EurekAlert! In the Spotlight

Welcome to In the Spotlight, where each month we shine a light on something exciting, timely, or simply fascinating from the world of science.

This August, we're exploring the science behind the animals that share our planet. From the behaviors and adaptations that help species thrive to the conservation efforts protecting wildlife around the world, animal awareness days like World Lion Day, World Elephant Day, International Cat Day, and International Wolf Day are an opportunity to celebrate biodiversity and discover the research helping us better understand and protect the species that call our planet home.

Latest News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 23-Oct-2026 22:16 ET (24-Oct-2026 02:16 GMT/UTC)

15-Jul-2026

Elephants communicate through ground vibrations thanks to large middle ear bones and a special muscle

Frontiers
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Elephants use air-transmitted sound to communicate with one another but also rely on ground vibrations to cover even larger distances. A new study focusing on elephants’ middle ear structure showed that their ears are more sensitive to low-frequency vibrations transmitted through bone than human ears. This sensitivity is thought to be due to elephant anatomy: their large and heavy middle ear bones can effectively transmit lower-frequency sounds to the inner ear. The study analysis also indicates that elephants’ ability to voluntarily close their ear canal may further improve their bone-conduction hearing. This later mechanism is similar to people hearing their own voice louder after putting in earbuds.

Journal: Frontiers in Audiology and Otology

14-Jul-2026

Mystery of why some toads survive deadly fungus revealed

University College London
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The mystery of why some populations of amphibians recover following outbreaks of a deadly fungus has been solved in a new study led by University College London (UCL), ZSL and Imperial College London.

Journal: Nature Chemical Biology
Funder: Leverhulme Trust, Natural Environment Research Council

14-Jul-2026

Prey accessibility — not abundance — may shape predator behavior in penguins

Research Organization of Information and Systems
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Large seabird colonies have a surrounding boundary known as Ashmole’s halo, where food sources are depleted, forcing the birds to travel farther to gather the food they need. The reason seems obvious — the more birds, the more they eat, which reduces the available prey. But that might not be the only factor at play, according to a new study of penguins and krill published on July 15 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Journal: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
Funder: Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition, National Institute of Polar Research, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

14-Jul-2026

Emerging tick-borne virus raises concern

University of California - Riverside
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study led by a University of California, Riverside biomedical scientist shows how a family of tick-borne viruses known as orthonairoviruses can evade immune defenses, offering important insights into emerging infectious disease threats and the potential pandemic risk posed by these viruses.

Journal: ACS Infectious Diseases

14-Jul-2026

Uncanny valley effect observed in macaques through 3D animated monkey avatars

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new tool that allows researchers to create realistic full-body animations of monkeys has provided the first evidence that non-human primates experience the “uncanny valley” phenomenon for body avatars, according to a study by Lucas Maximilian Martini at the University Clinic Tubingen in Germany and colleagues at KU Leuven in Belgium, publishing July 14^th in the open access journal PLOS Biology.

Journal: PLOS Biology

14-Jul-2026

How an emerging class of tick-borne viruses escape human immune defenses

American Chemical Society
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Warmer temperatures bring out ticks that spread diseases such as Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. But another class of emerging tick-borne pathogens — nairoviruses — is on the rise. Some nairoviruses cause high fevers and reduce organ function in people exposed to certain tick’s bites. In ACS Infectious Diseases, researchers report how these viruses evade the human immune system. The findings could be used to help develop a surveillance system to monitor these viruses.

Journal: ACS Infectious Diseases

14-Jul-2026

New harvester ant species discovered in Bulgaria's Eastern Rhodopes mountains

Pensoft Publishers
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An international team of researchers has announced the discovery of a new species of harvester ant, officially named Messor odrysarum in Bulgaria. The findings were recently published in the scientific journal ZooKeys and bring the total number of recognized Messor ant species in Bulgaria to nine.

Journal: ZooKeys

14-Jul-2026

Phytoplankton apply the onion skin principle

ETH Zurich
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Microalgae release substances that can be taken up and utilised by bacteria. Previous models assumed that these substances always dispersed by themselves in water. ETH researchers have now, for the first time, measured the actual concentrations of one such substance and concluded that different substances surround the tiny algae in multiple layers, wrapped around them like onion skin. 

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences