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Beekeepers in the United States lost more than 55% of managed colonies last year—the highest loss rate since the Apiary Inspectors of America began determining them in 2011.

More mammals were living on the ground several million years before the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs, new research led by the University of Bristol has revealed.

An edible biofilm, obtained from agricultural and fishing waste and developed by researchers at the São Carlos Institute of Chemistry of the University of São Paulo (IQSC-USP) in Brazil, allows the shelf life of strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) to be…

Plants don't just grow, they build. From towering trees to delicate flowers, complex plant shapes are sculpted with remarkable precision. Now a study by biologists and biophysicists at Université de Montréal reveals how plants build their organs in three…

A French team coordinated by a scientist at CNRS highlights the harmful impact on sparrow reproduction of chronic exposure to tebuconazole, one of the most widely used fungicides in agriculture in Europe. These findings, recently published in Environmental…

Researchers have tracked 89 northern saw-whet owls (Aegolius acadicus) along a migration corridor in Western Montana, underscoring the efficacy of telemetry studies for detailed investigations into the movements of birds.

Pollinating insects such as bumblebees often repeatedly visit the same type of flower, even when a variety of flowers bloom nearby. This behavior is known as "flower constancy." Darwin speculated that flower constancy was a passive response to avoid the effort…

Coconut trees are iconic plants found across the world's tropical regions. They're called "nature's supermarket" or the "tree of life" in several cultures because every part of the coconut tree is used. Its leaves can be used to thatch homes, its heart can be…

Scientists have spent decades genetically modifying the bacterium Escherichia coli and other microbes to convert carbon dioxide into useful biological products. Most methods require additional carbon sources, however, adding to the cost. A new study overcomes…

Listeriosis is one of the main zoonotic food-borne diseases, and although the number of cases is relatively low, its high mortality makes it a major public health problem. For the bacterium to cause disease, it is not enough for the food to be contaminated; it…

Genomic changes in the infectious yeast Candida tropicalis may play a role in its resistance to antifungals, according to a study published in PLOS Biology. The work, led by Guanghua Huang at Fudan University, China, and colleagues, shows that these genomic…

Urbanization is reshaping soil microbial communities worldwide, driving an unexpected homogenization of bacterial populations while fungal communities remain more resistant to change.

The Burren region of County Clare, Ireland, is famous for its distinctive limestone habitat, coastal landscape, rich wildlife and unusual archaeology. Several hundred farmers also manage livestock on this land.

A group of diatom species belonging to the Nitzschia genus gave up on photosynthesis and now get their carbon straight from their environment, thanks to a bacterial gene picked up by an ancestor. Gregory Jedd of Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, Singapore, and…

A researcher at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) has found that more than 99% of dogs in the United States show behaviors that are potentially problematic, with the top categories being aggression (55.6%), separation…

Scent is how dogs largely experience the world, a lot like the way we humans rely on sight. We know little about how dogs interpret scent, but thanks to a recent study, we may be getting closer to understanding what a dog's nose actually knows.

Researchers have revealed that the presence of Nora virus in fruit flies can increase their sensitivity to bacterial infection and could limit their lifespan.

A team led by Professor Kazuhiro Maeshima of the National Institute of Genetics (ROIS) and SOKENDAI in Japan has developed a method to visualize different types of chromatin and reveal their distinct physical properties. They published their approach and…

A new study from the University of Maine's Aquaculture Research Institute (ARI) and Darling Marine Center is helping to refine best practices for growing Atlantic sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus), a species of increasing interest to Maine's aquaculture…

An international research group led by the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) has discovered a promising new drug candidate against severe lung infections caused by the hospital germ Staphylococcus aureus. The study, which has just been published in…

Some creatures defend territories extending over several kilometers, but when Jayne Yack (Carleton University, Canada) encountered miniature newborn warty birch caterpillars (Falcaria bilineata), she wondered if she might have discovered one of the world's…

North America's smallest falcon, the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius), has declined across the continent since the 1970s, yet the causes continue to stump raptor biologists. A new study published in the Journal of Raptor Research adds a piece to the puzzle…

Under the right conditions, duckweed essentially farms itself. Wastewater, ponds, puddles, swamps—you name it. If there's enough sunlight and carbon dioxide, the aquatic plant can grow freely. But that's not all that makes it intriguing. Packed inside…

Australia's horse racing industry is in the spotlight after recent allegations of tranquilizer use on horses so they can be "worked" (exercised) between race days.

If you're walking outdoors, chances are something remarkable is happening under your feet. Vast fungal networks are silently working to keep ecosystems alive.

Researchers have called for more funding for surveillance and monitoring of crop diseases and the insects that carry them, as well as to support growers affected by potential crop loss, in a new report.

About 100 cells divide every second in our body. A key protein in cell division is a protein kinase termed Plk1, because it activates other proteins involved in this process. Plk1 is also overexpressed in many types of cancer. This makes it a promising target…

International border barriers everywhere are harming wildlife by bisecting their habitats, disrupting their hunting and collecting patterns and preventing them from commingling. In some cases, the borders are causing so much harm that they could cause certain…

Screen-printed, biodegradable soil sensors that can be composted at the end of their lifecycle could enable farmers to improve crop yields while reducing electronic waste, researchers say.

Unlike animals, plants do not possess an adaptive immune system with antibodies or T cells to fight viral infections. Instead, they rely on the RNA silencing system, which serves as their innate immune defense by recognizing and degrading viral RNA. In turn,…