A team has discovered how certain bacteria breathe by generating electricity, using a natural process that pushes electrons into their surroundings instead of breathing on oxygen. The findings could enable new developments in clean energy and industrial biotechnology.
How ‘Parks for Bugs’ Boost Pollinators in Vancouver
As the days get longer and gardeners plan their spring planting, research from the University of British Columbia offers some good news this Earth Day: small, simple changes to urban green spaces can make a big difference for pollinators.
Satellites a Solution for Tracking Coral Reef Health
Satellites orbiting Earth offer great potential to better understand the world’s reefs over time beyond the sites visited by researchers, The University of Queensland research has found.
Rhythmically trained sea lion returns for an encore — and performs as well as humans
Animal research on biomusicality, which looks at whether different species are capable of behaving in ways that show they recognize aspects of music, including rhythm and beat, remains a tantalizing field at the intersection of biology and psychology. Now, the highly trained California sea lion who achieved global fame for...
Ptero firma: Footprints pinpoint when ancient flying reptiles conquered the ground
A new study links fossilized flying reptile tracks to animals that made them. Fossilized footprints reveal a 160-million-year-old invasion as pterosaurs came down from the trees and onto the ground. Tracks of giant ground-stalkers, comb-jawed coastal waders, and specialized shell crushers, shed light on how pterosaurs lived, moved, and evolved.
Keeping Tabs on Native Forests
Like farmland in Australia, native forests struggle with drought and flooding, so future management decisions need more sophisticated systems to monitor and manage their water needs.
Extreme Rainfall – A Long-Standing Hypothesis on Temperature Dependence Finally Settled?
Flash floods resulting from extreme rainfall pose a major risk to people and infrastructure, especially in urban areas.
FAU Joins First Global Effort to Map Microplastics in Ocean Systems
Marine plastic pollution is a global crisis, with 9 to 14 million metric tons of plastic entering the ocean every year.
Geobiology: Iron, sulfur, heat — and first life
The very first cells obtained their energy from geochemical reactions. Researchers have now managed to recreate this ancient metabolic process in their laboratory.
Zoo life boosts object exploration in orangutans
A new study comparing wild and zoo-housed Sumatran orangutans reveals that life in a zoo significantly alters how orangutans interact with their environment. Researchers analyzed over 12,000 instances of daily exploratory object manipulation (EOM) -- the active manipulation and visual inspection of objects associated with learning and problem-solving -- across...