Biology

Newly-Discovered Gene Mutation Improves Cognitive Flexibility in Mice A team of U.S. researchers has discovered a genetic mutation that improves cognitive flexibility in mice. Hu et al reveal a novel mechanism regulating reversal learning and provide potential targets for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders characterized by cognitive inflexibility. Image credit: …

Scientists Find Mysterious Praying Mantis Petroglyph in Iran An international team of archaeologists and entomologists has discovered and examined an ancient arthropod-like petroglyph at the Teymareh rock art site in central Iran. The ‘squatting mantis man’ petroglyph, located in Teymareh Region, Khomein County, Markazi Province, Iran. Scale bar – 10 …

Western Lowland Gorillas Display Territorial Behavior, New Study Says Groups of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) recognize ownership of specific regions; they are also more likely to avoid contact with other groups the closer they are to the centre of their neighbors’ home range, for fear of conflict, according …

Discovered in Indonesia A group of scientists from Louisiana State University, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Museums Victoria as well as the University of Melbourne has actually found a brand-new varieties of musk shrew living on Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island. The Sulawesi hairy-tailed shrew(Crocidura caudipilosa). Picture credit report: Kevin Rowe, Museums Victoria. …

A team of biologists from the Central Mindanao University has discovered a new endemic species of carnivorous plant in the montane tropical rainforests of Philippines. Upper pitchers on living plants of Nepenthes cabanae. Image credit: N.E. Lagunday. The newly-discovered species belongs to Nepenthes, a genus of tropical pitcher plants in …

A team of researchers from New Zealand and Germany has demonstrated that the honeybee brain generates oscillations which share characteristics of ‘alpha’ oscillations in the human brain. Popov Szyszka found a prominent spontaneous oscillation around 18 Hz in the honeybee brain that is reduced in amplitude upon olfactory stimulation. Image …

A team of biologists led by University of Western Australia researchers used Schmidt Ocean Institute’s deep-sea remotely operated vehicle, SuBastian, which is capable of sampling depths to 4,500 m, to explore the Bremer, Leeuwin and Perth submarine canyons. Coral garden found in Bremer Canyon, Western Australia as part of a …

A nocturnal primate called the Taita Mountain dwarf galago (Paragalago sp.) has been rediscovered by a team of researchers from the University of Helsinki, Oxford Brookes University and Kenya Forest Service. The Taita Mountain dwarf galago photographed in Ngangao Forest in 2019. Image credit: Hanna Rosti. The Taita Mountain dwarf …

An international team of biologists has discovered that a tiny parasite of salmon called Henneguya salminicola has no mitochondrial genome and thus has lost the ability to perform aerobic respiration. Henneguya salminicola, also known as Henneguya zschokkei, has large nuclei but surprisingly no mitochondrial nucleosomes. Image credit: Yahalomi et al, …

In a study published this month in the journal Science, a team of researchers from Queen Mary University of London and Macquarie University found that bumblebees could identify objects by shape in the dark if they had seen, but not touched, them in the light, and vice versa, demonstrating a …