Biology

Feb 5th, 2023 - Researchers are trying to figure out a mystery: Why are so many humpback whales, right whales, and other large mammals dying along the U.S. East Coast? One possible explanation is a shift in food habits. And while theories are circulating that blame the growing offshore wind industry, scientists say there's no proof to support that idea. Since Dec. 1, at least 18 reports have come in about large whales being washed ashore along the Atlantic Coast, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding ... [Read More]

Feb 5th, 2023 - Little blobs of human brain tissue transplanted into rats have just passed a major milestone in the pathway towards a new way to heal serious brain injuries. The grafted human mini-brains didn't just integrate with the surrounding rat brain tissue – the neurons in the organoids started to respond to visual stimuli: black-and-white images and lights shone into the rats' eyes. And this happened within a three-month time period. "We were not expecting to see this degree of functional ... [Read More]

Feb 5th, 2023 - By Navin Singh Khadka We are losing wetlands three times faster than forests, according to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. When it comes to restoring them to their natural state there is one hero with remarkable powers - the beaver. Wetlands store water, act as a carbon sink, and are a source of food. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands says they do more for humanity than all other terrestrial ecosystems - and yet they are disappearing at an alarming rate. The main problems are agricultural ... [Read More]

Feb 4th, 2023 - A team of researchers led by the University of Cincinnati (UC) has recently discovered a new species of frog in Tanzania's Ukaguru Mountains. The Ukaguru spiny-throated reed frog ( Hyperolius ukaguruensis ) has a distinct feature: it is among the few species of frogs in the world that do not vocalize at all. Belonging to a group of "spiny throated" reed frogs, it is characterized by the presence of tiny spines on the male's throat, which the frogs use to recognize other members of their ... [Read More]

Feb 4th, 2023 - A pterodactyl with some especially weird teeth was recently discovered in Southern Germany, shedding new light on the behaviors and diet of these ancient flying reptiles. With nearly 500 hooked teeth, new research published in the German journal Paläontologische Zeitschrift describes , a pterosaur (Greek for "winged lizard"), as stalking through prehistoric swamps and using freaky denticles to filter-feed on shrimp, small crustaceans and other tasty snacks. Some 152 million years ago, ... [Read More]

Feb 4th, 2023 - Living in an arid region is a precarious business. Harsh conditions make growing tough for plants, meaning every shoot and leaf is all the more precious, even when they're dead and decaying. A new study conducted at Boolcoomatta Station Reserve in outback South Australia has demonstrated the importance of vegetative leftovers in fueling a desert ecosystem – and revealing an unintuitive alliance between termites and dingoes. "A lot of research in arid ecosystems has focused on the green ... [Read More]

Feb 3rd, 2023 - When actor Leonardo DiCaprio attends an awards ceremony, his mother is often on his arm. Now she's somewhere else: in the annals of biological literature. The actor recently named a newly discovered species of snail-eating snake after his mother, Irmelin , in a bid to raise awareness about the threats that mining presents to biodiversity in Central and South America. Sibon irmelindicaprioae — DiCaprio's Snail-eating Snake — is a docile reptile that dwells in eastern Panama and ... [Read More]

Feb 3rd, 2023 - Mammals exhibit a wide variety of social structures, including solitary, pair-bonded and group-living species. They also show an extreme 100-fold range in longevity, from around two years in shrews and mice, to 200 years in bowhead whales . This led Professor ZHOU Xuming from the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) to wonder whether these two variables were linked.  Along with other researchers from the Institute of Zoology at the CAS, Professor ZHOU undertook an ... [Read More]

Feb 3rd, 2023 - By Louise Cullen BBC NI Agriculture & Environment Correspondent One of Northern Ireland's butterflies appears to be on the edge of extinction, while others are struggling, according to a report. But a species only found in Northern Ireland, the Cryptic Wood White, is doing better. Scientists have warned that time is running out to halt the decline of butterflies across the UK. A charity involved in the report, Butterfly Conservation has called for targeted action and more resources. Butterflies ... [Read More]

Feb 3rd, 2023 - New insights will help protect the kākāpō parrot The kākāpō parrot ( Strigops habroptilus ) is the only flightless parrot in the world and possibly one of the world's longest-living birds, with a reported lifespan of up to a century. It is a nocturnal, herbivorous, sexually dimorphic bird, with a low basal metabolic rate and no male parental care. Currently, this species is critically endangered, consisting of a total known population of only 249 individuals which ... [Read More]

Feb 3rd, 2023 - Hidden within North America is a long-forgotten continent once ruled by a bizarre cast of dinosaurs – but only a handful of fossils have ever been found. I It was a typically warm, humid day in the Late Cretaceous. A strange, pallid mass was floating in the cobalt-blue waters of a shallow sea, above what is now New Jersey. It was a dead dinosaur, the bloated carcass of a monstrous, 6.4m (21ft)-long distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex . With an athletic frame and jaws full of ... [Read More]

Feb 3rd, 2023 - The coquí frog, Eleutherodactylus coqui In the cloud forests of South America, amid the constant cacophony of bird and insect noise, a deafening blare pierces through the background from time to time. Belonging to the loudest known bird, the white bellbird, Procnias albus , this sound would be painful to humans listening nearby and capable of causing immediate hearing damage from about a yard away . Listen to the world's loudest bird call. Made exclusively by males serenading females , ... [Read More]

Feb 2nd, 2023 - Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. CNN — A scan of the skull of a 319-million-year-old fossilized fish has led to the discovery of the oldest example of a well-preserved vertebrate brain, shining a new light on the early evolution of bony fish. The fossil of the skull belonging to the extinct Coccocephalus wildi was found in a coal mine in England more than a century ago, ... [Read More]

Feb 2nd, 2023 - plunges into the ocean for her latest natural-world tale, and io9 has a sneak peek. Author Laline Paull scored a hit with her 2015 debut The Bees , dubbed " The Handmaid's Tale meets The Hunger Games , " but with bees as its characters. Her latest, Pod , dives into a different aspect of the natural world—the ocean—by introducing an adventurous dolphin who follows an unconventional path. io9 has an excerpt to share today from this intriguing new novel. Here's a description of Pod 's ... [Read More]

Feb 2nd, 2023 - A team of researchers led by Montana State University has recently conducted a comprehensive molecular analysis of large flightless birds such as ostriches and emus to clarify how these birds have evolved. The study shows that structural molecular analysis may complement other tools, such as genetic analysis, in accurately tracing the evolutionary history of various types of animals. The findings could also shed new light on the evolution of egg-laying dinosaurs . In recent years, genetic ... [Read More]

Feb 2nd, 2023 - Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser of the Monrepos Archaeological Research Center and Museum in Germany standing beside a life-size reconstruction of an adult male straight-tusked elephant. In his 1931 book, "How to Tell Your Friends From the Apes," the American satirist Will Cuppy noted that Neanderthals had fires, caves, marrow bones, mosquitoes, love and arthritis. "What more can you ask?" he mused. If you answered "bush meat block parties," you might be on to something. That is essentially the ... [Read More]