Biology

An Indonesian species of parrot known as the Goffin’s cockatoo (Cacatua goffiniana) can tear a cardboard sheet into long strips as tools to reach food, but fails to adjust strip width to fit through narrow openings, according to a new study published online this week in the journal PLoS ONE. …

A three-species hybrid warbler found in Pennsylvania is the offspring of a hybrid warbler mother and a warbler father from an entirely different genus — a combination never recorded before now. A rare triple-hybrid warbler (golden-winged warbler, blue-winged warbler, and chestnut-sided warbler). Image credit: Lowell Burket. The triple-hybrid bird was …

A team of scientists from Tufts University and the University of Florida has found that delivering progesterone to an amputation injury site can induce the regeneration of limbs in otherwise non-regenerative adults of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis). The team created a wearable bioreactor attached to the wound site …

It is no secret that climate change and environmental negligence have been worsened by human activity and accelerated industrialization over the past century, and that wildlife greatly suffers as a result. A recent study published by the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) analyzes the most recent data of animal populations worldwide, …

Inaccessible Island, the westernmost of three islands in the Tristan Archipelago, is located about 2,250 miles (3,600 km) east of Porto Alegre, Brazil, and about 1,750 miles (2,800 km) west of Cape Town, South Africa. Formed by a now-extinct volcano 3 to 6 million years ago, the island is the …

A beautiful new species of swallowtail butterfly has been discovered on the Pacific Island of Vanua Levu, Fiji. The Natewa swallowtail (Papilio natewa). Image credit: Greg Kerr. Named the Natewa swallowtail (Papilio natewa), the newfound species measures 3 inches (8 cm) across, with two elongated edges projecting from the hind …

The emerald jewel wasp (Ampulex compressa) is renowned for its ability to zombify the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) with a sting to the brain. When the venom takes effect, the cockroach becomes passive and can be led by its antenna into a hole, where the wasp deposits an egg and …

According to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports, habitually tool-using New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) are able to create tools by combining two or more otherwise non-functional elements, an ability so far observed only in humans and great apes. New Caledonian crow with a stick tool. Image …

An international team of researchers has identified a cryptic new species of slender-snouted crocodile living in Central Africa. The Central African slender-snouted crocodile (Mecistops leptorhynchus). Image credit: Shirley et al, doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4504.2.1. “The African slender-snouted, or sharp-nosed, crocodile (Mecistops cataphractus) is medium-sized, lives in freshwater habitats, and, as its name …

An international research team led by scientists at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, has discovered a new structure in human cells — a new type of protein complex that the cell uses to attach to its surroundings and proves to play a key part in cell division. 3D projection of a cancer …