Current amphibian development may not have been typical of early land vertebrates. For decades, biologists thought that early tetrapods, ancient […]
Category: Biology
Cockroaches scurry around with thousands of pieces of bacterial genomes
Skip to content Transferring genes across species doesn’t just happen in microbes. Last week, we looked at a new study […]
The first complex cells had genes from a complex mix of species
Our ancestors’ genomes were built through successive waves of gene transfers. We tend to view ourselves and the complex cells […]
Bumblebees can spontaneously solve problems, study finds
Skip to content Scientists in Finland found bees could solve an insect version of the classic “box-and-banana” problem. Despite having […]
Beans use an immune receptor to call in airstrikes on caterpillars
When they’re being eaten, bean plants release chemicals that draw in parasitic wasps. For decades, scientists have understood that plants […]
Male bowerbirds hope to dazzle females with bright human-made items
Skip to content “It’s a reminder of how human activity is changing the natural world in unanticipated ways.” “Hey baby, […]
Severed sea cucumber appendages don’t seem to die
They seem to reorganize their tissues and then just keep living. Organs, arms, appendages, and other complex tissues usually decay […]
How pigeons exploit magnetic fields for navigation
Electron microscopy image of pigeon liver tissue shows hepatic macrophage (blue) in contact to nerve fiber (yellow), which enables them […]
Whatever the mirror test tells us, beluga whales pass it
The white whales join the short, contested list of animals that see themselves. In hours of underwater video footage from […]
Chickens without eggs? De-extinction company creates artificial egg.
In the process, Colossal may have handed a useful tool to developmental biology. A chicken embryo develops inside one of […]