News by Subject Biology

Even if fatality rates are at the lower end of expectations -- one percent of virus victims -- it is highly likely that death and bereavement services will be overwhelmed, according to newly-published research by Dr Julia Meaton, Dr Anna Williams and researcher Helen-Marie Kruger.

The Japanese population has long been thought of as genetically homogeneous as a result of limited population mixing. However, an international research team led by Osaka University used novel machine-learning techniques to identify subtle genetic differences within the Japanese population. Regionality was identified among the sub-populations, reflecting the linguistic and cultural differences between regions in Japan. These minute genomic differences were shown to impact genetic prediction of human disease, with implications for personalized medicine.

Common noctules -- one of the largest bat species native to Germany -- are searching for their fellows during their hunt for insects above farmland. Scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) show in a paper published in the journal Oikos that bats forage on their own in insect-rich forests, but hunt collectively in groups over insect-poor farmland.

Longer lives are not only for female humans: Mammalian female's average lifespan is 18.6% longer than that of males. In humans the female advantage is on average 7.8%.

Analysis of human mobility and epidemiological data by a global consortium of researchers, led by the University of Oxford and Northeastern University, shows that human mobility was predictive of the spread of the epidemic in China.

Having bigger brains isn't the only strategy for success for birds adapting to urban habitats. Smaller-brained birds, like pigeons, thrive by reproducing more often. This prioritizes their future reproductive success over their present survival. These two distinct strategies represent ways of thriving within urban environments, and unsurprisingly, both strategies are less common in natural environments. Understanding which birds do well in cities, and which cannot tolerate these environments, is important for conservation efforts.

An international team of scientists found that, like humans, female wild animals tend to live longer than males.