Biology News

November 4, 2025

Top Headlines

Scientists Discover the Nutrient That Supercharges Cellular Energy

Nov. 3, 2025 — Scientists uncovered how the amino acid leucine enhances mitochondrial efficiency by preserving crucial proteins that drive energy production. By downregulating the protein SEL1L, leucine prevents unnecessary degradation and strengthens the cell’s ...

Ancient Viruses Hidden Inside Bacteria Could Help Defeat Modern Infections

Nov. 3, 2025 — Penn State scientists uncovered an ancient bacterial defense where dormant viral DNA helps bacteria fight new viral threats. The enzyme PinQ flips bacterial genes to create protective proteins that block infection. Understanding this mechanism could ...

A “Scary” New Spider Species Found Beneath California’s Beaches

Nov. 2, 2025 — UC Davis scientists uncovered Aptostichus ramirezae, a new trapdoor spider species living under California’s dunes. Genetic analysis revealed it was distinct from its close relative, Aptostichus simus. The species was named after pioneering ...

A New Microscopy Breakthrough Is Revealing the Oceans’ Invisible Life

Nov. 2, 2025 — A pandemic-era breakthrough has allowed scientists to literally expand our view of plankton. By using ultrastructure expansion microscopy, researchers visualized the inner workings of hundreds of marine species for the first time. The effort, tied ...

Soil Microbes Remember Drought and Help Plants Survive

Nov. 2, 2025 — Researchers discovered that soil microbes in Kansas carry drought “memories” that affect how plants grow and survive. Native plants showed stronger responses to these microbial legacies than crops like corn, hinting at co-evolution over time. ...

It Sounds Creepy, but These Scientific Breakthroughs Could Save Lives

Oct. 30, 2025 — From mini-brains to spider-inspired gloves and wolf apple coatings, scientists are turning eerie-sounding experiments into real innovations that could revolutionize health and sustainability. Lab-grown brain organoids may replace animal testing, ...

Scientists Just Found Out How Corals Rebuild Themselves on the Reef

Oct. 29, 2025 — Researchers at QUT uncovered how corals reattach to reefs through a three-phase process involving tissue transformation, anchoring, and skeleton formation. Differences among species reveal why some corals grow and attach faster than others. ...

Antarctic Robot ‘Lassie’ Uncovers Thousands of Icefish Nests Beneath Antarctic Ice

Oct. 29, 2025 — Beneath the ice of Antarctica’s Weddell Sea, scientists discovered a vast, organized city of fish nests revealed after the colossal A68 iceberg broke away. Using robotic explorers, they found over ...

Why Women Live Longer Than Men, Explained by Evolution

Oct. 28, 2025 — An international team of researchers led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, working with 15 collaborators around the world, has conducted the most comprehensive study yet of lifespan differences ...

Scientists Just Found a Surprising Twist in Earth’s Extinction Story

Oct. 27, 2025 — Extinction rates are not spiraling upward as many believe, according to a large-scale study analyzing 500 years of data. Researchers found that species losses peaked about a century ago and have decreased since, with different drivers shaping past ...

Scientists Turn Flower Fragrance Into a Mosquito Killer

Oct. 27, 2025 — A team of researchers has developed a floral-scented fungus that tricks mosquitoes into approaching and dying. The fungus emits longifolene, a natural scent that irresistibly draws them in. It’s harmless to humans, inexpensive to produce, and ...

Hippos Once Roamed Frozen Germany with Mammoths

Oct. 26, 2025 — New research shows that hippos lived in central Europe tens of thousands of years longer than previously thought. Ancient DNA and radiocarbon dating confirm they survived in Germany’s Upper Rhine Graben during a milder Ice Age phase. Closely ...

Latest Headlines

updated 2:30am EST

Ancient Fish With Human-Like Hearing Stuns Scientists

Nov. 3, 2025 — Long ago, some saltwater fish adapted to freshwater — and in doing so, developed an extraordinary sense of hearing rivaling our own. By examining a 67-million-year-old fossil, researchers from UC ...

