Biology

Plant guttation, a fluid from xylem and phloem sap secreted at the margins of leaves from many plant species, serves as a reliable and nutrient-rich food source for many insects, including bees, wasps and flies, according to new research by scientists from Rutgers University, the Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias …

Fungi play a significant role in the diets and nutrition of diverse vertebrates. Many fungi, particularly truffle-like species, have evolved close associations with animals that help to disperse their spores. These animal-fungus associations are frequently overlooked, but they are an important part of functional ecosystems and imperative for the dispersal …

In 2018, University of Portsmouth’s Professor John McGeehan and colleagues engineered an enzyme that can digest polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the primary material used in the manufacture of single-use plastic beverage bottles. Now, the same team has created a two-enzyme cocktail that can digest PET up to six times faster. Knott …

A multinational team of scientists led by Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and Imperial College London has created a detailed cellular and molecular map of six anatomical adult heart regions. Litviňuková et al created the first atlas of …

The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is the world’s largest fish, growing to maximum known sizes of 18 m (59 feet) total length. A new study led by University of Western Australia marine biologists has found that male whale sharks grow quickly, before plateauing at an average adult length of about …

Human white blood cells, or leukocytes, swim using a newly-described mechanism called molecular paddling, according to new research led by University Grenoble Alpes and Aix Marseille University. Five types of human leukocytes. Image credit: Syed H. Shirazi et al, doi: 10.3233/THC-161133. Cells have evolved different strategies to migrate and explore …

According to new research published in the journal Animal Behaviour, European herring gulls (Larus argentatus) — a large species of seabird in the family Laridae — notice where approaching humans are looking and flee sooner when they’re being watched. Herring gulls. Image credit: Georg Wietschorke. With an increasing human population …

In a study published in the Journal of Morphology, an international team of scientists has pieced together the ancestral relationships that make up the family tree of hillstream loaches (Balitoridae), detailing for the first time a range of unusual pelvic adaptations across the family that have given some of its …

By analyzing leadership patterns of all-male African savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana) traveling groups along elephant pathways in the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, Botswana, a team of researchers from the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour at the University of Exeter found that the oldest bulls were more likely to lead …

European moles (Talpa europaea) appear to avoid chewing on sand when eating earthworms because it is likely that they find the sensation as repulsive as humans, according to new research from the University of Leicester. The European mole (Talpa europaea). Image credit: Michael David Hill / CC BY-SA 3.0. Professor …