A research team led by Nick Strausfeld at the University of Arizona made an unexpected discovery: The brain of Jiangfengia, a creature that lived in the lower Cambrian, is very similar to that of living crustaceans. This places the extinct animal in the ancestry of insects and crustaceans, not spiders and their relatives, as had been previously assumed.

Humans could learn a thing or two from orangutans when it comes to maintaining a balanced, protein-filled diet.            Great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia, orangutans are marvels of adaptation to the vagaries of food supply in the wild, according to an international team of researchers led by a Rutgers University-New Brunswick scientist. The critically endangered primates outshine modern humans in avoiding obesity through their balanced choices of food and exercise, the scientists found.                                                                                                                                                  The researchers reported their findings, based on 15 years of firsthand observations of wild orangutans in the jungles of Borneo, in Science Advances.

Kyoto, Japan -- Periodical cicadas have one of the strangest life cycles in the animal kingdom. The 17-year cicadas spend 99.5% of their lives underground in an undeveloped nymph state, which is the longest strictly regulated juvenile period among insects.

Then in the spring of their 17th year, they simultaneously emerge and the males scream above ground for their four to six week-long adult life. Exactly how these insects are able to control when they mature and emerge has remained a mystery.

The long life cycle of periodical cicadas makes rearing nymphs for study extremely difficult. Recently, however, a collaborative team of researchers from both Japan and the United States, including a team from Kyoto University, was motivated to tackle this conundrum.

New study tracked eight bumble bee species in the wild across eight years. Scientists recorded which flowers bees visited and calculated macronutrients in pollen from 35 flower species. They found bee species occupy two distinct diet groups: one prefers protein and another prefers fat and carbs. Findings could help conservationists design pollinator gardens with flowers that meet bees’ nutritional needs.

New research warns of declining access to safe, reliable and affordable water in the U.S., urging for better water tracking tools and immediate policy reforms.