We see color because photoreceptor cones in our eyes detect light waves corresponding to red, green, and blue, while dimness or brightness is detected by photoreceptor rods. Many non-mammalian vertebrates like fish, however, are known to detect color and

A team from the University of Barcelona is leading a study that improves the technology available to identify the geographical origin and variety of hazelnuts, and thus avoid commercial fraud and food safety problems linked to the consumption of these nut

Researchers have used dung records to create high-resolution maps of herbivore distribution around the world. Their study, published in Nature Food, reveals a strong positive relationship between dung presence and grazing pressure, meaning the amount of d

Celery, a key vegetable in the Apiaceae family, is widely valued for its nutrition and medicinal uses. It is commonly categorized into three varieties: A. graveolens var. dulce (common celery) with thick and solid petioles; A. graveolens var. rapaceum (ce

If corn was ever jealous of soybean's relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, advancements in gene editing could one day level the playing field. A recent study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign shows that gene-edited bacteria can supp

Scientists from Delft, Vienna, and Lausanne discovered that the protein machines that shape our DNA can switch direction. Until now, researchers believed that these so-called SMC motors that make loops into DNA could move in one direction only. The discov

While fishing off the coast of Honduras in 2023, a group of anglers stumbled upon a rare sight: a pod of orcas hunting down a sperm whale.

Hummingbirds are extremely small but remarkably tough. Some species make migrations of more than 9,000 km (about 5,590 miles) a year. Their journeys are largely fueled by nectar, which is sipped from wildflowers and converted to fat.

Scientists have developed a new method to monitor the elusive eastern indigo snake, the longest native snake in the United States. This innovative approach looks for traces of environmental DNA in soil samples and can significantly bolster efforts to cons

A research team from the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) studied the global variability of plant hydraulics in relation to wind speed. Their findings are published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

A mussel bed along Northern California's Dillon Beach is as healthy and biodiverse as it was about 80 years ago, when two young students surveyed it shortly before Pearl Harbor was attacked and one was sent to fight in World War II.

Shell-dwelling cichlids take intense care of their offspring, which they raise in abandoned snail shells. A team at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence used 3D-printed snail shells to find out what happens inside.