Researchers at Tulane University, Stanford University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have discovered an antibody system never before documented in mammals. Vesper bats, a family encompassing more than 500 species, possess two distinct sets of antibody-producing genes, while every other known mammal has only one. Published in Science Advances, the findings reveal a previously unknown source of immune diversity that could help scientists investigate how bats coexist with viruses without becoming seriously ill.

U-M researchers discover an entire world of fungi nearly a third of a mile underground

Plantations of native fine-flavour cacao in countries like Peru have become rare due to the dominance of high-yielding cacao varieties for mass production. This threatens the valuable native cacao crop’s genetic diversity. An international research team, led by the University of Göttingen and Bioversity International, studied the use of selected genotypes of the native variety “Blanco de Piura”, known by local farmers for their high productivity, for grafting fully grown cacao trees. The researchers found that grafted trees yielded 59% more than non-grafted controls after three years. They also quantified the contribution of management practices, as well as plantation designs using either one or multiple clones of the native cacao variety. Results were published in the journal Agronomy for Sustainable Development.

Scientists created an AI system to automate behavioral studies of capuchins monkeys in the wild. The novel method provides a roadmap for the first scalable, systematic way to evaluate and monitor the cognitive abilities of wild primates.

An international research team has discovered the earliest known siphuncle-bearing cephalopod from the early Cambrian of South China, providing new insights into the group’s early origin and evolutionary history.

A remarkably preserved fossil from Mongolia’s Gobi Desert is reshaping scientists’ understanding of mammal evolution during the age of dinosaurs. The new species reveals that a group of extinct mammals known as zhelestids were not close relatives of modern placental mammals as many researchers thought for decades.

NYU researchers have made microscopic oil droplets in water do something usually reserved for living cells: change shape in complex, controllable ways, and even engulf their surroundings. 

The findings, published in Nature Communications, show that some of life's signature behaviors—like morphing into complex shapes and capturing material—can emerge from physics and chemistry alone, without genes, proteins, or active cellular machinery.