Biology

A team of scientists at the University of California, Riverside is studying a species of "vulture bee" that has swapped a vegetarian diet for carrion meat by developing an extra tooth and gut bacteria similar to that found in vultures and hyenas.

An animal welfare bill in the UK will now include crabs, octopus, and lobsters after a review concluded they should be considered sentient beings. The review found strong evidence these invertebrates are capable of feelings such as pain and distress.

Sleep is a crucial biological phase, but exactly why almost every organism needs it remains mysterious. Now a study has uncovered a new piece of the puzzle, finding that a protein involved in DNA repair signals the brain when it’s time to sleep.

An intriguing new study has found a chemical excreted by babies can influence aggression in humans. The findings reveal curious sex-specific responses to the chemical, triggering aggression in women but blocking aggression in men.

Galapagos giant tortoises are some of the longest-living animals on Earth, but how do they pull off the feat? A new study has examined the genome of the species and found duplicate genes that may protect them from aging-related diseases like cancer.

Aging affects everybody, so it’s easy to understand why so much scientific attention is focused on studying it. Scientists in Canada now claim to have found that telomeres play a different role in cellular aging than previously thought.

Scientists in Australia have made intriguing discoveries in the genomes of a range of animals. What was initially mistaken for dust on the slides turned out to be “microchromosomes” from an ancient ancestor, present in birds, reptiles and mammals.

The California condor is one of the rarest birds in the world, but nature may be giving the species a leg-up. Scientists have found two condor chicks born from unfertilized eggs, in a form of asexual reproduction that’s extremely uncommon in birds.

Given the fact that they live in an environment full of brown tree trunks and green leaves, giant pandas' black-and-white coloration may seem counterintuitive. According to a new study, however, it really does help them blend into their surroundings.

If you've seen even a single shark documentary, then you've probably heard that the majority of attacks on humans are likely due to sharks mistaking people for seals. Scientists now say they've confirmed that theory, using computer models.

A study found pupils respond in the same way to the number of objects in one’s field of vision as they do to light. Experiments revealed pupils dilate in response to images with more dots, indicating sensing numbers is an innate perceptual mechanism.

By using a nanoscale needle tip to probe the intricate exterior structures of Escherichia coli, scientists have produced the sharpest images ever of living bacteria, which may help us better understand the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.