Biology News

Honey Bees Have Better Vision Than Previously Thought

A western honey bee (Apis mellifera) in Nagakute, Aichi, Japan. Image credit: Emran Kassim / CC BY 2.0.
Apr 6, 2017 by News Staff

A new study by researchers at the University of Adelaide and Lund University that appears online today in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that honey bees have much better vision than previously thought. A western honey bee (Apis mellifera) in Nagakute, Aichi, Japan. Image credit: Emran Kassim / CC BY 2.0. Bee vision has been studied ever since the pioneering research of Dr. Karl von Frisch in 1914, which reported bees’ ability to see colors...

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Cave loach Barbatula sp. Image credit: Jasminca Behrmann-Godel et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.02.048.

Meet Cave Loach, Europe’s First Cave Fish

Apr 5, 2017 by News Staff

A team of scientists and cave divers has discovered and described the first European cave fish — a loach of the genus Barbatula. Loaches Barbatula...

The scientists have tried to extract ancient DNA from two stingless bees Trigonisca ameliae. This image shows Trigonisca ameliae bee in Colombian copal. Image credit: Dr David Penney / University of Manchester.

Social Bees Have Kept Symbiotic Gut Bacteria for 80M Years, New Study Says

Mar 30, 2017 by News Staff

About 80 million years ago (Cretaceous period), a group of bees began exhibiting social behavior. Today, their descendants — honey bees, stingless...

World’s First Glow-In-The-Dark Frog Found in Argentina

Mar 30, 2017 by Maria Gabriela Lagorio, University of Buenos Aires

Scientists in Argentina have discovered a frog that glows in moonlight and at twilight. Fluorescence in terrestrial environments had previously only been...

Visualization of resident megakaryocytes in the lungs. Image credit: Emma Lefrançais et al, doi: 10.1038/nature21706.

Lungs Play Previously Unknown Role in Blood Production

Mar 27, 2017 by News Staff

Using video microscopy in a living mouse lung, a team of researchers at the Universities of California, San Francisco (UCSF) & Los Angeles (UCLA),...

The Ecuadorian rainfrog (Pristimantis ecuadorensis), adult female. Image credit: J.M. Guayasamin et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172615.

New Frog Species Discovered: Ecuadorian Rainfrog

Mar 23, 2017 by News Staff

A species of frog that is completely new to science has been discovered in the cloud forests of Ecuador. The Ecuadorian rainfrog (Pristimantis ecuadorensis),...

Specific calls of playing kea trigger playful emotions in other, non-playing birds, just as laughter does for us. Image credit: Raoul Schwing, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna.

‘Laughter’ is Catching in New Zealand’s Kea Parrots

Mar 22, 2017 by News Staff

The kea (Nestor notabilis) — a large species of parrot endemic to the Southern Alps of New Zealand — has become the first non-mammal to show...

A member of the Ngogo community of chimpanzees in Uganda’s Kibale National Park. Image credit: Brian Wood, Yale University.

Study: Uganda’s Ngogo Chimpanzees Have Surprisingly Long Life Expectancies

Mar 21, 2017 by News Staff

A 20-year demographic study of a relatively undisturbed and exceptionally large community of eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) at Ngogo,...

The Tatama tapaculo (Scytalopus alvarezlopezi) upon capture at Cerro Montezuma, Risaralda department, Colombia, April 2, 2015. Image credit: Julian Heavyside, doi: 10.1642/AUK-16-205.1.

Tatama Tapaculo: New Bird Species Discovered in Colombia

Mar 20, 2017 by Sergio Prostak

A new species of tapaculo — called the Tatama tapaculo (Scytalopus alvarezlopezi) — has been discovered in the cloud forests of Colombia’s...

Study: Spiders Eat 400-800 Million Tons of Insects and Other Prey Annually

Mar 15, 2017 by News Staff

According to a new study published in The Science of Nature, the annual prey kill of the global spider community is in the range of 400-800 million metric...

The study by Florian Schiestl and Daniel Gervasi focuses on the role insect pollinators can play in plant evolution, and how speedy that evolution can be. Image credit: Alexas.

Bees Have Profound Influence on Plant Evolution, Researchers Say

Mar 14, 2017 by News Staff

After only nine generations, the same plant species is larger and more fragrant if pollinated by bumblebees rather than flies, according to University...

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

Researchers Find Potential Cure for Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumor Disease

Mar 13, 2017 by News Staff

A study led by University of Tasmania researchers Cesar Tovar and Gregory Woods has shown that immunotherapy can cure Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii)...

Castle-Miller et al have discovered how animals link the change in seasons to their fertility.

Researchers Discover How Animals Measure Annual Time to Reproduce

Mar 8, 2017 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals the link between breeding season and the hormone melatonin,...

True’s beaked whales (Mesoplodon mirus). Image credit: Roland Edler, Duisburg Zoo.

Extremely Rare True’s Beaked Whale Caught on Video

Mar 7, 2017 by News Staff

The True’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon mirus) is a poorly known member of the family Ziphiidae, second largest family of cetaceans (which includes whales,...

Avicularia merianae, female. Image credit: H.-W. Auer.

Three New Tarantula Species Discovered in South America

Mar 7, 2017 by News Staff

Brazilian taxonomists have discovered and described three new species of the ‘bird-eating’ tarantula genus Avicularia from Ecuador, Peru and Brazil. Avicularia...

According to Yovanovich et al, frogs can see color in extreme darkness, down to the absolute threshold of the visual system. Image credit: Sonja Pauen / CC BY 2.0.

Frogs Have Unique Ability to See Color in Extreme Darkness, Study Shows

Mar 6, 2017 by News Staff

Frogs have the ability to see color even when it is so dark that humans are not able to see anything at all, according to a new study published in the...

African elephants. Image credit: Ro Dobby.

Shortest-Sleeping Mammal? African Elephants Sleep Only Two Hours Per Day

Mar 2, 2017 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal PLoS ONE has revealed that wild African elephants (Loxodonta africana) sleep an average of two hours a day and regularly...

Fructose, a simple sugar, is generated in the human brain, according to Hwang et al. Image credit: Pete Linforth / Sci-News.com.

Study: Brain Produces Fructose from Glucose

Feb 24, 2017 by News Staff

According to a new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers, fructose is converted in the human brain from glucose. The finding, published in the journal...

The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis). Image credit: Jason Buchner.

Researchers Find Antimicrobial Substances in Komodo Dragon Blood

Feb 23, 2017 by News Staff

A team of researchers at the College of Science at George Mason University has detected 48 antimicrobial peptides in the blood plasma of Komodo dragons...

The 12.2-mm-long Nyctibatrachus robinmoorei sitting on the Indian 5-rupee coin (24 mm diameter) is one of the new species discovered from the Western Ghats of India. Image credit: SD Biju.

Seven New Species of Night Frogs Discovered in India

Feb 21, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Seven new species of the genus Nyctibatrachus (Night frogs) have been discovered in the Western Ghats global biodiversity hotspot in India. Seven new species...

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