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A team of NASA researchers has developed the first ever method for identifying and studying underground forest fungi from outer space, providing information that will help us better understand how forests will develop. Mycorrhizal fungi (underground fungus) are more similar to a city network than to individual organisms. They are complex intertwined networks that can […]
People frequently overindulge, sometimes to the point of developing sugar addictions. There has been a lot of interest in the pharmaceutical industry in finding treatments that can combat this effect, with little results up to now. But, a world-first study led by QUT might change that.
Though minute, these are far from insignificant as their pray have learned the hard way. In fact, it's their small body that allowed them to become the fastest snapping spiders in the world!
The first case of white nose syndrome, a disease that has wreaked havoc on bat populations in the eastern U.S. has been identified west of the Rockies. The disease's spread threatens to drastically impact bat populations there, altering ecosystems throughout the country.
British paleontologists have identified a tiny, ancient animal that carried around its young tethered in capsules around its body, like kites.
Biological engineers have created a programming language that allows them to rapidly and efficiently program and design DNA-encoded circuits, giving new functions to living cells. There are already a myriad of programming languages. Fortran and C++ allow for rapid computations, PHP is a scripting language for web development, Ruby is a popular object-oriented language – […]
NOAA has released a photograph of this year's golden retriever migration. The animals are returning to shore after their mating run, where a new generation of puppies will be born.
Takeout, instant noodles and cheap beer -- the only known organisms able to survive solely on these three items are university students. A new study examined undergraduates' dietary habits to see what powers their resilience to low-quality food, and if this trait can be grafted into human beings.
Scientists have identified a 1.5 cm creature that predates the dinosaurs by 100 million years. While not exactly a spider, the tiny beast is the closest relative to spiders, but its lineage is extinct. Spiders are basically ubiquitous. They can be found on every continent except for Antarctica and in every environment ever – except […]
Wood, one of the cheapest and most widely used construction materials humanity has ever employed, has just had its range of uses expanded; Researchers at Stockholm's KTH Royal Institute of Technology have developed a method of turning wood transparent that's suitable for mass production.
Ammonite fossils are among the most common in the world, with their characteristic shape and chambered shell. But did you ever wonder what the deal is with those chambers? Ammonites are a group of cephalopod animals that lived as swimmers in the shallow parts of the ancient oceans. They were extremely successful, emerging in the early […]
We don't think about it that much, but the butthole is one of the biggest innovations in 500 million years of evolution.
Found in only eight caves on the border of Thailand and Myanmar, this eyeless fish can walk.
When researchers started raising 48 bacteria species aboard the International Space Station, they weren’t really sure what to expect. They wanted to see how the microorganisms would adapt to living in microgravity, but one species hasn’t only adapted – it’s doing better than on Earth. According to a recent study, Bacillus safensis JPL-MERTA-8-2 – a strain […]
As anyone who's moved from the countryside to the city can testify, the transition isn't easy.
If you've ever seen one up close you probably know that corals are insanely beautiful, but not exactly action packed -- these animals live at their own pace, one so slow that to a human being they might seem frozen in time. But what would coral look like if it lived in 'normal' speed?
Faced with the underwhelming speed at which the scientific community studies and describes fungi, a group of researches put together a list of the 50 "Most Wanted Fungi" -- and re-vamped the UNITE database to put the spotlight on the least-known strains.
We judge our planet's biological past by using geological evidence - fossils. Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past.
What does a weird tendon on your inner wrist have to do with evolution? This video explains.
A study into a strain of red bread mold could revolutionize our rechargeable battery technology. The paper's findings could be the first step towards producing sustainable electrochemical materials.
It takes some hardcore survival skills to make it to the frozen wastelands of Alaska - and this butterfly has what it takes.
A virus similar to SARS has been identified in Chinese horseshoe bats that may be able to infect humans without prior adaptation. Overcoming this genetic barrier could be the first step for an outbreak, according to a study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Morgan Beeby and his colleagues at the Imperial College London used electron microscopy to image these biological motors in high resolution and three dimensions for the first time.
Spiders' diets aren't limited to juicy insect bits. They spice up their menus with vegetarian courses too, zoologists from the US and UK have found.
Researchers have manipulated the genome of chicken embryos so that they develop dinosaur-like bones in their lower legs.
A new study measuring the forces that shape bacterial genomes determined that a difference in efficiency of hundredth of a percent is sufficient to determine the winners and losers in the evolutionary race.
