Biology
Starwatch: Waning crescent moon gets close to brilliant beacon of Jupiter
The moon will pass less than a degree north of the giant planet and will be on its other side the next morningThose already out and about at 5am this week will be rewarded with a …
The great silence: why haven’t we found any aliens yet? – podcast
Given the size and age of the universe, it should be full of species with technology far more advanced than our own. So where are they?By Adam Kirsch. Read by James Sobol KellyRea…
Advanced optical imaging reveals hidden activity in blood immune cells
A routine blood sample contains a diverse collection of immune cells that can reveal important clues about health and disease. These cells, known as peripheral blood mononuclear c…
How bird movements are helping researchers track a global virus
While the highly virulent avian influenza strain has only recently been discovered on Australian shores, researchers at Deakin University have been working behind the scenes for y…
The extinct American 'cheetah' was not a cheetah after all
With their slender bodies and long front legs, Miracinonyx trumani—often nicknamed the "American cheetah"—was long thought to be a North American analog of the African big cat. Bu…
German startup sends first commercial rocket into space from Europe
Isar Aerospace plans rapid expansion amid race to capitalise on expanding satellite-launch marketA German startup has launched the first commercial rocket to reach orbit from cont…
Introducing Black Box: The Chatbots – podcast
From the Guardian Investigates team: Across the world, hundreds of people have come to believe they have made extraordinary scientific discoveries with AI chatbots such as ChatGPT…
Breaking through AlphaFold's limits to predict how proteins change shape
Conformational changes in proteins are vital to their function yet remain challenging for state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, such as AlphaFold3, to predict. Researchers at …
How much clearcutting can nature sustain? A study determines the ecological limit for boreal forest birds
A study led by the University of Jyväskylä in Finland evaluated, for the first time, an ecological threshold for the amount of clearcutting in boreal forests. According to the res…
Views from a physician and veterinarian: How to improve barriers to pet care when owners are hospitalized
The human-animal bond is often so strong that pet owners may delay or forgo medical treatment or leave a health care facility against medical advice if they have no one to care fo…
US study tests psilocybin to fight cancer side effects
Here's a novel idea for countering the painful side effects of chemotherapy: Beforehand, take the hallucinogenic drug found in magic mushrooms.
Tree species diversity protects forests from climate extremes, study finds
New research has found that tree species diversity can play a crucial role in protecting forests from the growing threat of extreme climate events. The study analyzed data from 88…
Scientists discover how narwhals grow nature's only straight tusk
Narwhals have nature's only straight tusk, a single tooth up to three meters (10 feet) long, so strange they were sold as magical unicorn horns during the Middle Ages.
In ant nervous systems, gene expression may drive rescue behavior
Why do some ants help nestmates in distress while others don't? A research team from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and Tel Aviv University addressed this question in a…
Periodical cicadas may be doomed to extinction
Every 13 or 17 years, swarms of cicadas emerge from the ground, their black bodies, orange-tinged wings and ruby-red eyes enveloping trees and forests. It is a biological marvel u…
Food and water stations for wild birds are contributing to spread of deadly diseases, study finds
Feeding stations providing food and water for wild birds are contributing to the spread of disease-causing parasites among farmland birds, researchers have said, with birds three …
Virus-like particles enable gene activity tracking over time in the same cells
In recent years, scientists have developed methods to measure a cell's transcriptome, or all the RNA produced by a cell, to study the cell's identity and genetic activity. However…
Underlying mechanism of Atg2-mediated lipid transfer in autophagy identified
Autophagy is an intracellular degradation mechanism in eukaryotes. The autophagosome, which encloses damaged or excess cellular material for degradation, is constructed from lipid…
From pets to zoos: How students perceive animal husbandry
Animals fulfill a wide range of roles in human society. They provide food, contribute to scientific research, live alongside people as companion animals, and play important roles …
Archaea as 'flexitarians': Ammonia-oxidizing microbes also feed on amino acids
Symbiotic ammonia-oxidizing archaea in marine sponges are not strict specialists but true "flexitarians." A team led by microbiologists Bettina Glasl and Katharina Kitzinger from …
Alcohol-related cancer deaths in US have more than doubled over three decades
Study finds just one drink per day could raise risk of disease with impacts extending far beyond liver cancerAlcohol-related cancer deaths in the US have more than doubled over th…
Bats show promise as a form of biological pest control in South African macadamia plantations
Labor-intensive harvesting and complex processing make macadamias among the most expensive nuts in the world. This makes it all the more important to protect the trees from pests.
Capturing localized protein and metabolic information from a single tissue section
Revealing how proteins and end products of biological activity (metabolites) change within specific tissue functional units during development or in response to environmental fact…
Since the 1980s, climate change has increasingly altered European bumblebee habitats
Global biodiversity loss is occurring at a rapid pace, driven by multiple human-caused factors, including overexploitation, pollution, invasive species and climate change. Despite…