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433 news posts in Life sciences

Life sciences

16 Jun 2025

“Chicken is her favorite dish. If one clucks, she comes”: how anacondas, chickens, and locals may be able to coexist in the Amazon

Dr Beatriz Cosendey is the author of a recently published Frontiers in Amphibian and Reptile Science article. In it, she and co-authors investigated the role of the anaconda as a mythical creature in Brazil’s Lower Amazon region, locals’ perception of the snake, and how better coops for chickens could play a vital role in the peaceful co-existence of people and snakes.

Life sciences

13 Jun 2025

Swarm intelligence directs longhorn crazy ants to clear the road ahead for sisters carrying bulky food

Scientists studied the obstacle-clearing behavior of longhorn crazy ants, where a subset of workers temporarily specializes in removing tiny objects blocking the path between the nest and large food items. Experiments revealed that serial clearing behavior can be triggered by a single pheromone mark, which happened to be deposited near an obstacle by a forager recruited to a large food item. Clearing mostly occurs in the context of collective transport, which typically stalls in front of obstacles. The authors concluded that obstacle-clearing is a form of ‘swarm intelligence’ which emerges at the colony level, and which does not require understanding by individual ants.

Life sciences

21 May 2025

Biodiversity in Antarctic soils may be greatly underestimated after surprising discovery

Researchers used high-throughput DNA sequencing to measure biodiversity along a transect – a succession from recently exposed to mature soil – in front of a glacier in Antarctica. To capture a detailed ecological ‘time sequence’ they distinguished between intracellular and extracellular DNA from living versus dead or locally extinct species. They found an abundance of previously unsuspected interactions between eukaryotes and prokaryotes, eg, algae with heterotrophic bacteria and fungi with actinobacteria. The results imply that novel mutualistic interactions play an essential role in shaping this system, and that biodiversity in Antarctica may be much greater than previously thought.

Life sciences

10 Apr 2025

How to protect bumblebee colonies safe from killer moths? Keep honeybee hives away from them

Researchers have shown for the first time that bumblebee colonies are more likely to become infested with bumblebee wax moths as they are closer to nearby honeybee hives, which can likewise host these potentially devastating parasites. As the distance to the apiaries decreased, bumblebee colonies were less productive, while their workers showed a weaker general immune response to pathogens and parasites. The authors advise honeybee keepers to keep apiaries away from habitats rich in bumblebees, which are important pollinators but declining worldwide.

Life sciences

26 Mar 2025

Tadpoles try to flee dangerous virus in their pond by growing much faster than normal

Researchers from the US studied the plasticity in growth and development of wood frog larvae in response to the emerging disease ranavirus, which can kill off the entire population of ponds. They showed that tadpoles in infected ponds speed up the rate of growth and progression through the immature stages. They hypothesize that this plasticity boosts their physical condition and hence immune response to ranavirus, and allows them to metamorphose earlier and escape infection.