Biology News

Biologists Uncover History of Ancient Retroviruses as Far Back as 33 Million Years Ago

Retrovirus particles budding from rhesus macaque placenta cells. Image credit: Dorothy Feldman, via aacrjournals.org.
Mar 9, 2016 by News Staff

A group of scientists at Boston College, Chestnut Hill, has reconstructed the natural history of a specific retrovirus lineage — ERV-Fc — that disseminated widely between 33 and 15 million years ago (Oligocene and early Miocene). Retrovirus particles budding from rhesus macaque placenta cells. Image credit: Dorothy Feldman, via aacrjournals.org. Retroviruses are abundant in nature and include human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV-1 and HIV-2),...

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The white hydra (Hydra vulgaris). Image credit: Corvana / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Researchers Discover How Tiny Hydra Opens Its Mouth

Mar 9, 2016 by News Staff

Researchers at the University of California have uncovered in detail the dynamic process that allows the hydra — a simple freshwater animal famous...

New study provides the first experimental evidence for compositional syntax in a wild animal species, the Japanese tit (Parus minor). Image credit: Toshitaka Suzuki.

Scientists: Japanese Tits Speak in Phrases

Mar 8, 2016 by Natali Anderson

Japanese tits combine their calls using specific rules to communicate important compound messages, says an international group of ornithologists led by...

According to Dr. Vecchione and his colleagues, this ghostlike octopus is an undescribed species. Image credit: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Hohonu Moana.

Previously Unknown Species of Octopus Caught on Camera near Hawaii

Mar 7, 2016 by Natali Anderson

A team of marine scientists working off the northeast coast of Necker Island, the Hawaiian Archipelago, has encountered a new-to-science species of deep-sea...

Image credit: Anthony Parenti et al.

Scientists Discover New Kind of Stem Cell: iXEN

Mar 4, 2016 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by Michigan State University biochemist and molecular biologist Amy Ralston has discovered a new kind of stem cell — induced...

An American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) attempting to catch a raccoon (Procyon lotor) on a bait station in southwest Florida. Image credit: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Breeding Birds and Alligators Help Each Other in Everglades, Say Researchers

Mar 3, 2016 by News Staff

Long-legged wading birds that nest above resident American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) for protection from mammalian nest predators may also...

This false-color image shows human chromosomes (green) capped by telomeres (red). Image credit: U.S. Department of Energy Human Genome Program.

Aging Begins in Womb, New Study Suggests

Mar 2, 2016 by News Staff

A new study in rats led by Dr. Beth Allison of the University of Cambridge, UK, suggests that the aging clock begins ticking even before we are born and...

Rafflesia consueloae. Image credit: Edwino S. Fernando.

Rafflesia consueloae: New Species of Giant Rafflesia Discovered

Feb 27, 2016 by Natali Anderson

A new species of the plant genus Rafflesia – R. consueloae — has been described from the Philippine Island of Luzon by a team of scientists led...

The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) by Frederick William Frohawk, 1905.

Dodo Bird Was Not So Stupid After All

Feb 24, 2016 by Sergio Prostak

According to a new study in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, an extinct bird known as the dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was in fact relatively...

A Northern Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita) in Vienna Zoo, Austria. Image credit: Robert F. Tobler / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Single Birds Are Healthier Than Those in Pairs, Say Ornithologists

Feb 23, 2016 by News Staff

According to a team of ornithologists led by University of Vienna scientist Didone Frigerio, laying eggs and raising chicks can have a negative effect...

The Iberian grass snake (Natrix astreptophora). Image credit: Wolfgang Böhme.

Iberian Grass Snake: Cryptic New Species of Snake Identified

Feb 23, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of scientists from Czech Republic, France and Germany has identified a cryptic new species of grass snake living in the North African...

The sea butterfly (Limacina helicina). Image credit: Russ Hopcroft, Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska Fairbanks / NOAA.

Sea Butterflies Swim Like Flying Insects, Scientists Say

Feb 20, 2016 by News Staff

Zooplanktonic sea butterflies (Limacina helicina) ‘fly’ underwater using the same technique as tiny flying insects, beating their wings in a figure-of-eight...

Electron microscopy of the bat cell line identifies viral particles that appear to be BGHV8: black and red boxes highlight enlarged regions directly below the image above; both areas identify budding and fully budded herpesvirus virions. Image credit: Reed S. Shabman et al.

Scientists Discover Novel Herpes Virus in Bats

Feb 18, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists, led by Dr. Reed Shabman of the J. Craig Venter Institute and Prof. Christopher Basler of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai,...

Wasp Cerceris sp. Image credit: Charles James Sharp, www.sharpphotography.co.uk / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Scientists Recreate Wasp Eye View

Feb 12, 2016 by Natali Anderson

A team of biologists and robotic researchers from Australia and Germany has solved a mystery of how wasps make sure that they find their way home. The...

Domestic horses (Equus caballus). Image credit: Mikel Ortega / Richard Bartz / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Researchers: Horses Can Read Human Emotions

Feb 10, 2016 by News Staff

According to a group of researchers at the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK, domestic horses (Equus caballus) are able to distinguish between positive...

Two wolves. Image credit: Monty Sloan.

Canids Have 21 Distinct Howling Dialects, Say Scientists

Feb 10, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Various species and subspecies of canids (wolves, coyotes, etc.) have distinguishing repertoires of howling, according to a team of scientists who analyzed...

Cyanobacteria. Image credit: Josef Reischig / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Cyanobacteria ‘See’ Like Microscopic Eyeballs, New Study Finds

Feb 9, 2016 by Natali Anderson

According to a study published in the journal eLife, cyanobacteria cells act as spherical microlenses, allowing the cell to see a light source and move...

Aphonopelma johnnycashi: female (left) and male. Image credit: Hamilton C.A. et al.

Aphonopelma johnnycashi: Newfound Tarantula Species Named after Johnny Cash

Feb 5, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of researchers, directed by Dr. Chris Hamilton of the Auburn University Museum of Natural History, has discovered a previously unknown species of...

Ravens hid their food only well when dominant conspecifics were visible and audible at the same time. Image credit: Jana Müller / Universität Wien.

Study: Ravens Can Theorize about Minds of Others

Feb 4, 2016 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal Nature, ravens (Corvus corax) share human ability to think abstractly about other minds, adapting their...

Kinyongia msuyae. Image credit: Tim Davenport / WCS.

Kinyongia msuyae: New Species of Chameleon Found in Tanzania

Feb 4, 2016 by Natali Anderson

A team of scientists led by Dr. Michele Menegon of the Museo delle Scienze in Trento, Italy, has described a previously undocumented species of chameleon...

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