Life Sciences News
July 1, 2025
Top Headlines
June 26, 2025 — South Australia’s tiny pygmy bluetongue skink is baking in a warming, drying homeland, so Flinders University scientists have tried a bold fix—move it. Three separate populations were shifted ...
June 26, 2025 — Urban wildlife is evolving right under our noses — and scientists have the skulls to prove it. By examining over a century’s worth of chipmunk and vole specimens from Chicago, researchers discovered subtle yet significant evolutionary changes in ...
June 25, 2025 — Two newly discovered viruses lurking in bats are dangerously similar to Nipah and Hendra, both of which have caused deadly outbreaks in humans. Found in fruit bats near villages, these viruses may spread through urine-contaminated fruit, raising ...
June 24, 2025 — Two Ice Age wolf pups once thought to be early dogs have been identified as wild wolves, thanks to detailed DNA and chemical analysis. Surprisingly, their last meals included woolly rhinoceros ...
June 24, 2025 — Exploration for deep-sea minerals in the Clarion Clipperton Zone threatens to disrupt an unexpectedly rich ecosystem of whales and dolphins. New studies have detected endangered species in the area and warn that mining noise and sediment could ...
June 23, 2025 — In a remarkable twist of science, researchers have transformed a fungus long associated with death into a potential weapon against cancer. Found in tombs like that of King Tut, Aspergillus flavus was ...
June 17, 2025 — Nematodes tiny yet mighty form wriggling towers to survive and travel as a team. Long thought to exist only in labs, scientists have now spotted these towers naturally forming in rotting orchard fruit. Remarkably, the worms aren t just piling up ...
June 16, 2025 — A lifelong fascination with nature and fieldwork led this researcher to the world of ethnobiology a field where ecology, culture, and community come together. Investigating how local people relate to species like the anaconda, their work blends ...
June 15, 2025 — Underground fungi may be one of Earth s most powerful and overlooked allies in the fight against climate change, yet most of them remain unknown to science. Known only by DNA, these "dark taxa" make up a shocking 83% of ectomycorrhizal species fungi ...
June 15, 2025 — Ten thousand years after mastodons disappeared, scientists have unearthed powerful fossil evidence proving these elephant cousins were vital seed spreaders for large-fruited trees in South America. ...
June 14, 2025 — Study suggests that appetite for bushmeat -- rather than black market for scales to use in traditional Chinese medicine -- is driving West Africa's illegal hunting of one of the world's most ...
June 12, 2025 — Mercury contamination is surfacing as a serious concern in parts of Georgia and South Carolina, particularly in regions like the Okefenokee Swamp. University of Georgia researchers found alarmingly high levels of the neurotoxic metal in alligators, ...
Latest Headlines
updated 7:11am EDT
June 27, 2025 — A groundbreaking study suggests that the famous Cambrian explosion—the dramatic burst of diverse animal life—might have actually started millions ...
June 25, 2025 — Viruses closely related to the deadly MERS coronavirus are lurking in bats and one group, known as HKU5, may be just one mutation away from making the jump to humans. A new study reveals how these ...
June 25, 2025 — The shift from lizard-like sprawl to upright walking in mammals wasn’t a smooth climb up the evolutionary ladder. Instead, it was a messy saga full of unexpected detours. Using new bone-mapping ...
June 25, 2025 — Leafcutter ants live in highly organized colonies where every ant has a job, and now researchers can flip those jobs like a switch. By manipulating just two neuropeptides, scientists can turn ...
June 21, 2025 — Even after 20 million years of evolutionary separation, two tiny worm species show astonishingly similar patterns in how they turn genes on and off. Scientists mapped every cell s activity during ...
June 18, 2025 — New research is shaking up our understanding of evolution by revealing that some species may not evolve gradually at all. Instead, scientists ...
June 17, 2025 — A massive, extinct salamander with jaws like a vice once roamed ancient Tennessee and its fossil has just rewritten what we thought we knew about Appalachian amphibians. Named Dynamognathus ...
June 17, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered that fish biofluorescence a captivating ability to glow in vivid colors has ancient roots stretching back over 100 million years. This trait evolved independently in reef ...
June 16, 2025 — Sea anemones may hold the key to the ancient origins of body symmetry. A study from the University of Vienna shows they use a molecular mechanism known as BMP shuttling, once thought unique to ...
June 15, 2025 — Aphid-hunting wasps can reproduce with or without sex, challenging previous assumptions. This unique flexibility could boost sustainable pest control if its hidden drawbacks can be ...
Earlier Headlines
June 14, 2025 — A University of Queensland-led project has developed a tool to standardise genetic testing of koala populations, providing a significant boost to conservation and recovery ...
June 12, 2025 — Female earwigs may be evolving exaggerated weaponry just like males. A study from Toho University found that female forceps, once assumed to be passive tools, show the same kind of outsized growth ...
June 10, 2025 — A prehistoric digestive time capsule has been unearthed in Australia: plant fossils found inside a sauropod dinosaur offer the first definitive glimpse into what these giant creatures actually ate. ...