Scientists in Japan Create a New Wine Grape With a Wild Twist

Nov. 3, 2025 — Okayama scientists have crafted a new wine grape, Muscat Shiragai, merging the wild Shiraga and Muscat of Alexandria. The variety is part of a larger collaboration between academia, industry, and ...

Scientists Teach Bacteria the Octopus’s Secret to Camouflage

Nov. 3, 2025 — Researchers at UC San Diego have figured out how to get bacteria to produce xanthommatin, the pigment that lets octopuses and squids camouflage. By linking the pigment’s production to bacterial ...

Scientists Stunned as Island Spider Loses Half Its Genome

Nov. 2, 2025 — On the Canary Islands, scientists discovered that the spider Dysdera tilosensis has halved its genome size in just a few million years—defying traditional evolutionary theories that predict larger, ...

Scientists Discover 14 Strange New Species Hidden in the Deep Sea

Nov. 2, 2025 — Scientists are revolutionizing how new marine species are described through the Ocean Species Discoveries initiative. Using advanced lab techniques, researchers recently unveiled 14 new species from ...

A Prehistoric Battle Just Rewrote T. Rex’s Story

Nov. 2, 2025 — The debate over Nanotyrannus’ identity is finally over. A remarkably preserved fossil proves it was a mature species, not a teenage T. rex. This discovery rewrites how scientists understand ...

After 25 Years, Scientists Solve the Bird-Eating Bat Mystery

Nov. 2, 2025 — After decades of mystery, scientists have finally proven that Europe’s largest bat, the greater noctule, hunts and eats small songbirds mid-air—more than a kilometer above ground. Using tiny ...

2 Million-Year-Old Teeth Reveal Secrets from the Dawn of Humanity

Nov. 1, 2025 — For decades, Paranthropus robustus has intrigued scientists as a powerful, big-jawed cousin of early humans. Now, thanks to ancient protein analysis, researchers have cracked open new secrets hidden ...

Japan’s New “samurai Jellyfish” Is Simply Stunning

Nov. 1, 2025 — Scientists in Japan have discovered Physalia mikazuki, a previously unknown species of Portuguese man-of-war, in northern waters for the first time. DNA and anatomical analysis confirmed it as ...

This Tiny Bat Hunts Like a Lion, but Better

Nov. 1, 2025 — Fringe-lipped bats from Panama hunt like miniature lions, using a “hang-and-wait” strategy to capture large, energy-rich prey. High-tech biologging revealed they spend most of their time ...

Earlier Headlines

Before Plants or Animals, Fungi Conquered Earth’s Surface

Oct. 28, 2025 — Fungi’s evolutionary roots stretch far deeper than once believed — up to 1.4 billion years ago, long before plants or animals appeared. Using advanced molecular dating and gene transfer analysis, ...

Snake Pee Might Hold the Secret to Ending Gout Pain and Kidney Stones

Oct. 25, 2025 — Reptiles don’t just pee, they crystallize their waste. Researchers found that snakes and other reptiles form tiny uric acid spheres, a water-saving evolutionary trick. This discovery could ...

Humans Evolved Faster Than Any Other Ape

Oct. 29, 2025 — UCL scientists found that human skulls evolved much faster than those of other apes, reflecting the powerful forces driving our brain growth and facial flattening. By comparing 3D models of ape ...

A Hidden Temperature Law Governs All Life on Earth

Oct. 25, 2025 — In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists at Trinity College Dublin have identified a "universal thermal performance curve" that governs how all living organisms respond to temperature. ...

MIT Scientists Discover Hidden 3D Genome Loops That Survive Cell Division

Oct. 24, 2025 — MIT researchers discovered that the genome’s 3D structure doesn’t vanish during cell division as previously thought. Instead, tiny loops called microcompartments remain (and even strengthen) ...

A Hidden Gene Could Triple Wheat Yields

Oct. 19, 2025 — Researchers discovered the gene that gives a rare wheat variety its unusual “triple-grain” trait. When switched on, the gene helps wheat flowers produce extra grain-bearing parts. The finding ...

