New Guinea’s biocultural diversity in the face of climate change

New Guinea is the largest and most mountainous tropical island in the world (Fig. 1). Shaped like a bird, its “head-to-tail” distance is equivalent to travelling from London to Istanbul and its north-south “wingspan” approximates the length of Spain. Its west-east “dorsal spine”, in turn, sustains the highest cordillera between the Himalayas and the Andes. … Read more

There’s a new squid in town

“Cephalopods were the first intelligent animals on the planet.” This quote from Dr. Sydney Brenner, molecular geneticist and one of the founders of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), highlights the burgeoning scientific interest in cephalopods like cuttlefish, octopuses, and squid. These creatures are lauded for their complex nervous systems and … Read more

Close friends help macaques survive

Close friendships improve the survival chances of rhesus macaques, new research shows. University of Exeter scientists studied the social lives of female macaques on “Monkey Island” (Cayo Santiago, off Puerto Rico). Data spanning seven years revealed that females with the strongest social connection to a another macaque – measured by factors including time spent together … Read more

Killer whale grandmothers boost survival of calves

Post-menopausal killer whale grandmothers improve the chances of survival for their grand-calves, new research has found. The study found that grandmothers who were no longer able to reproduce had the biggest beneficial impact on the survival chances of their grand-offspring. This may be because grandmothers without calves of their own are free to focus time … Read more

USC scientists show evolutionary principle in microbes of offshore Southern California

In the waves offshore of Southern California, germ warfare occurs in a struggle as old as life itself. It’s where USC marine biologists completed a comprehensive new study that shows the tactics bacteria and viruses employ to gain advantages against each other. What they found is that an unlikely standoff occurs, regardless of time, season … Read more

Australia’s got mussels (but it could be a problem)

One of the world’s most notorious invasive species has established itself on Australia’s coastlines, according to research from The University of Queensland.UQ School of Biological Sciences researcher Dr Iva Popovic said the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis – identified as one of the ‘100 World’s Worst Invasive Species’ by the IUCN Global Invasive Species Database – had steadily … Read more

Whales stop being socialites when boats are about

The noise and presence of boats can harm humpback whales’ ability to communicate and socialise, in some cases reducing their communication range by a factor of four. The discovery was made by Dr Rebecca Dunlop from The University of Queensland’s Cetacean Ecology and Acoustics Laboratory, who monitored the acoustics and social behaviour of humpback whales … Read more