Biology

A team of researchers at the University of Exeter, UK, studied how Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) behaved in various situations and found complex differences between individuals. The results are published in the journal Functional Ecology. Wild male and female Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Image credit: Per Harald Olsen / CC …

Cassiopea jellyfish, a genus of true jellyfish found throughout the tropics in shallow ocean waters and mudflats, exhibit reversible behavioral quiescence during the night, according to a team of biologists at Caltech. Reported in the journal Current Biology, this finding is the first example of a sleep-like state in an …

Exceptionally large individuals of Beelzebufo ampinga, an extinct species of frog that lived in Madagascar during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 68 million years ago, were capable of eating small dinosaurs, according to an international research team led by California State Polytechnic University scientists. South American horned frog showing round …

Two bird species that look the same, but have songs so different they can’t recognize each other, should be considered distinct species, according to a study by University of British Columbia postdoctoral researcher Benjamin Freeman and Cornell University researcher Graham Montgomery. Among the 72 related populations of Neotropical passerine birds …

A team of researchers at New York University has found that the nucleus of a human cell exhibits subtle, but measurable, fast shape fluctuations, and that the amplitude of these fluctuations systematically decreases during the cell cycle, thus serving as a cell cycle stage indicator. The findings, published in the …

Australian magpies ‘dunk’ their food in water before eating, a process that appears to be watched and ‘copied’ by their offspring, say University of York ornithologist Eleanor Drinkwater and co-authors. Their study is published in the journal Australian Field Ornithology. The Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen). Image credit: Eleanor Drinkwater. The …

Olfaction (sense of smell) is a key factor in long-distance oceanic navigation in birds, according to a new University of Oxford-led study. Cory’s shearwaters from the Crossley ID Guide Britain and Ireland. Image credit: Richard Crossley / CC BY-SA 3.0. “Navigation over the ocean is probably the extreme challenge for …

A team of researchers in the UK created a series of puzzles baited with food, and found smooth-coated otters (Lutrogale perspicillata) watched and copied each other’s problem-solving techniques, with young animals more likely to copy than their parents. Surprisingly, another species called the Asian short-clawed otter (Aonyx cinerea) showed no …

A new survey of DNA fragments circulating in human blood suggests the bacteria and viruses living within us are vastly more diverse than previously known. In fact, more than 50% of that DNA has never been seen before. Kowarsky et al discovered that the human body contains a vast and …

Herpetologists are claiming they have discovered a new species of purple frog living in the Western Ghats, India. The Bhupathy’s purple frog (Nasikabatrachus bhupathi). Image credit: S. Jegath Janani et al. In a paper published in the Alytes, the International Journal of Batrachology, the researchers describe the new frog species …