ASU scientists create the first complete, high-res global map of seagrass and reveal changes over a four-year period. The invaluable data will help us protect these underwater rainforests.

What happens when evolution rewires a brain for life in total darkness? In a study of the blind Mexican cavefish, researchers uncovered an evolutionary surprise: unlike their sighted relatives, cavefish become more active in light rather than darkness. Using whole-brain imaging at cellular resolution, the team revealed that neural circuits have effectively flipped their responses to light and dark. The findings offer a rare glimpse into how evolution reshapes the brain and could shed light on neurological disorders ranging from Parkinson’s disease to autism and ADHD.

Some insects and microbes develop symbiotic partnerships, which become so interdependent that they can no longer survive without each other.

But how specific are these heritable symbioses? Is it possible for the same species of bacteria to flourish across different species of insect hosts, or are these partnerships more fixed, honed over millions of years of evolution?

An enigmatic new species of wormlion fly, whose larvae construct clever pitfall traps to capture prey, has been revealed in a study led by researchers at Dali University in China. The fly, described in a recent paper in the open-access journal ZooKeys, was identified after a 2025 expedition successfully collected adult specimens in Yadong County, southern Xizang.

This peer-reviewed Perspective synthesizes a decade of research on a surprising candidate for autism science: the laboratory Beagle. Drawing together scattered studies, the review authors argue that dogs carrying engineered changes in the Shank3 gene reproduce core human features of autism spectrum disorder, including social withdrawal, altered sensory responses, and reduced attention to the eyes of a face. The synthesis assembles, for the first time in one place, the parallels between mutant dogs and autistic people, alongside early signals that oxytocin, a psychedelic, and a third compound may soften these traits. The authors frame the dog as a complementary, ethically governed model, not a replacement for existing ones.

STDCT will work with PUB, SGTech and the Singapore Water Association to test and validate water-efficient solutions for tropical data centre operations in Singapore.

A new study has uncovered a fundamental link between brain size and offspring size, helping to solve a long-standing evolutionary puzzle: why do birds lay such disproportionately large eggs?