Biology News

How Octopuses Squeeze Through Hole Smaller Than Their Body

Octopus vulgaris’ three- and four-step strategies to squeeze through a larger hole. Image credit: Xin et al., doi: 10.1242/jeb.252825.
Nov 9, 2026 by News Staff

Researchers from the National University of Singapore, the University of Naples Federico II and the Haus des Meeres aquarium in Austria have filmed the marine animals escaping through tight openings and found a consistent sequence of moves, one that could inform the design of soft robots. Octopus vulgaris’ three- and four-step strategies to squeeze through a larger hole. Image credit: Xin et al., doi: 10.1242/jeb.252825. “Octopuses can change...

read more...
This SEM micrograph (12,000x magnification) shows Haloferax volcanii after 160 days of anaerobic incubation with 100 mM nitrate under low-pressure Martian conditions (24 mbar); high-magnification imaging shows predominantly spherical cells located outside, immediately beneath, and embedded within an extensive biofilm matrix; thin appendage-like structures and associations among adjacent cells are also visible. Scale bar - 1 µm. Image credit: Robinson et al., doi: 10.1128/aem.01749-26.

Salt-Loving Microbe Can Grow Under Mars-Like Conditions: Study

Nov 5, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Haloferax volcanii, a model halophilic (salt-loving) archaeon, showed growth during a 160-day experiment simulating Martian subsurface brine, according...

An artist’s impression of cometary impact. Image credit: Scarlett White.

Study: Comets May Have Been Unlikely to Deliver Life’s Ingredients to Early Earth

Oct 28, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new study led by the University of Cambridge challenges the long-standing idea that comets helped kick-start life on our home planet, suggesting that...

An anatomical illustration from Sobotta's Human Anatomy, 1908, shows the structure of a human brain. Image credit: Dr Johannes Sobotta.

Ancient Retroviral Invasion May Have Helped Shape Human Brain

Oct 28, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Humans and chimpanzees share more than 96% of their protein-coding DNA, yet human brains are roughly three times larger and far more complex. New research...

Stromata of Dianjunus rex in the field. Image credit: Song et al., doi: 10.3389/ffunb.2026.1940464.

D. rex: Giant New Fungus Species Discovered in China

Oct 27, 2026 by News Staff

A pale-yellow fungus up to 50 cm (20 inches) tall, growing from the roots of dying trees in China’s Yunnan province, belongs to a lineage that may have...

Bees can solve seemingly clever counting tasks with very small numbers of neurons in their brains. Image credit: PollyDot.

Honeybee Hives are Living Immune Systems, Scientists Say

Oct 20, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Honeybees pack tens of thousands of nestmates into a small space, a setup that should invite disease. New research led by the University of Sydney suggests...

Higher cat oxytocin linked to lower owner cortisol and negative mood. Image credit: Takagi et al., doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2026.117934.

Cat Hormones and Owner Moods Appear to Move Together: Study

Oct 19, 2026 by Natali Anderson

The ‘love hormone’ oxytocin may rise and fall in tandem in cats and the people who live with them, according to a new study published in the journal...

Western honeybees (Apis mellifera). Image credit: PollyDot.

Honeybee Swarms Have Been Misread for Centuries, Biologists Say

Oct 8, 2026 by Sergio Prostak

In a new review paper, Dr. Hannes Bonhoff of Lund University and Dr. Heikki Helanterä from the University of Oulu argue that the departing swarm represents...

Lauren Scott & Brittany Florkiewicz show that cat facial signals correspond to different social functions, which have likely been influenced by domestication. Image credit: Sci.News / Makieni777 / Rise-a-mui / Alexas_Fotos / Dorothe / Vaclav Zavada / Artem Makarov / Daga Roszkowska / Birgit / Pasi Mammela.

Countries with More Cats Report Higher Happiness, Scientists Say

Oct 1, 2026 by Natali Anderson

New research led by the University of Chicago found that nations with more domestic cats tended to report higher levels of happiness, while greater exposure...

Yee Tan et al. discovered a human commensal bacterium, Clostridium immunis, which prevents and treats obesity in mice by secreting a phosphocholine-modified exopolysaccharide (EPS). Image credit: Yee Tan et al., doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2026.08.018.

