News by Subject Biology

The tendency of dogs to seek contact with their owners is associated with genetic variations in sensitivity for the hormone oxytocin, according to a new study from Linköping University, Sweden. The results have been published in the scientific journal Hormones and Behavior and contribute to our knowledge of how dogs have changed during their development from wolf to household pet.

Whether a community is made up of people who spend their days entirely outside or those who rarely see sunshine, the amount of time residents spend outdoors can affect how Zika virus spreads throughout the population. That's the conclusion of a new study conducted in Miami-Dade County, Fla., and published this week in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Cortisol is generally considered to be a stress hormone because its levels rise during episodes of acute stress. Yet its relationship to chronic stress is less clear. Researchers from the CNRS, Inserm, the universities of Rennes 1 and Caen, in collaboration with the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, have linked lower cortisol levels to states of chronically poor welfare in adult horses observed under their usual living conditions.

After grooming, bees still have pollen on body parts that match the position of flower pollen-sacs and stigmas, according to a study published Sept. 6, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Petra Wester from Heinrich-Heine-University, Germany, and colleagues.

Juvenile male Golden-collared Manakins on extra testosterone cleaned up their display area before performing for females, according to research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama published in Animal Behavior. Female manakins got more aggressive when given testosterone.

The prevention of dengue, the most prevalent mosquito-borne virus in the world, relies heavily on controlling mosquito populations, as the currently available dengue vaccine is only partially effective. Indoor spraying -- which involves spraying of insecticides inside houses -- has the potential to be a key part of those prevention efforts, researchers report in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.