Biology
A 100-year-old mystery in the cat kidney may be linked to scent communication
Many animals obtain information about others from scent marks left in the environment, including urine. Because these marks remain after the sender has left, they allow animals to…
Is the laundry still damp, or just cold? Why your skin can't tell the difference
It's a cold winter afternoon, and you've just brought the laundry in. Suddenly, you pause. Are these clothes a bit damp?
Concerns about the New World screwworm have put Texas pet adoptions on hold
Adoptions are on hold for thousands of dogs and cats in Texas, potentially putting the animals at risk of being euthanized, because of efforts to stop the spread of the New World …
Why many birds add fresh plants to their nests remains unclear despite signs of healthier offspring
As they build their nests, many birds are known to interweave dried grasses and other materials with green plants, such as fresh leaves, grass stems, herbs and aromatic leaves. Wh…
New design method stabilizes human growth factor for potential therapeutic use
A new study published in the Biophysical Journal reports on the development of a stable, biologically active version of the human fibroblast growth factor. Human fibroblast growth…
Sea cucumber breeding clues could help rebuild populations depleted by overfishing
The reproductive life of sea cucumbers has come under the microscope as University of the Sunshine Coast researchers battle overfishing of the marine creatures. Sea cucumbers—whic…
Coral experts unite in historic effort to restore Florida's coral reef
Throughout the first week of August, 12 organizations came together in an unprecedented collaborative effort to protect the future of Florida's Coral Reef during one of nature's m…
Medical researcher who touted Covid ‘cure’ and was hailed by Dr Oz under fire over ethics
New findings further call into question scientific judgment of current health leaders in the Trump administrationA French researcher whose work was praised by Donald Trump and Dr …
Cape Town's caracals expose a hidden rat poison problem for the city's wildlife
Rat poisons used in homes, businesses and on farms are moving into South Africa's wildlife, according to new research from the Urban Caracal Project, a key research and education …
Italian scientists bet on octopus to fight crab invasion
From a fishing trawler in the Adriatic, Italian scientists gently release thousands of tiny octopuses in the hope of fighting an invasive crab species that has devastated local fi…
SpaceX Starship the talk of remote Australian island as Elon Musk’s engineers sent to retrieve it
Christmas Island locals who woke to see the spacecraft floating off the coast hope global attention will encourage touristsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGe…
Plantwatch: Cities make a surprising refuge for threatened UK wildflowers
Nooks and crannies in urban areas provide a welcome alternative to intensive farming and other rural pressuresWildflowers are having a rough time in the countryside, mostly from t…
The moment SpaceX Starship spotted off Christmas Island landed in Indian Ocean – video
Footage streamed by SpaceX shows the moment Elon Musk’s 52-metre Starship Flight 13 landed in the Indian Ocean west of Australia. The rocket landed in the ocean on 24 July. Nearly…
Biological sex is neither binary nor a spectrum—a biologist explains how it's multidimensional
Many people recognize that gender—how a person identifies, presents themselves and is perceived—has nuances. Some people identify and present as women, others as men, and still ot…
Some bacteria build internal 'power cables' to extend respiration beyond the cell membrane
All living cells need energy, and most generate it through respiration, a series of chemical reactions normally confined to the cell membrane. Because this machinery takes up spac…
New set of international rules needed to protect health of fishing stocks, study shows
The global community should work to establish an array of new international legal rules to protect the health of fish stocks, new research says. Rather than one set of laws coveri…
Largest catalog yet of how human cells read DNA shows how chemical marks alter genetic instructions
Every cell in the body contains essentially the same DNA, yet a brain cell behaves differently from a muscle cell or an immune cell. The difference lies largely in how each cell r…
Shrews may grow bigger snouts in winter to cope with cold air, scientists say
Study of long-clawed shrew skulls from Japan shows that while skulls get smaller in winter, snouts elongateHumans turn to heated blankets and fluffy socks to cope with winter, but…
Rethinking how we name and classify our human ancestors following recent evolutionary discoveries
Recent advances in our understanding of human evolution challenge the way we currently name and classify our ancestors, according to new research from Monash University. The study…
Harvard to pay $53m over theft and sale of human remains from medical school
Cedric Lodge, 58, sentenced in December to eight years in prison for stealing and selling body parts in national schemeHarvard University has agreed to pay a $53m settlement to re…
Existing drug could treat invasive canine oral tumors
A benign but invasive canine oral cancer is often mistaken for a similar malignant one, leading to misdiagnoses in close to a third of cases. But a new diagnostic tool can now dis…
How can AI help identify pain when animals can't tell us they're suffering?
A new AI framework, known as SHIC-XE, has been developed to detect signs of pain in horses from video analysis while providing stable, anatomically consistent explanations for its…
Hidden losses of amphibians and dragonflies in Berlin's municipal water supply
A new study led by researchers at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin shows that Berlin's dragonfly populations have declined by more than half since 1963, while populations of frogs…
Secrets of a mystery mammal from Patagonia revealed at last
Eight years of painstaking research on the virtually unknown Wolffsohn's viscacha have helped to shine the spotlight on this super-rare South American rodent and catalyze the cons…