Biology

A team of researchers led by University of Nevada Professor C. Richard (Dick) Tracy has discovered three new toad species in the Great Basin region of northern Nevada. The Dixie Valley toad (Bufo williamsi). Image credit: Mike Wolterbeek, University of Nevada, Reno. The three new species are the Dixie Valley …

According to a new study published in the journal Genome Biology, methicillin use was not the original driving factor in the evolution of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as previously thought; rather it was the widespread use of first generation antibiotics such as penicillin in the years prior to the introduction …

Water-dwelling, eight-legged, segmented micro-animals called tardigrades will survive the risk of extinction from all astrophysical catastrophes, and be around for at least 10 billion years — far longer than the human race, according to new research from the Universities of Oxford and Harvard. This scanning electron microscope image shows a …

Researchers have detected a herpes virus in wild mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) that is very similar to Epstein-Barr virus in humans. A family of mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. Image credit: Tierra Smiley Evans, University of California, Davis. Epstein-Barr virus is a gamma herpesvirus in the genus …

Marine arthropods called sea spiders use gut peristalsis to move hemolymph and oxygen throughout most of their bodies, according to a team of researchers led by Dr. H. Arthur Woods from the University of Montana. A sea spider on the sea floor. Image credit: Timothy R. Dwyer / PolarTREC 2016 …

A new hummingbird species, called the dry-forest sabrewing, has been discovered in the tropical forests of eastern Brazil. A young male of the dry-forest sabrewing (Campylopterus calcirupicola) captured in the Fazenda Corredor, municipality of Bocaiúva, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Image credit: Leonardo Esteves Lopes. Dr. Leonardo Lopes, an ornithologist at the …

A team of researchers at the University of Florida has found genes known to form heart cells in humans and other animals in the gut of the starlet sea anemone (Nematostella vectensis), a brainless, muscle-less and heartless marine animal native to the east coast of the United States. The findings …

Palm cockatoos (Probosciger aterrimus) not only play the drums, they craft the sticks too, according to new research from scientists in Australia. Male palm cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus) drumming on a hollow tree with a manufactured ‘drumstick.’ Image credit: Christina Zdenek. The palm cockatoo is a large smoky-grey or black parrot …

A new species of parrot has been discovered in the tropical forests of the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. Male (right) and female paratypes of the blue-winged amazon (Amazona gomezgarzai). Image credit: T. Silva et al, doi: 10.7717/peerj.3475. The colorful bird was first sighted in 2014 by Mexican veterinarian and ornithologist Dr. …

A critically endangered bird species called the São Tomé grosbeak is the world’s largest canary, 50% heavier than the next largest species, according to a new study published in the journal Ibis. The São Tomé grosbeak (Crithagra concolor). Image credit: Alexandre Vaz / Melo et al, doi: 10.1111/ibi.12466. The São …