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Humans have the ability to sense 5 different tastes – sweet, salty, sour, umami, and bitter – through specialised taste receptors located in the taste bud cells of the tongue. When it comes to foods that leave a bitter taste in the mouth, humans have 26 different taste receptors capable of detecting more than 1,000 […]

A new analysis of the fossil record shows that dinosaurs bucked an ecological trend known as Bergmann’s rule. The rule was put forward by German biologist Carl Bergmann in 1847. It suggests that larger animals are found in colder environments. It is most often applied to birds and mammals. For example, the largest penguins are […]

New privacy-preserving robotic cameras Appliances with in-built cameras are becoming increasingly common in homes and workplaces. But these internet-connected devices come with the real risk of private images and videos being accessed by third parties. Researchers at the Australian Centre for Robotics have created a new approach to restoring this privacy by designing cameras that […]

Georges-Louis Leclerc proposed species change and extinction back in the 1740s, a new book revealsShortly after Charles Darwin published his magnum opus, The Origin of Species, in 1859 he started reading a little-known 100-year-old work by a wealthy French aristocrat.Its contents were quite a surprise. “Whole pages [of his book] are laughably like mine,” Darwin wrote to a friend. “It is surprising how candid...

An analysis of a fossil found 20 years ago has revealed new details which might explain how vertebrates evolved to walk on land nearly 400 million years ago. Tiktaalik, a 375-million-year-old fish,  discovered in Canada, is a “fishapod” – a missing link between fish and the first four-legged tetrapods to walk the Earth. All land […]

A potential alternative to antibiotics for treatment of recurrent urinary tract infections has been shown to prevent UTIs for up to 9 years in 54% of people given the oral spray-based vaccine. The initial results from the first long-term follow-up study on the safety and effectiveness of the MV140 vaccine are being presented this weekend […]

To make it in a tough world, the first dinosaurs had to grow up fast according to a study published in the open-access PLOS ONE journal. Fossils analysed in this study came from the Ischigualasto Formation in northwestern Argentina. The rocks in the geological formation date between 231 million and 229 million years old. It […]

Namson LauUNSW Sam Hendricks360info Leonard Thompson was 14 when he made history. The Canadian teenager was on his deathbed, drifting in and out of a coma in a Toronto hospital in 1922, when he became the first person to receive an insulin injection to treat diabetes. It worked. Leonard lived for another 13 years. Insulin became the […]

NASA’s Perseverance rover has found on the surface of Mars exactly the kind of rock that its scientific mission was established for. The latest core sample taken by the car-sized robot shows signs of having been awash with water for an extended period of time in the distant past. It might even have been on […]

Chemical biologists have developed vaccines to block the effects of xylazine, a sedative for use in animals that is now being illicitly added to opioids, like fentanyl and heroin, in the US. The vaccine has worked in mice, but no human trials have been undertaken. Xylazine has severe adverse effects in humans, causing respiratory and […]

There’s new hope today for the future of the globe’s amphibians which are being wiped out by a devastating disease. The fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or Bd, causes the amphibian disease chytridiomycosis. The pathogen causes the disease in susceptible amphibian species through heavy skin infection that can result in death due to osmotic imbalance and electrolyte […]

The largest and most complete study of modern bird genomes to date has resulted in the reconstruction of the bird family tree, challenging traditional views on the evolutionary history of birds. The study published in the journal Nature combines the genomic data of more than 360 bird species with data from nearly 200 bird fossils. […]

University of South Australia experts have issued an alert on the use of the synthetic stimulant pentylone, as new research finds a 75% increase in detections across Australia. In a new study as part of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program, researchers identified 20 different novel psychoactive substances (NPS) in wastewater treatment plants across Australia (between Feb […]

After a decade out of the spotlight, the brain cells once alleged to explain empathy, autism and theory of mind are being refined and redefined. The post Overexposure Distorted the Science of Mirror Neurons first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A University of Queensland-led study has shed light on how some lizards have evolved to resist deadly neurotoxins from Australia’s most venomous snakes. The research, led by UQ’s Professor Bryan Fry, focused on the interactions between venomous Australian snakes such as death adders, and the varanid lizard species which includes Komodo dragons and goannas. “Our research […]

Teeth from 4,000 years ago reveal bacteria which cause gum disease and tooth decay. It’s no surprise that, without modern dental care, ancient oral health isn’t quite up to today’s standards. This latest study, published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, helps archaeologists track the development of dental health over thousands of years. Both […]

A subterranean vault within Melbourne Museum contains millions of cryogenically frozen living cells. The unusual collection includes some 50,000 samples of blood, feathers, tail tips and ear snips from mammals, reptiles, birds and marine creatures, all carefully preserved in 2mL tubes. Like a safe deposit box for biodiversity, the Ian Potter Australian Wildlife BioBank – […]

Researchers have reconstructed the face of Chinese Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou who lived 1,500 years ago. Deep DNA analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms, frequently called SNPs (pronounced “snips”), are the most common type of genetic variation among people and analysing them unlocked the facial features of Wu.  The study is published in the journal […]

One of the most significant challenges in treating HIV is the virus’ ability to integrate its genome into the host’s DNA. This means that lifelong antiretroviral therapy is essential as latent HIV can reactivate from reservoirs as soon as treatment ends. One potential technique being developed to address this problem is the use of gene […]

Our brain waves can align when we work and play closely together. The phenomenon, known as interbrain synchrony, suggests that collaboration is biological. The post The Social Benefits of Getting Our Brains in Sync first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Birds flock. Locusts swarm. Fish school. From chaotic assemblies of life, order somehow emerges. In this episode, co-host Steven Strogatz interviews the evolutionary ecologist Iain Couzin about how and why collective behaviors arise. The post How Is Flocking Like Computing? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Man’s best friend aren’t simply loveable companions, as assistance dogs their sensitive noses are used to sniff out the early warning signs of many potentially dangerous medical conditions – like impending seizures or high blood sugar levels. Now, a new proof-of-concept study indicates that assistance dogs might even be able to detect an oncoming PTSD […]

Evolutionary biologists have identified a gene that encodes the visual preference for selecting a mate in tropical Heliconius butterflies. Species in the Heliconius genus are known for their striking colour patterns, which not only deter predators – warning they are poisonous and distasteful to birds – but also play an important role in attracting and […]

A new lab-based study shows that a single grain of ice – blown into space by subsurface boiling – could contain enough material to detect signs of life on one of the moons in our solar system. An instrument that has this capability is going to be launched in the direction of some key candidates […]