ScienceDaily: Plants & Animals News

The fossil of a still-unnamed species provides the first known record of the abelisaurid group of theropods from a middle Cretaceous-aged (approximately 98 million years old) rock unit known as the Bahariya Formation, which is exposed in the Bahariya Oasis of the Western Desert of Egypt.

Using radio transmitters, scientists have gained new insights into the behavior of medium ground finches in the Galapagos Islands. A study reveals daily movement patterns covering an area equivalent to the size of 30 soccer fields.

Research has revealed that an abrupt change in climate conditions in the North Atlantic around 800 years ago played a role in a decline in Atlantic salmon populations returning to rivers. Subsequent human exploitation of salmon combined to reduce their populations still further.

As the cherished rainforest in South America's Amazon River region continues to shrink, the river itself now presents evidence of other dangers: the overexploitation of freshwater fish.

A new tool can quickly and reliably identify the presence of Ebola virus in blood samples, according to a new study. The technology, which uses so-called optical microring resonators, potentially could be developed into a rapid diagnostic test for the deadly Ebola virus disease, which kills up to 89% of infected people.

In the early 1960s scientists deciphered the genetic code of life, determining the rules by which information in DNA molecules is translated into proteins, the working parts of living cells. They identified three-letter units in DNA sequences, known as codons, that specify each of the 20 amino acids that make up proteins. Occasionally, single-letter misspellings in the genetic code, known as point mutations, occur. Point mutations that alter the resulting protein sequences are called nonsynonymous mutations, while those that do not alter protein sequences are called silent or synonymous mutations. Between one-quarter and one-third of point mutations in protein-coding DNA sequences are synonymous. Ever since the genetic code was cracked, those mutations have generally been assumed to be neutral, or nearly so.

Using advanced microscopy techniques, researchers have visualized in unprecedented detail the machinery that the cells' powerhouses, the mitochondria, use to form their proteins. The results raise hopes of more specific antibiotics and new cancer drugs in the future.

Researchers have found that symbolic species could be used for the conservation and community-based management of traditional forest landscapes. The team studied how different social groups within a local community valued wild cherry trees, a symbolic species important for connecting people with nature in Japan. The results indicated that differences in knowledge and prioritization of values must be addressed within local communities to promote community-based management of such landscapes.

Otters learn skills from each other -- but they also solve some mysteries alone, new research shows.

What's the relationship between people's perception of beauty and animals' conservation needs? According to a machine-learning study, the reef fishes that people find most beautiful tend to be the lowest priority for conservation support.

Researchers found that administration of the drug rapamycin in mice was associated with increased beta-amyloid plaques. This is one of the hallmark pathologies of Alzheimer's disease. The study authors caution that rapamycin's effects in beta-amyloid-associated Alzheimer's must be studied more carefully.

Initiatives using non-native tree species can impact tropical insects in neighbouring forests, according to an international study.

A new synthesis method offers hope for creation of advance mRNA vaccines to fight viruses and even cancers.

A new study in hamsters and human tissue samples provides a better understanding of how the pandemic virus causes depression, anxiety, and the loss of concentration known as 'brain fog' in patients that develop long COVID.

New research has found that Pseudomonas bacterium develops resistance much faster than usual to a common 'last-resort' antibiotic.

A combined defense of different chemical defense substances could result in a negative interaction and mutual detoxification, according to a new study on the wild tobacco species Nicotiana attenuata and one of its specialized herbivores. Chemical analyses of frass revealed that larvae of the tobacco hawkmoth Manduca sexta are able to split off components of one defense substance and use them to detoxify another. However, tobacco plants have also developed a counter-strategy to minimize the mutual detoxification of their defenses: They avoid producing the two substances involved in detoxification simultaneously in high concentrations.

Sepsis, the body's overreaction to an infection, affects more than 1.5 million people and kills at least 270,000 every year in the U.S. alone. The standard treatment of antibiotics and fluids is not effective for many patients, and those who survive face a higher risk of death. Researchers have reported a new nanoparticle-based treatment that delivers anti-inflammatory molecules and antibiotics.