Biology
How enzyme activity can accelerate molecular movement inside cells
A cell sitting in fluid looks like one of the most passive things in biology. Nutrients drift toward it on the aimless currents of molecular motion, and now and then one bumps int…
Tracking down cellular gene functions with AI and microscopy
A new technology promises to enable more comprehensive investigations into how individual genes determine the appearance and behavior of cells. Researchers led by professor Veit H…
3D-printed inserts bring single-objective light sheet microscopy to commercial sample chambers
Light sheet microscopy allows biologists to selectively light up a thin slice of a sample. This method can improve image contrast by reducing background light while remaining gent…
Hearing tests reveal how sea lions and fur seals hear human-made noise
Curtin University and Taronga Conservation Society Australia researchers have conducted the first hearing tests on Australian sea lions and long-nosed fur seals, revealing what so…
Why 'vertical farming' is not a fix for our food system
The Canadian government launched its first National Food Security Strategy in June 2026. The strategy aims to invest $750 million to increase year-round Canadian production of fru…
Are insects really 'poor people's food'?
Do people eat insects when there is nothing else to eat? Are insects really "food for the poor" or famine food?
Fading control over 'jumping genes' may explain why big dogs age faster
Across mammals, larger species typically have longer lifespans, ranging from only a couple of years for mice to almost 200 years for some whales.
Astronomers detect mysterious burst of energy from a galaxy far, far away
Intense flash of radio waves is more than 10bn years old and has travelled through ‘approximately 80% of cosmic history’A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a mysterious fla…
Mapping how a single cell becomes an entire mouse
Growing inside each of us is a cellular family tree. Every one of the 37 trillion cells in our body is generated from another cell, going all the way back to a single fertilized e…
'Move away' and 'stop that!' Wild elephants use a rich gestural repertoire intentionally to 'mean business'
Wild African savanna elephants use a wide range of gestures when competing with other elephants, according to research from an international group of scientists, including researc…
All-electrical imaging offers innovative alternative for tracking cell movement
Engineers from Brown University have developed a new way of imaging cell migration dynamics that are important in understanding critical processes like cancer metastasis, wound he…
One ancient swimming mammal fossil and two evolutionary surprises, including a third set of teeth
What may have looked like a cross between a platypus and a beaverlike rodent and lived around 120 million years ago? Dongoconodon platycauda, a newly discovered fossil mammal from…
Puerto Rico specimen reveals new giant isopod species that went unrecognized for decades
A giant isopod from Puerto Rico, rediscovered in the depository of the University of Tübingen's Paleontological Collection, has turned out to be a previously unknown species.
Four astronauts return to Earth from ISS after medical relief mission
Crew hurried to International Space Station eight months ago after astronaut fell ill in spaceFour astronauts returned to Earth from the International Space Station on Thursday af…
700,000-year-old elephant tooth reveals a lost ecosystem shared by early humans in the Levant
A remarkably preserved elephant tooth previously recovered from Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (GBY-NBA)—a prehistoric site in northern Israel where early humans made stone tools some 700,0…
World must seize shrinking window to save nature as wildlife decline continues, warns major report
The world must seize a shrinking window to reverse the steep decline of wildlife and nature by triggering positive tipping points in food and finance, following the path of the on…
Changes in DNA packaging help immune cells swell and burst
Immune cells are the elite athletes of the human body. While other cells stay in place, immune cells travel throughout our bodies, squeezing through small channels, stretching the…
Sperm whale study highlights need for 'extensive and dynamic' conservation
A new study of sperm whales highlights the need for ocean conservation that covers large areas—with boundaries redrawn as our climate changes. The research team, led by the Univer…
Rise of collagen-eating microbes may help explain gaps in the fossil record
Researchers may have uncovered the reason why some of Earth's earliest animals were commonly preserved as fossils—even though they were essentially fragile "bags of goo"—while lat…
Harmless amoeba's tight-space crawling offers clues to how its deadly relative invades the brain
Tiny, shapeless invaders can find their way from ponds to the human brain and cause an infection so severe that it has a 95% fatality rate. The amoeba Naegleria fowleri naturally …
Mixing plant material with manure may be key to profitable biogas production
The U.S. dairy industry is a major contributor to agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, with manure storage and handling representing a significant source of methane. Anaerobic d…
Colombia's new bee checklist documents 738 species, including 246 newly recorded
A team led by a Penn State professor and doctoral student has compiled a checklist documenting the bee species in Colombia—the first of its kind for any country in the Western Hem…
Olowalu reef off Maui provides glimpse into two centuries of environmental changes
New research led by the University of Hawai'i Sea Grant College Program (Hawai'i Sea Grant), the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) and the U.S. Geo…
DNA testing of fecal samples reveals greater gliders eat wider variety of plants than previously thought
Identifying the favorite snacks of one of Australia's cutest animals no longer needs to rely on guesswork or picking apart their poop, according to University of the Sunshine Coas…