Life sciences
20 Aug 2025
Majority of living species concentrated among few disproportionately rich groups with high rates of diversification, shows first-of-its-kind study
Life sciences
18 Aug 2025
Dr Jake Johnson is the first author of a new Frontiers in Veterinary Science article that describes a rare case study of the treatment of a lethargic and unresponsive chihuahua who visited the vet’s for treatment. We talked to Johnson about his career and a particular four-legged patient that ingested cocaine.
Life sciences
14 Aug 2025
Scientists found scat from river otters teeming with parasites that infect otters’ prey, suggesting that otters may be important players in local food webs
Life sciences
29 Jul 2025
A study on savannah-living chimpanzees suggests the need to move safely on thin tree branches could explain why early hominins that could walk upright kept their tree-climbing adaptations.
Life sciences
16 Jun 2025
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
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
04 Jun 2025
June 8 marks World Ocean Day and people from all corners of the planet come together to protect and restore our blue planet. To celebrate, we’re highlighting five recently published Frontiers articles on the ocean and the fantastic animals that live there.
Life sciences
03 Jun 2025
Scientists find new markers to identify species from fragments of fossilized bone and help us understand mysterious megafauna extinctions
Life sciences
02 Jun 2025
Dr Mary Elizabeth Livingston looks back on a life-long career in marine science. She is the author of a new Frontiers in Ocean Sustainability article in which she chronicles the highs and lows of her career, changes in the field, and what has remained the same.
Life sciences
29 May 2025
Oceanic whitetip and tiger sharks peacefully co-fed on a carcass close to Hawaii’s Big Island. Such extremely rare observations could help scientists understand shark ecology better.
Life sciences
23 May 2025
Dr Vladimir Dinets, a zoologist who studies animal behavior, ecology, and conservation, is the author of a recently published Frontiers in Ethology article that documents the impressive adaptation of an avian newcomer to the city. A Cooper’s hawk appears to have learned how to use traffic signals and strike at smaller birds precisely when cars at an intersection lined up.
Life sciences
21 May 2025
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
14 May 2025
Scientists observed chimpanzees in Uganda apparently cleaning and treating their own and others’ wounds.
Life sciences
02 May 2025
Researchers found a centuries-old mummy from Austria exceptionally well preserved – likely the result of a never-before reported embalming method using wood chips, twigs, fabric, and zinc chloride
Life sciences
25 Apr 2025
Researchers examined shark bites in French Polynesia and found, for the first time, that some sharks may bite in self-defense when their survival instinct kicks in
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