News by Subject Biology

The magnetotactic bacterium Magnetococcus marinus swims with the help of two bundles of flagella, which are thread-like structures. This bacterium possesses a sort of intracellular 'compass needle' and their movements can be controlled using a magnetic field. So they can be used as a biological model for microrobots. An international team with participation from the University of Göttingen has investigated how these bacteria move and determined their swimming speed. The results were published in the journal eLife.

A team of the University of Barcelona has studied for the first time the presence of microplastics in the coasts of Barcelona, with the collaboration of the citizens gathering scientific samples. The study, published in the journal Science of Total Environment, is a pioneer citizen science study worldwide, since it analyses a hard-access area for oceanography research ships, due its too shallow depth and chance to run aground, and the danger it involves regarding swimmers.

Scientists have discovered the earliest known example of an animal evolving to lose body parts it no longer needed.

Oikopleura dioica, a tadpole-like tunicate, shows a left-right patterning strategy that is distinct from other chordates, with left-right asymmetry emerging in the four-cell embryo. Osaka University researchers found that the O. dioica genome lacks the Nodal gene associated with left-right patterning in other chordates, and that Ca2+ oscillation and bone morphogenetic protein (Bmp) gene expression determine its nonconventional left-right patterning, with the tail twisted 90° counterclockwise relative to the trunk.

When it comes to the smallest of creatures, the hydrogen bonds that hold water molecules together to form 'surface tension' lend enough strength to support their mass: think of insects that skip across the surface of water. But what happens to small creatures that dwell below the surface of the water? For tadpoles, they do something called bubble-sucking.

Functional metrics in ecology -- indicators based on the biological features of the organisms, in this case, water invertebrates -- could help researchers to detect the impacts of human origins in temporary rivers.

As the hitchhikers of the marine world, the remora fish is well known for getting free rides by gripping onto hosts with its suction disc, a highly modified dorsal fin on its head. Now, work investigating the suction disc -- appearing Feb. 26 in the journal Matter -- reveals that one of the secrets to the fish's strong grip lies within the unique architecture of the lip of the disc.