Biology
Firelight may have sparked human storytelling by extending social hours
New research from the University of St Andrews has developed a novel hypothesis of how firelight was critical to the evolution of sophisticated storytelling.
Muddying the waters makes stickleback fish more coordinated, study finds
Stickleback fish can change their social behavior to help them find food in cloudy water, according to a new University of Bristol study published in Proceedings of the Royal Soci…
Survey reveals marine biodiversity hotspot needs protection
An environmental DNA study by a multi-institutional research collaboration has revealed distinct regions of extraordinary marine biodiversity that can help inform management of a …
AI-informed AdaptiveFlow redefines large-scale cloud computing for drug discovery
Researchers today announced AdaptiveFlow, an AI-informed platform that can virtually screen billions of drug-like molecules with a 1,000-fold reduction in computational costs over…
Warmer waters, pest species and habitat loss major threats to small, rare freshwater fish
One of Australia's most comprehensive assessments of endemic, rare or threatened freshwater fish has found numerous species are at severe risk of extinction because of multiple th…
In tune with nature: Human speech follows a rhythm that is also found in the animal kingdom
The temporal structure of speech rhythms resembles that of the communication signals of numerous animal species. This is shown by a study conducted by a research team from the Lei…
Hidden protein recycling hubs discovered inside human sperm cells
Researchers at VIB, VUB and the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (UK) have discovered a hidden feature of human sperm cells. Using advanced imaging technol…
Diatom sequencing project finds striking genetic differences among microscopic algae
An international team of more than 100 scientists has taken a major step toward unlocking the secrets of some of Earth's tiniest but most important organisms.
New AI approaches to help understand complex biological data
Researchers at Cardiff University have presented two studies at the 2026 International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 2026) that address fundamental challenges in modern AI:…
New AI model maps the ion binding sites that control how proteins work
Researchers at Constructor University and Constructor Labs have developed BiteNetI, a deep-learning model that locates the binding sites of 14 biologically important ion types dir…
Forest floor to treetops, cameras reveal Congo Basin's hidden wildlife
The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) tropical forests stretch across an extraordinary landscape of rivers, wetlands, savannas and towering trees. But in a forest this vast, bi…
Anti-influenza therapies that target the host
A drug that targets the host rather than the virus could get around the problem of antiviral resistance. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people die of seasonal influenza caus…
Marmite lures discovery from lake depths
Dr. Roe Stuart didn't find a taniwha in the unexplored depths of New Zealand's lakes—but they may have found a new species of fish.
Screening tool amplifies tiny changes in protein levels within cells
Imagine a brain teaser where the challenge is to spot the difference between two nearly identical sandcastles. The only difference? The removal of three grains of sand. Scientists…
Ecological collapse in the world's largest mangrove forest is a preview of what's to come
The first thing that struck us wasn't the missing trees, but the missing water. In May 2026, we visited the Sundarbans, a mangrove forest in the delta where the Ganges, Brahmaputr…
Could humans ever communicate with whales? - video
Ever since the earliest known recording of whale song was made in 1949, researchers have been captivated by the wails, rumbles, clicks, grunts and squeals of their communication. …
Growing bacteria line up single-file, then buckle in liquid crystals
When scientists study bacteria that are not in a Petri dish or a test tube but in environments that more closely mimic their actual microbial habitats, they often find delightfull…
Drone laser scans map more than 1,000 trees across 90-acre campus
It took one drone, 300 million laser data points and seven teams of students on foot to map Wake Forest University's trees. Led by Ovidiu Csillik, an assistant professor of remote…
Bees see the world in more ways than previously thought
The honey bee has held a special place in vision research. It is one of the best-studied insects, and much of what scientists know about how bees perceive the world is based on st…
In Japan's mountains, a different way to manage bears
As a sensor sounded, scientist Akiko Takii hurried to a bear trap deep in the forests of Nagano, Japan, where rising nationwide attacks have sparked fear and the culling of thousa…
Researchers catch sharks off NY's Hamptons, attach trackers to toothy predators
Just off one of New York's famed Hamptons beaches, shark researcher Greg Metzger reels in one of the day's prize catches: a young but powerful sand tiger shark.
Clicks, grunts and squeals: the wonders of whale communication – podcast
Ever since the earliest known recording of whale song was made in 1949, researchers have been captivated by the wails, rumbles, clicks, grunts and squeals of their communication. …
Higher cutting could reduce annual bluegrass contamination in tall fescue seed
Harvesting tall fescue above annual bluegrass seed heads could help reduce contamination and seed-cleaning costs. Preliminary Oregon research found that cutting at 28 centimeters …
New policy brief outlines how EU policies can better support sponge restoration
Europe's water and climate resilience is under increasing pressure, with degraded soils, drained catchments and the loss of wetlands intensifying droughts and contributing to more…