News by Subject Biology

A genus of Australian ants, many of whose members prefer to forage in blistering temperatures of up to 50°C (122°F), is revised to include 74 new species. The ants include seed-eaters, ant and termite raiders, 'honeypot ants' that store nectar and honeydew, and numerous others whose biology is not yet understood. Some are bizarre: one species has eyes like inverted ice-cream cones. The revision is published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

In a major step forward, scientists at CSHLtoday publish a discovery about the molecular-genetic basis of neuronal cell types. Neurons are the basic building blocks that wire up brain circuits supporting mental activities and behavior. The study, which involves sophisticated computational analysis of the messages transcribed from genes that are active in a neuron, points to patterns of cell-to-cell communication as the core feature that makes possible rigorous distinctions among neuron types across the mouse brain.

A new analysis of a well-preserved Neandertal child's skeleton reveals that Neandertals may have had extended period of brain growth compared to modern humans.

Hormones or sexual experience? Which of these is crucial for the onset of puberty? It seems that when rats are touched on their genitals, their brain changes and puberty accelerates. In a new study publishing Sept. 21 in the open access journal PLOS Biology researchers at the Bernstein Center, and Humboldt University, Berlin, led by Constanze Lenschow and Michael Brecht, report that sexual touch might have a bigger influence on puberty than previously thought.

Especially male poison frogs piggyback their offspring to pools in the rainforest. Now, researchers from Vetmeduni Vienna, the University of Vienna and Harvard University showed that this parental behavior can be triggered experimentally. With unrelated tadpoles placed on their backs, male -- and even female -- 'foster parents' behave as if they had picked up the tadpoles themselves. This showed for the first time that an external stimulus triggers complex behaviors in amphibians.

Scientists at ITbM, Nagoya University have synthesized a new bioactive small molecule that has the ability to increase stomata numbers on flowering plants without stunting their growth. The team's new discovery could help elucidate the stomatal development mechanism in plants.