Biology News

Diet of Some Chimpanzees Includes Clay, Scientists Say

Adult female chimp Nambi using a leaf-sponge at waterhole, watched by 10-year-old juvenile Karo. Image credit: C. Hobaiter.
Jul 30, 2015 by News Staff

Wild chimpanzees of the Sonso community in the Budongo forest, Uganda, are increasingly eating clay to supplement the minerals in their diet, says a team of scientists led by Prof Vernon Reynolds of Oxford University, UK. Adult female chimp Nambi using a leaf-sponge at waterhole, watched by 10-year-old juvenile Karo. Image credit: C. Hobaiter. Prof Reynolds and his colleagues from the UK, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, observed the eastern chimpanzees...

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Rosa californica in Irvine, CA. Image credit: Wintertanager J.T. Storey / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Stressed Plants Use Animal-Like Signals, New Study Shows

Jul 30, 2015 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Nature Communications has shown that, despite not having a nervous system, plants send signals normally associated...

False-color micrograph of human hair cross-section: the top region shows the external part of the hair - cuticle region; the bottom region shows the internal macrofibrils - cortex region. Image credit: Fabiano Emmanuel Montoro / LNNano / CNPEM.

Scientists Discover New Structural Features of Human Hair

Jul 30, 2015 by News Staff

An international team of scientists – led by Dr Vesna Stanic of the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Source – has detected new structural features of...

The new study shows that plant phytochromes originated in a common ancestor of streptophytes (charophyte algae and land plants). Image credit: Jurema Oliveira / USDA.

Plants Inherited Ability to Sense Red Light from Ancient Algae

Jul 28, 2015 by News Staff

The light-sensing molecules that tell plants whether to germinate, when to flower and which direction to grow were inherited millions of years ago from...

Rhombophryne longicrus in life. Image credit: Frank Glaw.

New Diamond Frog Species Discovered in Madagascar

Jul 27, 2015 by News Staff

A new species of diamond frog has been found living in the high altitude forests of the Sorata massif in north Madagascar. Rhombophryne longicrus in life....

Rooster in the municipal park of Mouscron, Belgium. Image credit: Jamain / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Roosters Crow in Order of Seniority, Japanese Scientists Say

Jul 24, 2015 by News Staff

According to a trio of animal physiology researchers from Japan, the highest-ranking rooster has priority to announce the break of dawn. Rooster in the...

Hair ice on a stem of beechwood, hair length up to 10 cm. Image credit: D. Hofmann et al.

European Biologists Finally Solve Mystery of Hair Ice

Jul 23, 2015 by News Staff

A team of scientists, led by Dr Diana Hofmann of the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences in Jülich, Germany, has identified the missing ingredient that...

The Attenborough’s flat lizard (Platysaurus attenboroughi), male. Image credit: Martin J. Whiting et al.

Platysaurus attenboroughi: African Lizard Named after Sir David Attenborough

Jul 21, 2015 by Natali Anderson

A team of scientists, led by Dr Martin Whiting of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, has described a new species of the flat lizard genus Platysaurus...

Prof Langdon has been breeding new varieties of dulse for several years. Image credit: Stephen Ward.

Biologists Create Dulse Seaweed Strain that Tastes Like Bacon

Jul 17, 2015 by News Staff

A team of scientists at Oregon State University has developed a new variety of dulse seaweed (Palmaria mollis) that, when fried or smoked, tastes just...

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus). Image credit: Steve Amstrup / USFWS.

Increasing Sea Ice Loss is Dangerous Threat to Polar Bears, Scientists Say

Jul 17, 2015 by News Staff

According to a team of scientists led by Dr John Whiteman from the University of Wyoming, polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are unlikely to physiologically...

Male and female superb fairy-wrens in Ensay, Victoria, Australia. This is a composite image, the right bird was inserted into the image. Image credit: Benjamin T. / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Scientists Train Fairy-Wrens to Understand Foreign ‘Languages’

Jul 16, 2015 by News Staff

A team of ornithologists, led by Prof Robert Magrath of the Australian National University, has succeeded in teaching wild superb fairy-wrens (Malurus...

Until now, it was believed that chromosomes only played a passive role in animal cell division. Image credit: NIH.

Biologists Discover New Mechanism of Cell Division

Jul 14, 2015 by News Staff

Chromosomes play an active role in animal cell division, reports a study published in the journal Nature. Until now, it was believed that chromosomes only...

To maintain mutualism, carnivorous pitcher plants specifically appeal to their animal partners’ perception. Image credit: Michael G. Schöner et al / C.C. Lee / M.D. Tuttle.

Pitcher Plants Attract Bats with Echo-Reflecting Structures, Says New Study

Jul 10, 2015 by News Staff

The study, published in the journal Current Biology, shows that carnivorous plants have reflective structures that are acoustically attractive for mutualistic...

Giant panda cub Xiao Liwu and his mother Bai Yun at the San Diego Zoo. Image credit: Natali Anderson / San Diego Zoo.

Giant Pandas Have Exceptionally Low Metabolic Rate, New Study Finds

Jul 10, 2015 by Natali Anderson

According to a new study led by Dr Yonggang Nie from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Zoology, bamboo-eating giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)...

The early bumblebee (Bombus pratorum), one of the smaller bumblebees. Image credit: Bernie Kohl.

Global Warming Causing Great Loss of Bumblebee Habitat, Say Researchers

Jul 9, 2015 by News Staff

A group of scientists headed by Dr Jeremy Kerr from the University of Ottawa, Canada, has discovered that climate change is rapidly shrinking the area...

Conus episcopatus, 6.4 cm, Thailand. Image credit: Alexander Medvedev / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Venom Toxins of Predatory Cone Snail Could Hold Promise for Cancer Patients

Jul 8, 2015 by News Staff

A team of scientists headed by Prof Paul Alewood of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, has discovered more than 3,000 new peptide toxins...

Flexamia whitcombi, male (top) and female. Image credit: Andrew Hicks.

Flexamia whitcombi: New Species of Leafhopper Discovered in New Jersey

Jul 6, 2015 by News Staff

Entomologist Dr Andrew Hicks from the University of Colorado has described a new species of the leafhopper genus Flexamia from the New Jersey Pine Barrens,...

Tetragnathid spider is using silk as anchor. Image credit: Alex Hyde.

Spiders Can Travel Across Oceans Like Ships, Scientists Say

Jul 3, 2015 by News Staff

According to a team of biologists headed by Dr Morito Hayashi of the Natural History Museum in London, UK, seafaring spiders use their legs as sails and...

The seahorse’s tail is made up of about 36 square-like segments, each composed of four L-shaped corner plates that progressively decrease in size along the length of the tail. Image credit: Shellac / CC BY 2.0.

Seahorse’s Square Tail Could Inspire Future Breakthroughs in Biomedicine, Robotics

Jul 3, 2015 by News Staff

Researchers studying the seahorse’s tail have found that square-shaped tails are better when both grasping and armor are needed. The finding could lead...

Light micrograph of a warnowiid dinoflagellate: double arrowhead points to the ocelloid, and arrow to the posterior cell extension. Scale bar – 10 μm. Image credit: Mona Hoppenrath et al., doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-9-116.

Single-Celled Planktonic Organisms Have Animal-Like Eyes, Scientists Say

Jul 1, 2015 by News Staff

According to a research team headed by Prof Brian Leander of the University of British Columbia’s Departments of Botany and Zoology, single-celled organisms...

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