This Tiny Worm Uses Static Electricity to Hunt Flying Insects

Oct. 15, 2025 — A parasitic worm uses static electricity to launch itself onto flying insects, a mechanism uncovered by physicists and biologists at Emory and Berkeley. By generating opposite charges, the worm and ...

A 151-Million-Year-Old Fly Just Changed What We Know About Evolution

Oct. 15, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered a 151-million-year-old midge fossil in Australia that challenges long-held views about insect evolution. Named Telmatomyia talbragarica, the fossil shows freshwater ...

Atlantic Dolphins Are Dying Much Younger. Scientists Sound the Alarm

Oct. 22, 2025 — Common dolphins in the North Atlantic are living significantly shorter lives, with female longevity dropping seven years since the 1990s. Researchers found this decline by analyzing stranded ...

Scientists Finally Read the Hidden DNA Code That Shapes Disease

Oct. 18, 2025 — EMBL researchers created SDR-seq, a next-generation tool that decodes both DNA and RNA from the same cell. It finally opens access to non-coding regions, where most disease-associated genetic ...

They’re Smaller Than Dust, but Crucial for Earth’s Climate

Oct. 10, 2025 — Coccolithophores, tiny planktonic architects of Earth’s climate, capture carbon, produce oxygen, and leave behind geological records that chronicle our planet’s history. European scientists are ...

How This Odd-Looking Animal Outsmarted Aging

Oct. 20, 2025 — Naked mole-rats seem to have found nature’s cheat code for longevity. Scientists discovered that small tweaks in one of their proteins make it better at fixing DNA damage, helping the animals ...

Scientists Unlock Nature’s Secret to a Cancer-Fighting Molecule

Oct. 9, 2025 — Researchers have cracked the code behind how plants make mitraphylline, a rare cancer-fighting molecule. Their discovery of two critical enzymes explains how nature builds complex spiro-shaped ...

Scientists Discover Orchids Sprouting from Decaying Wood

Oct. 8, 2025 — Kobe University researchers found that orchids rely on wood-decaying fungi to germinate, feeding on the carbon from rotting logs. Their seedlings only grow near deadwood, forming precise fungal ...

Glowing Shark and Hidden Crab Found Deep Off Australia

Oct. 8, 2025 — In a stunning glimpse into the mysteries of the deep, scientists have uncovered two new marine species off Western Australia—a glowing lanternshark and a tiny porcelain crab. The discoveries, made ...

Birds Around the World Share a Mysterious Warning Cry

Oct. 6, 2025 — Birds across the globe independently evolved a shared warning call against parasites, blending instinct and learning in a remarkable evolutionary pattern. The finding offers a rare glimpse into how ...

From Gentle Giants to Ghostly Hunters, Sharks Face an Unseen Peril

Oct. 4, 2025 — New research reveals that deep-sea mining could dramatically threaten 30 species of sharks, rays, and ghost sharks whose habitats overlap with proposed mining zones. Many of these species, already at ...

Hidden for 70 Million Years, a Tiny Fossil Fish Is Rewriting Freshwater Evolution

Oct. 4, 2025 — Researchers in Alberta uncovered a fossil fish that rewrites the evolutionary history of otophysans, which today dominate freshwater ecosystems. The new species, Acronichthys maccognoi, shows early ...

Scientists Uncover a Mysterious Jurassic Lizard With Snake-Like Jaws

Oct. 2, 2025 — A strange Jurassic lizard discovered on Scotland’s Isle of Skye is shaking up what we know about snake evolution. Named Breugnathair elgolensis, the “false snake of Elgol” combined hook-like, ...

The Billion-Year Reign of Fungi That Predated Plants and Made Earth Livable

Oct. 1, 2025 — Fungi may have shaped Earth’s landscapes long before plants appeared. By combining rare gene transfers with fossil evidence, researchers have traced fungal origins back nearly a billion years ...