June 10, 2025 — After millions of years of evolutionary isolation, Madagascar developed an unparalleled array of wildlife, and recent research has uncovered an unsung ecological hero: the lizard. Though often ...
June 10, 2025 — Bumblebee queens don t work nonstop. UC Riverside scientists discovered that queens take strategic reproductive breaks early in colony formation likely to conserve energy and increase the chance of ...
June 6, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that a molecule known for defending animal immune systems called itaconate also plays a powerful role in plants. Researchers showed that itaconate not only exists in plant ...
June 9, 2025 — For millions of years, large herbivores like mastodons and giant deer shaped the Earth's ecosystems, which astonishingly stayed stable despite extinctions and upheavals. A new study reveals that ...
June 7, 2025 — A massive global collaboration has tracked over 12,000 marine animals from whales to turtles to create one of the most detailed movement maps of ocean giants ever assembled. The project, MegaMove, ...
June 10, 2025 — What if all life on Earth followed a surprisingly simple pattern? New research shows that in every region, species tend to cluster in small hotspots and then gradually thin out. This universal rule ...
June 3, 2025 — UC Davis researchers found that video telehealth visits help cat owners better care for arthritic cats without the stress of clinic visits. Owners appreciated personalized tips to improve their cat s ...
June 3, 2025 — To satisfy the seafood needs of billions of people, offering them access to a more biodiverse array of fish creates opportunities to mix-and-match species to obtain better nutrition from smaller ...
June 3, 2025 — In the heart of Dublin, scientists have discovered that the air holds more than melodies and Guinness-infused cheer it carries invisible traces of life, from wildlife to drugs and even human ...
June 3, 2025 — The biosynthesis of the great variety of natural plant products has not yet been elucidated for many medically interesting substances. In a new study, an international team of researchers was able to ...
June 6, 2025 — Frogs, salamanders, and other amphibians are not just battling habitat loss and pollution they're now also contending with increasingly brutal heat waves and droughts. A sweeping 40-year study ...
June 2, 2025 — Making a discovery with the potential for innovative applications in pharmaceutical development, a microbiology student has found a long sought-after fungus that produces effects similar to the ...
June 2, 2025 — New research shows that the presence of solar panels in Colorado's grasslands may reduce water stress, improve soil moisture levels and -- particularly during dry years -- increase plant growth ...
May 30, 2025 — Researchers have discovered a protein that is involved in plant leaf ...
May 30, 2025 — Laboratory could improve crop resilience In a discovery three decades in the making, scientists have acquired detailed knowledge about the internal structures and mode of regulation for a specialized ...
May 30, 2025 — To achieve the European Green Deal's goal of 25% organic agriculture by 2030, researchers argue that new genomic techniques (NGTs) should be allowed without pre-market authorization in organic ...
May 29, 2025 — The fossils of ancient salamander-like creatures in Scotland are among the most well-preserved examples of early stem tetrapods -- some of the first animals to make the transition from water to land. ...
Saturday, June 14, 2025
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
- What a Dinosaur Ate 100 Million Years ago—Preserved in a Fossilized Time Capsule
- How Madagascar’s Lizards Became the Island’s Last Hope for Reforestation
- Scientists Reveal the Hidden Pause That Keeps Bee Colonies Alive
Friday, June 6, 2025
Monday, June 9, 2025
Saturday, June 7, 2025
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Tuesday, June 3, 2025
- Telehealth Can Improve Care for Cats With Chronic Health Issues
- Eating an Array of Smaller Fish Could Be Nutrient-Dense Solution to Overfishing
- DNA Floating in the Air Tracks Wildlife, Viruses -- Even Drugs
- Two Plant Species Invent the Same Chemically Complex and Medically Interesting Substance
Friday, June 6, 2025
Monday, June 2, 2025
- Student Discovers Long-Awaited Mystery Fungus Sought by LSD's Inventor
- Research Shows How Solar Arrays Can Aid Grasslands During Drought
Friday, May 30, 2025
- New Plant Leaf Aging Factor Found
- Scientists Find a New Way to Help Plants Fight Diseases
- The EU Should Allow Gene Editing to Make Organic Farming More Sustainable, Researchers Say
Thursday, May 29, 2025
- Long Shot Science Leads to Revised Age for Land-Animal Ancestor
- Leprosy Existed in America Long Before Arrival of Europeans
- 'Future-Proofing' Crops Will Require Urgent, Consistent Effort
- Living Libraries Could Save Our Food
- Amphibian Road Mortality Drops by Over 80% With Wildlife Underpasses, Study Shows
- Genetic Basis of Purring in Cats
- Cotton Virus Circulated Undetected for Nearly 20 Years, Study Finds
