A bird’s flying ability depends on the keel, a breastbone structure that anchors the muscles needed for flight. Researchers at Kyushu University found that a signaling pathway called TGF-β determines whether the keel forms. In flying birds, the signal stays active long enough to build it; in flightless birds, it turns off earlier. The study shows how small shifts in developmental timing can drive major evolutionary differences and may inform research on human chest deformities.

The effects of the Iran war on the oil market have brought renewed attention to the EU’s plans for domestic production of fossil-free aviation fuels. But EU rules for synthetic aviation fuels risk steering development towards production pathways that are both more expensive and more energy-intensive than necessary – making it harder to meet climate targets. This is shown in a recent study from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, that has analysed different methods for producing synthetic methanol.

An international team of scientists has discovered that methane hydrates beneath the northwest Greenland continental shelf became rapidly destabilised by meltwater, releasing large stores of methane during ice-sheet retreat across the continental shelf.

A new type of long-necked plant-eating dinosaur – the largest ever found in Southeast Asia – has been revealed in a study led by researchers at University College London (UCL), Mahasarakham University, Suranaree University of Technology and Sirindhorn Museum in Thailand.

A group of researchers in the UK have shown how the distributions of Pseudo-nitzschia and Dinophysis - two phytoplankton groups known to produce natural toxins that can halt shellfish harvesting – have changed in the North East Atlantic over the last six decades. The research was led by scientists from the University of Plymouth and the Marine Directorate of the Scottish Government, in conjunction with Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), the Marine Biological Association (MBA), and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS).

We don’t have time to count every fish in the ocean! Environmental DNA or eDNA allows us to see where fish live by analyzing DNA in seawater – such as from shed scales or skin. This Japan-wide eDNA survey conducted by the Advanced Institute for Marine Ecosystem Change (WPI-AIMEC), Tohoku University & JAMSTEC, revealed hidden factors of the ecological niches that affect shifts in fish distributions. 

Male strepsipterans develop inside a host insect during their larval stage and, upon reaching the adult stage, emerge from the host body to begin a free-living phase. In this study, researchers at University of Tsukuba directly observed the emergence behavior of male strepsipterans parasitizing stink bugs, where emergence sites are concealed beneath the host's wings, and found that, during emergence, the host exhibits a characteristic wing-raising behavior.