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: 21-Oct-2026 04:16 ET (21-Oct-2026 08:16 GMT/UTC)

7-Oct-2026

 

Ancient spotted bat samples help researchers understand present-day population dynamics

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Understanding changes in North American bat populations is critical to measuring risk of extinction from emerging threats such as habitat loss, climate change, white nose syndrome and other disturbances. A study published October 7, 2026, in the open access journal PLOS One by Faith M. Walker at Northern Arizona University, USA, and colleagues describes an innovative research design involving the genetic analysis of ancient, modern, and contemporary biological samples from North American spotted bats.

Journal

PLOS One

7-Oct-2026

 

Study: ‘Classic example’ of sexual dimorphism in fossil record actually shows nuance between males and females

University of Kansas
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study from the University of Kansas appearing in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLOS One shows the differences between male and female uintatheres might not be as vast as paleontologists have long believed.

Journal

PLOS One

7-Oct-2026

 

Dogs and owners disturb each other in the night, but still get pretty good sleep

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Sleeping alongside your dog probably doesn’t disrupt your sleep as much as you might think, according to a study published October 7, 2026 in the open access journal PLOS One by Ming Fei Li of the University of Toronto, Canada, Lavania Nagendran of the University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada, and colleagues.

Journal

PLOS One

7-Oct-2026

 

Internal documents show that the trade association for U.S. beef production knew about livestock’s outsized role in global warming by 1989

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Internal documents show that the trade association for U.S. beef production knew about livestock’s outsized role in global warming by 1989 and undertook strategic communications operation to convince the public otherwise.

Journal

PLOS Climate

7-Oct-2026

 

Beetles build with a yellow pigment gene

John Innes Centre
Peer-Reviewed Publication

More than 80 years ago scientists discovered that differences in yellow pigmentation were critical to courtship success and failure for fruit flies. 

Journal

Nature Communications

Funder

UKRI/BBSRC, European Research Council

7-Oct-2026

 

September research news from the Ecological Society of America

Ecological Society of America
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The lasting impact of historical events on New Mexico fire regimes, using sea slugs as ecological ambassadors and more from ESA’s journals.

7-Oct-2026

 

Of mice and men: Examining how hantavirus leaps from rodent to human

Virginia Tech
Grant and Award Announcement

Luis Escobar, associate professor in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation at Virginia Tech, has received a $400,000 award from the National Science Foundation to lead a nationwide investigation into how environmental shifts and virus evolution cause hantaviruses to leap from wildlife to humans in a process termed "spillover transmission." Escobar is also a member of the Pandemic Prediction and Prevention Destination Area that funded pilot work for this NSF project.