Japanese researchers found a novel way to grow corneas in a dish starting from skin cells. The corneas were implanted in the eyes of blind rabbits, which could then see.
In just 7 years, a disease called white-nose syndrome has killed more than 5 million North American bats, almost wiping out entire colonies across 25 states. In Asia however, bats that are exposed to the same disease-carrying fungus are infected in far lesser numbers.
The Dallas Zoo has taken an active role in the protection of Texas Horned Lizards, also known as horny toads. Now, they’ve released adorable pictures of the new hatchlings, which will help ensure the survival of this iconic species. Affectionately called “horny toads”, they are in fact lizards, not moist-skinned toads or frogs. The Texas Horned Lizard, […]
A new study found that whole populations of bacteria retain their tolerance to stressors for a much longer duration than individual cells.
An international team has discovered that by inhibiting Gq protein production in adipose tissue, cells can be re-purposed from storing fat to burning it.
It's common for species to be named after a person, most often the scientist who first discovered them. Recently, many biologists have resorted to naming new species to science after celebrities to spark interest among laymen, especially if the new species is endangered.
The Japanese great tit, a bird closely related to the more familiar North American chickadee, uses complex calls in different contexts to convey different meaning. These "words" are stringed together to form compound messages -- evidence of a sophisticated communication system based on syntax. This is the first time syntax has been shown to occur in non-human animals.
If we want to have a permanent or long-term mission to Mars, then growing crops locally would be very useful.
Hydras are tiny freshwater animals which trap their prey with a set of tentacles.
New research shows that the first vertebrates had a surprisingly easy time adapting from fins to legs.
A team of Harvard researchers have literally added a new dimension to 3D printing - time.
Recently, a treasure trove of a dozen ancient lizards trapped in amber came to scientists' attention. Everyone was impressed by the pristine preservation, but what particularly caught their eyes was a chameleon-like creature that's 100 million years old. That's 78 million years older than the previous record holder.
Seals from colonies on the North Atlantic island of North Rona that had higher levels of the hormone oxytocin in their blood stay closer to pups. This suggests that the hormone, often called the love hormone because of its role in love and in female reproductive biological functions, is paramount to forming mother-child bond.
An early land lover, the Tortobu might have been a key part of the land ecosystem that eventually grew to foster complex land life.
A new study found that rather than weakening their host, brine shrimp parasites actually help it cope with arsenic contamination in the water.
A new study of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), a deadly fungus which affects amphibians worldwide, found that it spreads by making males' mating calls more attractive to females. The pathogen alters the reproductive habits of different species of amphibians, explaining why frogs and related species continue to disappear across the globe.
Breeding birds and alligators have developed an unlikely partnership, where the birds build their nests on alligator territory for protection.
A revolutionary new supercomputer powered by Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy source for every living cell in your body, is ridiculously small and much more efficient than a traditional supercomputer. That's because instead of electricity, this computer is powered by biological agents. This means it needs little to any cooling, and can be scaled to the size of a book.
Biologists at Rutgers University-Newark found that the world's longest distance flier is a small dragonfly.
In the 1990s, a famous study found animals in Yellowstone National Park, like elk, bred in fewer numbers and ate less after wolves were re-introduced. That seems like something bound to happen when you introduce an apex predator in a new ecosystem. However, what the study pointed out, in fact, was that most of the elk population suffered not as a result of attack from wolves, but rather simply due to them knowing wolves where now sharing the same park. In other words, fear produced such intense ripples that it altered the entire ecosystem. This was very controversial, and a team of Canadian researchers sought to replicate the findings on an island of fearless raccoons.
A new gene-snipping enzyme was successful in removing strands of HIV genetic material in mice trials. If the enzyme can prove its reliability in human trials it might revolutionize how we fight the virus forever.
Plants and mushrooms growing sometimes accumulate dangerous levels of radioactivity. But until now, this hasn’t been confirmed for truffles, and researchers wanted to see whether truffles too accumulate radioactive material – the results were quite surprising. The Chernobyl accident was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power […]
Massachusetts' state officials plan to designate the uninhibited island Mount Zion as a safe haven for the endangered timber rattlesnakes. The 1,350-acre wide site will be populated with adult snakes and authorities will keep a close watch on their progress.
Can you fly through water? It's a silly thought, but that's exactly what this snail butterfly, called Limacina helicina, seems to be doing. Researchers at Georgia Tech report that these sea snails flap their wings in a figure eight pattern very much akin to that used by airborne insects, like flies or bees.
