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Biology

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 22-Dec-2025 10:11 ET (22-Dec-2025 15:11 GMT/UTC)

Cockatoos perform 30 distinct dance moves and may combine them in unique ways

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Captive cockatoos have at least 30 different dance moves in their repertoire, including headbanging and body rolls, according to a study by Natasha Lubke at Charles Sturt University in Australia, and colleagues, publishing August 6, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One. The moves, of which 17 are newly identified, may be performed with or without music.

Journal: PLOS One

Centuries after discovery, red blood cells still hold surprises

University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that red blood cells, not just platelets, actively contribute to the contraction of blood clots. This finding challenges long-standing assumptions about clot biology and could lead to new ways of diagnosing and treating clotting disorders, strokes and conditions like thrombocytopenia, where platelet counts are dangerously low.

Journal: Blood Advances
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association

Early heartbeats direct the heart’s own development and growth

The Francis Crick Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have discovered that the heart’s own contractions trigger biological signals that guide the formation of a functional beating heart. Their study in zebrafish highlights the heart’s ability to remodel and adapt to physiological demands and could also reveal what goes wrong during congenital heart conditions.

Journal: Developmental Cell

Changes to El Niño occurrence causing widespread tropical insect and spider declines

Griffith University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Study finds changes to El Niño are linked to significant biodiversity loss in multiple types of tropical forest arthropod, including butterflies, beetles and spiders.

Journal: Nature

Big heart, acute senses key to explosive radiation of early fishes

University of Chicago
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An international team led by scientists from the Canadian Museum of Nature and the University of Chicago reconstructed the brain, heart, and fins of an extinct fish called Norselaspis glacialis from a tiny fossil the size of fingernail and found evidence of change toward a fast-swimming, sensorily attuned lifestyle well before jaws and teeth were invented to better capture food.

Journal: Nature

Disarming a hidden killer: Predicting – and preventing – C. diff before it strikes

Institute for Systems Biology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the Institute for Systems Biology have developed personalized computational models that predict whether Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) can colonize a person’s gut – and how tailored probiotics could stop it. The study, published in Cell Systems, marks a step toward precision microbiome therapies that proactively prevent life-threatening infections before they start.

Journal: Cell Systems

Getting sticky: The highest-performing underwater adhesive hydrogel polymer

Hokkaido University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Inspired by biology, researchers have achieved the highest performing underwater adhesive hydrogel technology to date through a data mining and machine learning approach.

Journal: Nature