the back of each of the eyes. This image shows the great scallop (Pecten maximus). Image credit: Ceri Jones, Haven Diving Services.

Scallop Eyes Work Like Little Reflecting Telescopes, Researchers Find

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...

According to Albuquerque et al, dogs have a functional understanding of emotional expressions. Image credit: Djul.

Study: Dogs Lick Their Mouths as Response to Angry Faces

Nov 30, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of scientists from Brazil and the United Kingdom has analyzed mouth-licking behavior of domestic dogs, and found that this behavior...

A still frame from the Patterson-Gimlin film, a famous motion picture of an unidentified subject filmed on October 20, 1967 by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin on Bluff Creek, a tributary of the Klamath River about 25 road miles north-west of Orleans, California.

Purported Yeti Samples Are Genetically Identical to Asian Bears, DNA Study Says

Nov 30, 2017 by News Staff

The Yeti, a mysterious ‘hominid’-like creature said to inhabit the high mountains of Asia, looms large in the mythology of Nepal and Tibet. Now, a...

The Mariana snailfish (Pseudoliparis swirei). Image credit: Mackenzie Gerringer, University of Washington.

Meet Mariana Snailfish, World’s Deepest-Dwelling Fish

Nov 29, 2017 by News Staff

In the frigid darkness of the Mariana Trench swims the world’s deepest-living fish — the Mariana snailfish (Pseudoliparis swirei). The Mariana...

Coloration of fresh specimens: Hippocampus haema (left), H. coronatus (center), and H. sindonis (right). Image credit: Han et al, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.712.14955.

Marine Biologists Discover New Species of Seahorse: Hippocampus haema

Nov 27, 2017 by Natali Anderson

A new species of seahorse has been discovered in the northern Pacific Ocean, near Japan and the Korean Peninsula. Coloration of fresh specimens: Hippocampus...

Murray et al show that crested pigeons (Ochyphaps lophotes) signal alarm with specially modified wing feathers. Image credit: Patrick Kavanagh / CC BY 2.0.

Crested Pigeons Use Specially Modified Wing Feathers to Signal Danger, Ornithologists Find

Nov 26, 2017 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the Australian National University has solved the mystery of how crested pigeons (Ochyphaps lophotes) create an alarm without...

Sousa et al show that the human brain is not only a larger version of the ancestral primate brain but also one filled with distinct and surprising differences. Image credit: William H. Calvin / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Research Highlights Key Differences between Human and Non-Human Primate Brains

Nov 24, 2017 by News Staff

A detailed comparative analysis of adult human, chimpanzee, and macaque brains shows that all regions of the human brain have molecular signatures very...

Audio signals can be stored in a magnetic tape medium; similarly the microscopic data recorder stores biological signals into a CRISPR tape in bacteria. Image credit: Columbia University Medical Center.

Synthetic Biologists Create Bacterial ‘Tape Recorder’

Nov 24, 2017 by News Staff

A team of synthetic biologists from Columbia University has successfully converted an immune system of the gut bacterium Escherichia coli into a microscopic...