A Stanford-led study of a marine worm’s metamorphosis found surprising signs that the original larval cells didn’t just die or assume the same role in the adult organism—most of them changed to serve another purpose.

Comparisons between macaque, chimpanzee, and human brains reveal which aspects of self-processing brain architecture are conserved and which aspects have reorganized during evolution.

Kyoto, Japan -- The Japanese island of Tsushima is home to the Tsushima leopard cat, a critically endangered species that can only be found on this isolated island. The most recent government survey estimated the population to be only around 150 individuals, and since domestic cats also inhabit the same landscape, introgression is a legitimate conservation concern.

That's why a team of researchers from Kyoto University became worried when, during a field survey, they spotted at least three Tsushima leopard cats with shortened tails, a trait relatively common in domestic cats but that had not yet been observed in leopard cats. The team was able to capture one of these cats for examination and discovered that its tail was half the normal length. This motivated them to investigate whether this tail abnormality reflected recent domestic cat ancestry, or a variation arising within the leopard cat population.

"An unusual phenotype can immediately raise concerns about hybridization, but we wanted to determine objectively what the genome actually tells us before drawing conclusions from appearance alone," says first author Yuki Matsumoto*.

Scientists have discovered that one of the most unusual creatures in the animal kingdom is far more diverse and evolutionarily complex than previously known. An international team led by the University of Göttingen has reconstructed the evolutionary history of branching marine worms – rare annelids that live hidden inside sea sponges and whose bodies branch repeatedly into multiple posterior ends. Until now, only three species of branching worms have been identified. By combining DNA sequencing of museum specimens with newly collected specimens and detailed anatomical analyses, the researchers discovered ten new species and solved a long-standing puzzle dating back to the nineteenth century. The results were published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Satellite measurements detected declining photosynthetic activity in Western U.S. forests two years before bark-beetle mortality appeared in aerial detection surveys, according to new University of Utah-led research. The first-of-its-kind study suggests that satellite-observed chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), a measure of plant photosynthesis, could provide an early warning of forest stress. As drought, wildfire and insect outbreaks occur with increasing frequency across the American West, the technology could also help scientists understand how these disturbances affect forests’ ability to absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere.

With their slender bodies and long front legs, Miracinonyx trumani—often nicknamed the “American cheetah”—was long thought to be a North American analog of the African big cat. But in a new study publishing September 4 in the Cell Press journal Current Biology, researchers reveal that the extinct cat was more closely related to pumas. Some populations living near the Arctic preyed almost exclusively on fish, challenging the long-held assumption that these “cheetahs” chased fast-running prey, such as pronghorns. 

A Virginia Tech-led study of people who feed birds in the United States and Canada found that most believed feeding and watching birds had a positive effect on their well-being. The study also identified three ways people described that connection: through emotions, engagement, and a sense of meaning.