Researchers led by the University of Tsukuba have found that adult Xenoturbella bocki release gametes through ruptures in their body wall. The adult worms were induced to spawn in the laboratory. Observations and morphological analysis revealed that spawning occurs in the winter and that gametes likely begin to mature on the gut before release into the water through newly opened ruptures. These findings provide a basis for developmental studies that could elucidate the evolutionary history of Xenoturbella species.

Kyoto University researchers have identified two new extant species of Semisulcospira, a highly divergent freshwater snail endemic to Japan's largest body of fresh water. Their findings come about despite a discordance between the shell morphology and the current definition of the species Semisulcospira decipiens.

Pro-environmental behavior (PEB) can help facilitate sustainable development, and PEB intervention strategies are developed to guarantee PEB effects. However, in most cases PEB intervention is attached less importance than environmental education. There is no specific programming for PEB intervention, and a full-cycle framework for planning and design that includes site operation and maintenance stages is still absent. Based on literature review and the authors’ experience on environment education activities, this article summarizes the PEB intervention strategies applicable to landscape planning and design, and comes up with a planning and design framework for environmental education sites, which consists of stages of site investigation, PEB intervention planning, development of design briefs, facility planning and design, maintenance and management programming, post-occupancy evaluation, and adjustment. The framework would provide guidance for the landscape planners and designers to improve PEB intervention effects, and offer new insights and tools for site operators and researchers.

Puberty often begins early for children who are obese. While there is nothing new about this fact, a scientific explanation has been elusive. Now, a team of scientists at the University of Copenhagen offers what may be a partial explanation.

Ruminants like cows have developed an unusual way of digesting their food: they ingest plants, give them a rough chewing and then swallow the half-chewed mash before regurgitating it repeatedly and continuing to chew. This has clear advantages, as a research team including the University of Göttingen has shown: the regurgitated mushy food contains much less hard grit, sand and dust than the food that they first ingested. This protects the teeth from being ground down during the chewing process. This may explain why the crowns of the teeth of ruminants are less pronounced than those of other herbivores. The findings have been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS).