82 results
- Life
Lost genes may help explain how vampire bats survive on blood alone
The 13 identified genes underpin a range of physiological and behavioral strategies that the bats have evolved.
- Animals
Tuskless elephants became common as an evolutionary response to poachers
After poachers tore through a Mozambican elephant population, tuskless females tripled in number as humans altered the species’s evolutionary trajectory.
- Microbes
Drug-resistant bacteria evolved on hedgehogs long before the use of antibiotics
A standoff between bacteria and antibiotic-producing fungi living on hedgehogs may have led to the rise of one type of MRSA some 200 years ago.
- Animals
A gene defect may make rabbits do handstands instead of hop
Mutations in a gene typically found throughout the nervous system rob rabbits of their ability to hop. Instead, the animals walk on their front paws.
- Animals
How a gecko named Mr. Frosty could help shed new light on skin cancer
The distinctive coloring and skin tumors of a type of gecko called Lemon Frost have been pegged to a gene implicated in human skin cancer.
- Life
Some songbirds now migrate east to west. Climate change may play a role
In recent decades, more Richard's pipits are wintering in Europe than before. It may signal the establishment of a totally new migration route.
- Animals
Mouse sperm thrived despite six years of exposure to space radiation
A space station experiment suggests future deep-space explorers don’t need to worry about passing the effects of space radiation on to their children.
- Animals
A mink in Utah is the first known case of the coronavirus in a wild animal
A U.S. mink is so far the only known free-ranging animal to have contracted the coronavirus and likely got infected from a nearby mink farm.
- Animals
Why mammals like elephants and armadillos might get drunk easily
Differences in a gene for breaking down alcohol could help explain which mammals get tipsy.
- Health & Medicine
How two coronavirus drugs for cats might help humans fight COVID-19
Scientists are exploring if drugs for a disease caused by a coronavirus that infects only cats might help also people infected with the coronavirus.
- Animals
Some dog breeds may have trouble breathing because of a mutated gene
Norwich terriers don’t have flat snouts, but can suffer the same wheezing as bulldogs. It turns out that a gene mutation tied to swelling could be to blame.
- Genetics
Tweaking one gene with CRISPR switched the way a snail shell spirals
The first gene-edited snails confirm which gene is responsible for the direction of the shell’s spiral.
