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The Chinese skullcap (Scutellaria baicalensis). Image credit: Dalgial / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Study Reveals How Chinese Skullcap Makes Anti-Cancer Compounds

Apr 11, 2016 by News Staff

A new study, published in the journal Science Advances, has revealed how the popular Chinese herbal remedy Huang-Qin (Scutellaria baicalensis) —...

Spider Mecysmauchenius sp. uses power-amplified high-speed predatory strikes. Image credit: H. Wood.

Mecysmaucheniid Spiders Strike Prey with Lightning Speed, Scientists Find

Apr 8, 2016 by News Staff

Mecysmaucheniid spiders — which occur only in New Zealand and southern South America — have a remarkable ability to strike their prey at very...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Image credit: Janice Haney Carr / Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers Find New Way to Inhibit Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Apr 7, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Scientists from the United States and Australia claim they have found a new way to inhibit the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a bacterium that is...

Fungi use reverse photosynthesis to access sugars and nutrients in plants. This image shows the rust fungus Aecidium magellanicum growing on the bush Berberis microphylla. Image credit: Jason Hollinger / CC BY-SA 3.0.

‘Reverse Photosynthesis’ Process Discovered

Apr 5, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden has discovered a natural process it describes...

A representation of the surface of Zika virus with protruding envelope glycoproteins (red) shown. Image credit: Devika Sirohi et al / Purdue University.

New Study Reveals Structure of Zika Virus

Apr 1, 2016 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by Purdue University scientists Michael Rossmann and Richard Kuhn is the first to determine the structure of the Zika virus,...

Brown skuas (Stercorarius antarcticus). Image credit: B. Navez / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Brown Skuas Can Recognize Individual Humans, New Study Shows

Mar 28, 2016 by Natali Anderson

Ornithologists from South Korea and Poland have shown for the first time that Antarctic brown skuas (Stercorarius antarcticus), a species that typically...

The waterfall climbing cave fish (Cryptotora thamicola): dorsal view, resting on the bottom of glass tank. Image credit: Daphne Soares.

Cryptotora thamicola: Cavefish Walks Like Four-Legged Creature

Mar 25, 2016 by Natali Anderson

An international team of scientists, led by Dr. Brooke Flammang from New Jersey Institute of Technology, has identified unique anatomical features in a...

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

Researchers Create 3D Atlas of Dodo’s Skeletal Anatomy

Mar 25, 2016 by News Staff

A multinational team of scientists has created the first 3D atlas of the skeletal anatomy of the dodo (Raphus cucullatus), based upon two exceptional skeletons. The...

Myloplus zorroi: female (upper image) and male. Image credit: Douglas Bastos / Andrade M.C. et al.

Myloplus zorroi: New Species of Pacu Discovered in Rio Madeira Basin

Mar 23, 2016 by Natali Anderson

Scientists led by Dr. Marcelo Andrade of the Universidade Federal do Para report that they have discovered a new species of omnivorous freshwater fish...

This electron micrograph shows particles of the Phoenix provirus resurrected from human DNA in 2006. Scale bar - 200 nm (Marie Dewannieux et al).

Nineteen New Pieces of Ancient Retroviral DNA Found in Human Genome

Mar 23, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Nineteen previously unidentified pieces of non-human DNA — left by retroviruses that first infected human ancestors hundreds of thousands of years...

The Barbados bullfinch (Loxigilla barbadensis). Image credit: Postdlf / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Urban Birds are Smarter than Their Rural Counterparts, Say Ornithologists

Mar 22, 2016 by News Staff

Birds living in urban environments are smarter than their country counterparts, says a group of ornithologists at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. The...

Scientists Find ‘Fairy Circles’ in Australia

Mar 16, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of scientists, led by Dr. Stephan Getzin of the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Germany, has announced the exciting...

New Species of Shieldtail Snake Discovered in India

Mar 12, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of snake, named the Khaire’s black shieldtail (Melanophidium khairei), has been discovered in India. The Khaire’s black shieldtail (Melanophidium...

Ideonella sakaiensis. Image credit: Shosuke Yoshida et al.

Ideonella sakaiensis: Newly-Discovered Bacterium Can Break Down, Metabolize Plastic

Mar 11, 2016 by Sergio Prostak

According to a group of biologists in Japan, the newfound species — named Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6 — breaks down the plastic by using two...

Retrovirus particles budding from rhesus macaque placenta cells. Image credit: Dorothy Feldman, via aacrjournals.org.

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

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...

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...

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...