Sugar Molecule Made by Gut Bacterium Can Shrink Visceral Fat in Mice

Sep 28, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Clostridium immunis, a human gut bacterium, secretes a large sugar molecule that can shrink visceral fat and curb weight gain in mice, according to a paper...

The first phase of the Bat1K project: 103 chromosome-level genome assemblies and annotations representing at least one species from each of the 21 currently recognized bat families. Image credit: Morales et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-026-11007-3.

Bats Originated in Europe, Genetic and Fossil Evidence Suggests

Sep 23, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Bats make up more than one fifth of all living mammal species, yet where and when they first took to the air has been debated for decades. An analysis...

Incendiamoeba cascadensis undergoes cellular replication up to 63 degrees Celsius. Image credit: Rappaport et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2026.08.043.

Geothermal Amoeba Found Thriving at 63 Degrees Celsius Shatters Limits of Eukaryotic Life

Sep 23, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Microbiologists have discovered a new species of heat-loving amoeba that divides at 63 degrees Celsius (145 degrees Fahrenheit) and remains motile up to...

Anchiale mabiensis, paratype male. Image credit: Ross M. Coupland.

Two New Stick Insect Species Discovered in Australia

Sep 21, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Entomologists have described two previously unrecognized species of Anchiale — a genus of large, winged stick insects — from tropical Queensland,...

An anatomical illustration from Johannes Sobotta’s Human Anatomy, 1908.

Human Brain is Two Organs Fused Together, Study Suggests

Sep 21, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Scientists have long treated the brain as a single organ that grows from one pool of early cells. Stanford University neuroscientist Kyle Loh and colleagues...

Leopardus tilcayo. Image credit: Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz.

New Species of Tiger Cat Identified in Bolivia

Sep 18, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Scientists have demonstrated that the South American tiger cat complex Leopardus tigrinus consists of five genetically distinct species, including one...

The pink-bellied imperial pigeon (Ducula poliocephala). Image credit: Gwen So / CC BY-SA 4.0.

New Species of Imperial Pigeon Identified

Sep 17, 2026 by Natali Anderson

A previously unrecognized species of the fruit-eating pigeon genus Ducula inhabits the remote island of Tawi-Tawi in the Philippines’ Sulu Archipelago,...

Experiment setup: (A) an elephant enters the ‘over’ opening to gain access to food in a familiarization trial; (B) an elephant enters the ‘under’ opening to gain access to food (apple) in a test trial. Image credit: Sangpa Dittakul.

Elephants Show Talent for Resisting Impulses

Sep 9, 2026 by News Staff

In experiments in Thailand, Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) learned to ignore an enticing but ineffective route to food and quickly adapted when a familiar...

The wiring diagram of the central nervous system of an adult male fruit fly will help researchers better understand how the brain enables complex action, from sensory perception to behavior. Image credit: FlyEM Project Team, HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus / Cambridge Connectomics Group / Google Research / Philip Hubbard, HHMI Janelia Research Campus.

Researchers Unveil Complete Fruit Fly Connectome

Sep 9, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

After nearly two decades of work, scientists have completed a wiring diagram of the central nervous system of an adult male fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster). The...

The Jalca horned owl (Bubo jalca). Image credit: López-Lanús et al.

New Owl Species Discovered in Peru

Sep 8, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A horned owl living in a narrow strip of high-Andean grassland in northern Peru is a species new to science, according to a paper published in July 2026...

SEM images of LCAP films incubated undisturbed for more than a year in pristine forest soil. The arrow in panel (d) points at an object inside of such a cavity that might represent a (damaged) microbial cell; however, these were found very rarely; empty cavities were more representative (a-c). Image credit: Lerner et al., doi: 10.1093/ismejo/wrag203.

Scientists Discover Soil Bacteria Enzyme that Breaks Down Both Plastic and Antibiotics

Sep 7, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Biologists studying how bacteria break down a new generation of plant-based bioplastics — long-chain aliphatic polyesters — have discovered...

© 2011-2026. Sci.News. All Rights Reserved. | Back to top