Pet owners love their dogs but may not always love the smell of their breath. Because this bad odor can signal oral disease, veterinary clinics will prescribe daily tooth brushing, antibiotics or chemical rinses as treatment. Now, researchers reporting in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry propose an alternative: polyphenols from molasses. They developed a spray that reduced stinky breath and harmful oral bacteria in dogs. 

The venom of forest ants and horse ants contains numerous substances that protect the insects from pathogens. Researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and Freie Universität Berlin have succeeded for the first time in identifying and characterising these novel antimicrobial substances in the insects’ venom. These substances are peptides, small protein molecules. The study, published in the journal ‘Science Advances’, provides new insights into nest protection and the management of microbes in insect communities. At the same time, the newly discovered substances could provide fresh impetus for medical drug discovery.

Different beak and jaw shapes are illustrative examples of how animal species have adapted to different food sources. In a new study published in the journal Nature, researchers now show how diet itself shapes the composition of intestinal tissue, using the highly diverse cichlid fishes as an example.

This groundbreaking integrative taxonomic study reveals that a single described ant species in Australia’s monsoonal tropics actually comprises at least 26 genetically and morphologically distinct species, with estimates suggesting the complex contains over 50 species total, challenging long-held assumptions about global ant diversity hotspots.

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University examined how the concept of biodiversity is taught in schools. In a survey of schoolteachers in Hachioji City, Tokyo Prefecture, they found that key topics were being covered extensively and evenly, though omissions of topics like mass extinctions stood out. Importantly, they discovered that personal experiences of nature strongly influenced what teachers chose to highlight. Their findings reveal the challenges of effectively teaching a core component of environmental science.

A new report shows that queen bumblebees are fast learners, able to memorize flower scents more quickly than worker bumblebees. The work could shed light on how cognition first evolved and help scientists preserve a critical ecological link.