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Categories: Biology: Zoology, Engineering: Nanotechnology

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A research team has shed new light on the importance of plant roots for below-ground life, particularly in the tropics. Millions of small creatures toiling in a single hectare of soil including earthworms, springtails, mites, insects, and other arthropods are crucial for decomposition and soil health. For a long time, it was believed that leaf litter is the primary resource for these animals. However, this recent study is the first to provide proof that resources derived from plant roots drive soil animal communities in the tropics.

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A new study has shown that bumblebees pick up new 'trends' in their behavior by watching and learning from other bees, and that one form of a behavior can spread rapidly through a colony even when a different version gets discovered.

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Trapped electrons traveling in circular loops at extreme speeds inside graphene quantum dots are highly sensitive to external magnetic fields and could be used as novel magnetic field sensors with unique capabilities, according to a new study.

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Scientists develop method for chemically modifying nanoscale tubes of carbon atoms, so they can host spinning electrons to serve as stable quantum bits in quantum technologies.

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Materials scientists have uncovered a property of ferroelectric 2D materials that could be exploited in future devices.

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Toothed whales, such as dolphins, killer whales and sperm whales communicate and catch food exclusively with sound. Now researchers have for the first time found they evolved a new sound source in their nose that is functionally the same as the human larynx.

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Social animals should limit individuality to conform with the behavior of the group, a study suggests.

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An international team of bee researchers has integrated a calcium sensor into honey bees to enable the study of neural information processing including response to odors. This also provides insights into how social behavior is located in the brain.

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A sense of fairness has long been considered purely human -- but animals also react with frustration when they are treated unequally by a person. In a study with long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), researchers have now confirmed an alternative explanatory approach. A combination of social disappointment with the human experimenter and some degree of food competition best explains their behavior in an 'inequity aversion' experiment.

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Researchers have developed a new drug delivery approach that uses nanoparticles to enable more effective and targeted delivery of anti-cancer drugs to treat brain tumors in children.

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Animal consciousness should not be thought of as a light switch, which can be on or off, philosophers say. They advocate a different approach.

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Bald eagles are often touted as a massive conservation success story due to their rebound from near extinction in the 1960s. But now a highly infectious virus may put that hard-fought comeback in jeopardy. New research showed highly pathogenic avian influenza, also known as H5N1, is killing off unprecedented numbers of mating pairs of bald eagles.

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Scientists have established what could be considered a baseline map of annual avian functional and species diversity patterns in the U.S., finding that functional diversity patterns in the West, where species and functional richness are both highest during the breeding season, are the polar opposite of what is seen in the East, where functional diversity is lowest when species richness is high.

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In early cytological studies chromatids of metaphase chromosomes were suggested to coil into a spiral called chromonema. This assumption was recently supported by chromosomce conformation capture sequencing. Still, the direct visualization of the coiled chromonema confirming the helical model was lacking. Now, an international research team provides the direct proof of the helical coiling of condensed chromatids via super-resolution microscopy of specifically labelled chromonema regions.

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A large Bronze Age debris deposit in Mycenae, Greece provides important data for understanding the history of animal resources at the site, according to a new study.

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A big fish story? Maybe so: The greatest sea monster of the Devonian Period (Dunkleosteus terrelli) may be getting downsized. A new article contents that the famous sea monster of the Age of Fishes may not have neared 30-feet in length, as long believed, but topped off at maybe 13 feet. The new assertion brings attention to a famously fierce looking armored fish from 360 million years ago -- and maybe a new debate.

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Researchers have examined how mulching at different times affects insect flower-visitors and larvae.

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Engineers devised a way to purify protein drugs during manufacturing. Their approach, which uses nanoparticles to rapidly crystallize proteins, could help make protein drugs more affordable and accessible, especially in developing countries.

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From the way that particles scatter light, it is possible to calculate a special light field that can slow these particles down. This is a new and powerful method to cool particles down to extremely low temperatures.

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A tiny robot that could one day help doctors perform surgery was inspired by the incredible gripping ability of geckos and the efficient locomotion of inchworms.