A new study led by an Iowa State University evolutionary biologist suggests an antenna-like cellular sensor that’s a growing focus in human health could play a central role in how turtles become male or female, which in most species is based on incubation temperature.

Diallyl disulfide is an organosulfur compound derived from garlic, and R-carvone is a monoterpenoid derived from spearmint. Researchers processed these compounds into oil-in-water nanoemulsions and applied it to the adzuki bean beetle—a known legume pest. The researchers found that the nanoemulsions were highly toxic against the pest, suggesting that they could be a promising environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic pest-control agents.

An eight-year international research effort has produced the most comprehensive review of Honduras' mammals since 1998, verifying 227 native species while highlighting how little is known about the distributions of even familiar local animals.

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR) in Japan have discovered that the natural turnover of gut cells in the fruit fly depends on how much food the flies get, rather than any specific nutrient. They found that gut cell death was prevented when nutrient levels were high and the insides of gut cells were viscous and less fluid. Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, this finding goes against traditional ideas in nutrient biology, which hold that nutrient sensing relies on biological signaling pathways activated by specific nutrients.

This study clarifies that the North American bison's 20th-century population collapse caused significant herd fragmentation rather than a total loss of genetic diversity. The study's findings offer conservationists a new tool to reconnect isolated herds into a functioning metapopulation through more precise, genome-matched breeding strategies—effectively reversing the disruptive genetic impacts of past management practices.

A new study led by a Duke University scientist overturns a long-held idea about how primates, including humans, came to have such large and sophisticated brains. The research finds that the dramatic expansion of the primate neocortex was driven largely by vision, not by the disproportionate growth of the frontal lobe often associated with higher reasoning.

The first complete genome of the common marmoset is available to the scientific community, thanks to the efforts of researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, providing a high-quality resource to study neurodegenerative diseases and other human health conditions.