- Cannabis Pangenome Reveals Potential for Medicinal and Industrial Use
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
- Trees Vs. Disease: Tree Cover Reduces Mosquito-Borne Health Risk
- Kinetic Coupling -- Breakthrough in Understanding Biochemical Networks
- Newly Identified Group of Nerve Cells in the Brain Regulates Bodyweight
- New Velvet Worm Species a First for the Arid Karoo
- Genetic Deep Dive Dispels Fear of Hybrid Worm Threat
- Yeast Can Now Produce Human DNase1
- In Nature's Math, Freedoms Are Fundamental
- A High-Fat Diet Sets Off Metabolic Dysfunction in Cells, Leading to Weight Gain
- When the Forest Is No Longer a Home -- Forest Bats Seek Refuge in Settlements
- Even Birds Can't Outfly Climate Change
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
- Zika Virus Uses Cells' 'self-Care' System to Turn Against Host
- Nordic Studies Show the Significance of Old-Growth Forests for Biodiversity
- The Ocean Seems to Be Getting Darker
- HIV Vaccine Study Uncovers Powerful New Antibody Target
- Oldest Whale Bone Tools Discovered
Monday, May 26, 2025
- Megalodon: The Broad Diet of the Megatooth Shark
- A Root Development Gene That's Older Than Root Development
- Flowers Unfold With Surprising Precision, Despite Unruly Genes
Friday, May 23, 2025
- Mystery of 'very Odd' Elasmosaur Finally Solved: Fiercely Predatory Marine Reptile Is New Species
- Earliest Use of Psychoactive and Medicinal Plant 'harmal' Identified in Iron Age Arabia
- El Niño and La Niña Climate Swings Threaten Mangroves Worldwide
- Modulation of Antiviral Response in Fungi Via RNA Editing
- Different Phases of Evolution During Ice Age
- Managing Surrogate Species, Providing a Conservation Umbrella for More Species
Thursday, May 22, 2025
- An Artificial Protein That Moves Like Something Found in Nature
- Ancient DNA Used to Map Evolution of Fever-Causing Bacteria
- Scientists Have Figured out How Extinct Giant Ground Sloths Got So Big and Where It All Went Wrong
- 'Selfish' Genes Called Introners Proven to Be a Major Source of Genetic Complexity
- Diversity Is Key to Ecosystem Stability
- Ox-Eye Daisy, Bellis and Yarrow: Flower Strips With at Least Two Sown Species Provide 70 Percent More Natural Enemies of Pests
- Climate Change Poses Severe Threat to Bowhead Whale Habitat
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
- Plant Cell Sculptors
- The Dietary Bug in a Cancer Therapy
- Can Plants Hear Their Pollinators?
- Yeast Reveals How Species Adapt to a Warmer Climate
- Why Some Spiders Are More Venomous Than Others
- Researchers Identify a Dual Origin of Cells Controlling Puberty and Reproduction
- Unlocking the Secrets of Bat Immunity
- Songbirds' Great Risk Results in Great Genetic Reward
- How Hibiscus Flowers Lost Their Bullseyes
- This Gene Variant Contributed to the Dietary and Physiological Evolution of Modern Humans
- Toothache from Eating Something Cold? Blame These Ancient Fish
- A New Technology for Extending the Shelf Life of Produce
- Hand2: Positional Code That Allows Axolotls to Regrow Limbs Found
- Taking the Guesswork out Birdsong Evolution
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
- On the Origin (and Fate) of Plants That Never Bloom
- A New Complexity in Protein Chemistry
- Asian Elephants Have Larger Brains Than Their African Relatives
- Wild Spinach Offers Path to Breed Disease Resistance Into Cultivated Varieties
- 'Sharkitecture:' A Nanoscale Look Inside a Blacktip Shark's Skeleton
- Cool Science: Researchers Craft Tiny Biological Tools Using Frozen Ethanol
- Native Turtles Return to Yosemite After Removal of Invasive Bullfrogs
- Thousands of Animal Species Threatened by Climate Change
- Eating Craved Foods With Meals Lessens Cravings, Boosts Weight Loss
Monday, May 19, 2025
- Bees Facing New Threats, Putting Our Survival and Theirs at Risk
- A Head and a Hundred Tails: How a Branching Worm Manages Reproductive Complexity
- First-of-Its-Kind Global Study Shows Grasslands Can Withstand Climate Extremes With a Boost of Nutrients
- Family of Parasite Proteins Presents New Potential Malaria Treatment Target
- How Did Plants Evolve the Ability to Transport Massive Amounts of Protein Into Seed Vacuoles?
- How to Swim Without a Brain
- Gut Bacteria and Acetate, a Great Combination for Weight Loss
- Capuchin Monkeys Develop Bizarre 'fad' Of Abducting Baby Howlers
- Scientists Describe 71 New Australian Bee Species
Friday, May 16, 2025
- Researchers Find CRISPR Is Capable of Even More Than We Thought
- Heat-Tolerant Symbionts a Critical Key to Protecting Florida's Elkhorn Coral from Bleaching During Marine Heatwaves
- In Healthy Aging, Carb Quality Counts
- Very Different Mammals Follow the Same Rules of Behavior
Thursday, May 15, 2025
- World's Largest Bat Organoid Platform Paves the Way for Pandemic Preparedness
- Dual Associations With Two Fungi Improve Tree Fitness
- Human Activity Reduces Plant Diversity Hundreds of Kilometers Away
- Scientists Use Fossils to Assess the Health of Florida's Largest Remaining Seagrass Bed: Surprisingly, It's Doing Well!
- Scientists Track Down Mutation That Makes Orange Cats Orange