ScienceDaily: Plants & Animals News

Sleep study on a troop of wild baboons reveals that sacrificing sleep to meet pressing demands is common -- and might even be part of our evolutionary history.

Using a unique hydrogel, scientists have created a solar-driven system that successfully grows spinach by using water drawn from the air while producing electricity. The proof-of-concept design offers a sustainable, low-cost strategy to improve food and water security for people living in dry-climate regions.

Genes jumping from microbes to green algae hundreds of millions of years ago might have driven the evolution of land plants, researchers report. Their analysis reveals that hundreds of genes from bacteria, fungi, and viruses have been integrated into plants, giving them desirable traits for a terrestrial life.

A new study suggests genetic material from E. coli bacteria in farm animals could be contributing to the evolution of deadly strains of E. coli in humans.

Scientists have published the first record of a Noble False Widow spider feeding on a protected species of Pipistrelle bats in the UK. The new study demonstrates that False Widow spiders continue to impact native species.

Small particles from tires inhibited the growth and caused adverse behavioral changes in organisms found in freshwater and coastal estuary ecosystems, two new research papers found.

The ability of rice plants to modify their root systems to adapt to the surrounding soil water conditions is a great example of a phenomenon called phenotype plasticity. However, the exact mechanism behind this remained unknown. Now researchers have determined the role of two WUSCHEL-related homeobox (WOX) genes in controlling the root primordium size in lateral roots.