Latest science news in Biology & Nature
What is a mushroom really? Two titans of the wellness world duke it out
Paul Stamets and Jeff Chilton began as friends, their collaboration leading to the rise of medicinal mushroom supplements. Until they disagreed on one important thing: the definition of mushroom.
Measles on the rise in California: More cases so far this year than all of 2024
California has already reported more measles cases this year than in all of 2024, a worrisome development that comes as the nation is suffering its largest outbreak of the super-infectious...
Indigenous funeral urns discovered on human-made islands in Amazon rainforest
Giant ceramic pots made centuries to millennia ago were found to hold human bones, while others held a mixture of seeds and the remains of fish, frogs and turtles.
'It is our obligation to future generations': Scientists want thousands of human poop samples for microbe 'doomsday vault'
The founders of the Microbiota Vault, a project that aims to preserve microbial diversity, have announced that they are ready to grow their frozen microbe collection to 10,000 samples by...
Orcas filmed making out in the wild for first time
Footage captures a pair of orcas nibbling each other's tongues in the Kvænangen fjords in northern Norway. Scientists think this rarely seen behavior could play a role in social bonding.
Science news this week: A unique new blood type and 'spiderwebs' on Mars
June 28, 2025: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.
Are cats the only animals that purr?
Everyone knows what a happy cat sounds like. But are they the only animals that purr?
Dwarf sperm whale: The 'pint-size whales' that gush gallons of intestinal fluid when surprised
The smallest species of whale tricks its predators by gushing red gallons of red fluid into the water when under attack
Which animals can count and understand simple math?
Many animals have a sense of quantity, but they don't count or do math the way humans do.
New viruses identified in bats in China
Bats found near orchards harbor pathogens that could be passed to livestock or humans.
Scientists discover never-before-seen part of human cells — and it looks like a snowman wearing a scarf
Scientists say they captured 3D images of a new organelle they're calling a "hemifusome," which may be a recycling center in human cells.
Bear's new metal tooth is world's biggest-ever crown
Lake Superior Zoo in Minnesota announced it has given a brown bear the world's largest dental crown, with the bear now sporting a silver-colored metal canine
Watch: Bill Hader causes chaos in 'The Cat in the Hat' teaser trailer
Warner Bros. released a teaser trailer for "The Cat in the Hat," an animated film starring Bill Hader as the voice of the icon Dr. Seuss character.
Miami Dolphins trade for tight end Darren Waller
The Miami Dolphins agreed to trade a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft to the New York Giants in exchange for tight end Darren Waller and a seventh-round...
Summit Supercomputer Draws Molecular Blueprint for Repairing Damaged DNA
Researchers at Georgia State University used the Summit supercomputer to study an elaborate molecular pathway called nucleotide excision repair, or NER. They built a computer model of a critical NER...
Spotiphy Integrative Analysis Tool Turns Spatial RNA Sequencing Into Imager
Spatial transcriptomics is a cutting-edge technique that characterizes gene expression within sections of tissue, such as heart, skin or liver tissue. Scientists at St. Jude and the University of Wisconsin-Madison...
MSU Study Reveals Dopamine's Unexpected Role in Memory Devaluation
EAST LANSING, Mich. - New research out of Michigan State University expands on current understanding of the brain chemical dopamine, finding that it plays a role in reducing the value...
Apprehension of migrants at border reach all-time low of 300 per day in February
U.S. Customs and Border Protection in February apprehended 8,347 migrants attempting to cross the southern border, the lowest in history, as arrests of undocumented people in the nation are rising.
Scientists create method for designing proteins that can bind and sense a range of small molecules
From growth hormones to cancer drugs, small molecules play a crucial role in our health. Monitoring them is essential to keeping us healthy; it enables physicians to calculate dosages and...
Genome editing technique enables partial inhibition of gene function in crops
Researchers at Kumamoto University have successfully executed a practical trial of a new genome-editing technique that allows for the partial inhibition of essential gene function without causing lethality. This innovative...
How UV radiation triggers a cellular rescue mission
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun is a well-known cause of DNA damage, which can lead to diseases like skin cancer. But how do our cells repair this damage to...
Scientists explain energy transfer mechanism in chloroplasts and its evolution
A recent study by Chinese scientists has revealed the intricate molecular machinery driving energy exchange within chloroplasts, shedding light on a key event in the evolution of plant life. Led...
What pesticides do to bumble bee brains depends on dose and timing, study reveals
Pesticides, widely used to protect crops from pests, often unintentionally harm pollinators like bumble bees. A new study, published in BMC Biology, has investigated the effects of three common pesticides—acetamiprid,...
New species of killifish from Kenya already critically endangered
A critically endangered new species of killifish sampled from an ancient forest in Kenya in 2017 and 2018 has been described in the journal Zootaxa. Nothobranchius sylvaticus, from the Latin...
Watch: 'Lilo & Stitch' live-action remake gets trailer
Disney is previewing its live-action remake of the 2002 animated film "Lilo & Stitch."
East Asian human gene that allows adult humans to digest sugars in milk likely came from Neanderthals
A small team of computational and evolutionary biologists from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhongshan Hospital and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, reports that unique lactase...
We found 6 Easter eggs in the 'Alien: Earth' shorts revealed at SXSW 2025... at least we hope they're just Easter eggs
From malevolent computers to Arcturian shore leave, here are all the callbacks and references we spotted in these short clips.
Real-time tracking reveals aromaticity-driven molecular shape changes
Scientists have achieved the first real-time visualization of how excited-state aromaticity emerges within just hundreds of femtoseconds and then triggers a molecule to change from bent to planar structure in...