Study of a perky little bird suggests there may be far more avian species in the tropics than those identified so far. After a genetic study of the White-crowned Manakin, scientists say it’s not just one species and one of the main drivers of its diversity is the South American landscape and its history of…

Researchers discovered a new enzyme, closely related to the CSyGT family of enzymes involved in producing cellulose in plant cell walls. Unexpectedly, they found the new enzyme is responsible for a key step in the biosynthesis of saponins, bioactive products with high-value applications in medicine and the food industry. The new enzyme opens up novel…

New research finds that sexual reproduction and multicellularity drive diversity among different species. A new University of Arizona-led study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, tested whether sexual reproduction and multicellularity might help explain this mysterious pattern. «We wanted to understand the diversity of life,» said paper co-author John Wiens, a professor…

To solve the mysteries of how learning and memory occur, scientists have created a system to track millions of connections among brain cells in mice — all at the same time — when the animals’ whiskers are tweaked, an indicator for learning. Researchers say the new tool gives an unprecedented view of brain cell activity…

A study provides some of the first evidence that climate change and drought are shifting the range of infectious disease in forests suffering from white pine blister rust disease. A study from the University of California, Davis, provides some of the first evidence that climate change and drought are shifting the range of infectious disease…

In the Ala Wai Canal in Waikiki, Hawai’i, the abundance of Vibrio vulnificus, an infectious bacterium, is strongly influenced by the amount of rainfall in the surrounding areas, according to a recently published study. Study authors Olivia Nigro, then a graduate student in the oceanography at UHM and now an assistant professor at HPU, and…

Decommissioning and clean-up are ongoing at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP); however, many difficult problems remain unaddressed. Chief amongst these problems is the retrieval and management of fuel debris. One of the materials in nuclear reactors that can lower the number of neutrons interacting with uranium-235 is boron carbide (B4C). This was used…

A new long-term study finds that male acorn woodpeckers breeding polygamously in duos or trios of males actually fathered more offspring than males breeding alone with a single female, contrary to conventional thinking among biologists that monogamous males necessarily produce more offspring than those in polygamous groups. For females, polygamy is less of a slam…

Certain types of bacteria are unable to survive and thrive outside host organisms. This makes their isolation and identification technically challenging. Recently, a researcher successfully isolated a new bacterial strain of the candidate bacterial group, Candidatus phylum Dependentiae, from a pond. «Initially we sampled Risoukai Park in the Noda Campus of TUS with the aim…

Mass extinctions of land-dwelling animals—including amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds — follow a cycle of about 27 million years, coinciding with previously reported mass extinctions of ocean life, according to a new analysis. The study also finds that these mass extinctions align with major asteroid impacts and devastating volcanic outpourings of lava called flood-basalt eruptions…