Biology news — genetics, evolution, ecology, and the science of life on Earth.
On the brink of extinction, the vaquita gets a digital lifeline
Scientists have created detailed 3D digital models of vaquita skeletons using advanced imaging technology, establishing a virtual archive of the world…
Oldest known plague outbreak killed hunter-gatherer children
Researchers analyzing ancient DNA have identified the oldest known plague outbreak, revealing that hunter-gatherer communities in Siberia suffered a d…
New study maps the peanut genome in its entirety
Researchers have completed the first comprehensive genome map of the peanut, an achievement that opens new pathways for breeding higher-yielding and d…
Green view index scores predict urban microbial diversity
A team of researchers from the University of Helsinki, the Natural Resources Institute Finland, Tamkang University, and National Taiwan University has…
Like humans, great apes think differently from each other
Researchers have discovered that great apes exhibit individual differences in cognitive abilities, much like humans do. This finding challenges the tr…
Scientists discover spider that disguises itself as a parasitic fungus
Researchers have identified a new Amazonian spider species, Taczanowskia waska, that employs an extraordinary defense strategy by mimicking the appear…
Bringing ancient light-sensing proteins back to life
Researchers have resurrected ancient light-sensing proteins by reconstructing their ancestral forms, offering insights into how these critical molecul…
'They reliably chose the statistically more favorable option': A crow researcher explains how these winged geniuses process numbers, and what it could reveal about human math smarts
Andreas Nieder, a leading animal cognition researcher, has documented how crows perform statistical reasoning with remarkable accuracy, consistently s…
Even morphologically similar pollinators carry distinct pollen assemblages
Researchers challenging a foundational assumption in pollination ecology have found that flower-visiting insects with similar body shapes and sizes ca…
New study explores potential cross-species spread of chronic wasting disease
Researchers have discovered that chronic wasting disease, a fatal neurodegenerative condition affecting deer and elk, can circulate in animals without…
Walking shark found in Papua New Guinea is new to science
Scientists have identified a tenth species of walking shark off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The newly discovered Hemiscyllium dudgeonae, named afte…
Your body's secret sugar code could predict disease years before it strikes
Researchers at Edith Cowan University have identified glycans, complex sugar molecules coating cells and proteins, as early disease markers that could…
Chinese money plant leaves hide a mathematical pattern
Chinese money plants display leaves governed by mathematical precision. Researchers discovered that the plant's major veins organize into a pattern ma…
Ancient Denisovan DNA still shapes human immunity today
Scientists analyzing Pacific populations have found that ancient Denisovans left a lasting genetic imprint on human immunity. The research reveals tha…
Scientists turned red lettuce green and something surprising happened
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, used CRISPR genome editing to suppress the genes responsible for producing anthocyanins, the red p…
Critical cellular system discovery may lead to treatment of some cancers
Cells possess a backup mechanism for producing cysteine, an amino acid essential for protein synthesis and cellular function. Scientists at Montana St…
Honey bees have their own personal flight paths and fly them with stunning precision
Honey bees navigate their environment with remarkable consistency, following individual flight paths so precise they repeat routes within centimeters,…
Millions of fossil whale bones found in deep-ocean ‘necropolis’
Researchers piloting a crewed submersible to a depth of 7 kilometres discovered millions of whale bones accumulated on the ocean floor, creating what …
Devoted dads and citizen science: The evolution of parental care in harvestmen spiders is uncovered
Researchers leveraged iNaturalist, a crowdsourced observation platform, to trace how parental care evolved in harvestmen spiders, according to a study…
In a first, scientists translated an entire viral genome so a quantum computer could read and analyze it
Researchers have successfully encoded an entire viral genome into a quantum computer for the first time, demonstrating a novel approach to harnessing …
Scientists found a surprising problem with sugar-free diets
Researchers discovered that completely eliminating sugar from low-fat diets produces unexpected metabolic harm in mice. The team found that animals co…
Researchers publish first complete connectome of fruit fly brain and 'spinal cord'
Neuroscientists have mapped every neural connection in the central nervous system of an adult fruit fly, marking the first complete connectome of an o…
3 new Ebola vaccines are being fast-tracked amid the current outbreak — when could they be ready?
Three experimental Ebola vaccines targeting the Bundibugyo strain are advancing rapidly through clinical trials as health authorities respond to an ac…