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Flying insects and parasites are often vectors for disease, but a mosquito needs to first find someone before they can bite them. In a recent study published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, researchers examined bird nests in order to understand how…

A new analysis published in IBIS examines whether bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms that are present in wild vultures cause disease in the birds, and whether vultures play a role in spreading or preventing infectious diseases to humans and other…

As humanity develops new types of plastics and chemicals, researchers are constantly trying to keep up with understanding how these contaminants affect the environment and wildlife. A new study gives a first look at the presence and potential effects of these…

Renowned journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B has a new front cover fish: the marine angelfish. It commands star power due to a new study highlighting the remarkably high incidence of and tendency for hybridisation in this family (even between divergent…

A hallmark of summer, monarch butterflies are a familiar sight in the Midwest, and many butterfly enthusiasts are eager to do what they can to support the declining monarch population. A new study at the University of Chicago provides new insight into the…

The size of a fly's eyes and nose reflect both its behavior during mating and its habitat preferences, according to a new study published today in eLife.

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have shown that different strains of the same bacterial pathogen can be distinguished by a machine learning analysis of their growth dynamics alone, which can then also accurately predict other traits such as resistance…

Sea trout get no peace. They're constantly exposed to new diseases and ailments, many of which are due to climate change and human activity.

How long can seeds stay alive? That question is crucial for seed gene banks and research institutes working with plants and seeds. Therefore, a new seed longevity experiment has started in the Global Seed Vault. The experiment comprises seeds of 13 globally…

Scientists have provided new insights on the relationship between plant diversity in forests and the diversity of organisms involved in their decay, such as bacteria and fungi.

More than 1,000 bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) live in the Indian River Lagoon year-round. The estuary system along the central east coast of Florida stretches about 250 kilometers and provides valuable shallow water habitat for this species. The…

When humans bring a non-native herbivore to an isolated island, the native trees do not possess traits to craft an operative defense to the new threat, and the results can be devastating. A long-term study on cycads in Guam has revealed how rapidly invasive…

The general picture of a shark is that of a fast and large ocean predator. Some species, however, question this image—for example angel sharks. They have adapted to a life on the bottom of the oceans, where they lie in wait for their prey. In order to be…

Computer systems that emulate key aspects of human problem solving are commonly referred to as artificial intelligence (AI). This field has seen massive progress over the last years. Most notably, deep learning enabled groundbreaking progress in areas such as…

By 2050, 70% of the world's population is expected to live in towns and cities. Urban living brings many benefits, but city dwellers worldwide are seeing a rapid increase in noncommunicable health problems, such as asthma and inflammatory bowel disease.

As humans continue to send large quantities of carbon into the atmosphere, much of that carbon is absorbed by the ocean, and UConn researchers have found high CO2 concentrations in water can make fish grow smaller.

A large portion of North America's 8.7 billion ash trees are now infested by a beetle called the emerald ash borer.

Forest trees play a critical role in regulating global carbon, water and energy cycles and mitigating global warming. The phenology of trees is a key to understanding the feedbacks between terrestrial vegetation and Earth's climate. Recent climate warming has…

As a first-year graduate student studying truffle ecology at Oregon State University, Dan Luoma attended a scientific meeting in 1981 on Orcas Island in Washington. Having recently learned how to search for truffles, he went out one day of the meeting looking…

A pair of researchers, one with Oxford University Botanic Garden, the other Universidade Federal de Sergipe, has conducted an overview of Langsdorffia, a parasitic flowering plant. In their paper published in Plants People Planet, Chris Thorogood and Jean…

The most common cause of potentially-fatal heatstroke in dogs is being exercised by their owners, the largest study of its kind has found.

Around 1 billion people on the planet are infected with parasitic helminths, round worms that live in soil and colonize human guts through dirty water. The helminths owe their ability to survive in the low oxygen environment of the human gut to a unique enzyme…

Researchers have discovered new life—a never-before-seen bacterium—in a novel environment, one created by humans and spreading rapidly around the globe, at Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum.

Elephants are known for their complex cognitive abilities, such as memory, problem-solving and tool use, and for their complex social behaviors. A new research article in the journal Animal Behavior and Cognition describes how Asian elephants perform on the…

Soils harbor a substantial part of the world's biodiversity, yet data on the patterns and processes taking place below ground does not represent all relevant ecosystems and taxa. For example, tropical and subtropical regions largely remain a blind spot when it…

The development of eco-friendly pesticides urgently required to protect crops will be accelerated with funding from the Australian Research Council.

North American river otters are known for their playful swimming, but they are also an important species for helping scientists understand the health of river systems. A new study from North Carolina State University detected evidence of otter diseases that…

Like humans, cattle are social creatures with complex relationships that change as group dynamics evolve. A study published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science offered new insights into the social networking behavior of dairy cows, building on a body of…

With these new findings scientists can potentially better understand the subtle changes that can occur in genes and brain circuits that can lead to mental health disorders such as anxiety and autism spectrum disorders.