Humans trust dogs to help find missing people, and bees to pollinate their crops. But scientists still don't fully understand how these animals use their extraordinary sense of smell to locate the source of an odor.

Humans trust dogs to help find missing people, and bees to pollinate their crops. But scientists still don't fully understand how these animals use their extraordinary sense of smell to locate the source of an odor.

Barramundi farmers will soon be able to improve stock genetics by placing more emphasis on the sex of their breeding fish. University of Queensland Ph.D. candidate Jessica Hintzsche has produced the most detailed genetic map ever created for barramundi, showing how traits can be passed between generations.

The genetic diversity of the largetooth sawfish (Pristis pristis), a critically endangered ray, has plummeted over the past century and a half, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. The species once lived in tropical waters worldwide but has disappeared from much of its former range.

The genetic diversity of the largetooth sawfish (Pristis pristis), a critically endangered ray, has plummeted over the past century and a half, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. The species once lived in tropical waters worldwide but has disappeared from much of its former range.

Jackie, the bald eagle who became an internet sensation and a symbol of the species' recovery in California, died Monday after being treated for an illness at a veterinary facility, her caretakers announced.

Combining drone data and machine learning can help cover more ground in monitoring forest soil health, University of Alberta research shows. The findings are published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management. Using both tools to map and monitor soil fungal diversity—a key indicator of a healthy forest ecosystem—proved highly effective and could help reduce the need for boots-on-the-ground soil sampling over huge areas of forest, says Dr. Cameron Carlyle, a professor in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences and a co-author of the study.

Combining drone data and machine learning can help cover more ground in monitoring forest soil health, University of Alberta research shows. The findings are published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management. Using both tools to map and monitor soil fungal diversity—a key indicator of a healthy forest ecosystem—proved highly effective and could help reduce the need for boots-on-the-ground soil sampling over huge areas of forest, says Dr. Cameron Carlyle, a professor in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences and a co-author of the study.

The economist John Maynard Keynes once remarked, “In the long run we are all dead.” From an astronomical standpoint, this is true for the Earth itself. In roughly 5 billion years, the Sun will exhaust the hydrogen at its core and enter the next phase of its life as a Red Giant, where it will swell up large enough to engulf and destroy the Earth.

Currently, the Sun is still in its main-sequence phase, where it fuses hydrogen into helium in its core. Although it remains relatively stable during this phase, it will gradually grow brighter with time. As the Sun shines brighter, the increased heat and radiation will raise Earth’s surface temperature, potentially pushing it past the threshold for life to survive. 

One of Earth’s geological processes that helps regulate its surface temperature is the carbon cycle. Over millions of years, carbon moves from the Earth’s interior into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide or CO₂, where it functions as a greenhouse gas that traps heat. Plants take in this CO₂ through photosynthesis and move carbon through the biosphere. 

Meanwhile, rain and rock weathering draw carbon into the oceans and rocks. By pulling CO₂ out of the atmosphere, the carbon cycle could mitigate Earth’s warming as the Sun brightens over time. Today, human activities are increasing atmospheric CO₂ and warming the planet. However, over billions of years, the carbon cycle could gradually remove enough CO₂ from the atmosphere that eventually too little would remain to support photosynthesis. 

With these challenges to life on Earth in mind, the researchers Jacob Haqq‐Misra and Eric Wolf investigated how long Earth’s biosphere could last in the distant future. The team used computer models to calculate the balance of energy that Earth would receive and emit over time, accounting for the effects of increasing sunlight and changing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. They followed this up with calculations using the ExoCAM model to determine the temperature and atmospheric conditions of future Earth across different latitudes. They related these conditions to a habitability metric to determine their impact on the biosphere.

To estimate the biosphere’s maximum possible lifespan, the team conducted 29 simulations representing the planet’s conditions over the next 2 billion years. In one set of simulations, the Earth’s carbon cycle contributed little to regulating surface temperature, with the atmosphere’s CO₂ concentration fixed at approximately modern levels of 400 parts per million (ppm) and surface temperatures continuing to increase. In another, the carbon cycle worked to keep Earth’s average surface temperature fixed at the modern average of approximately 59℉ (15℃), no matter how much it had to reduce CO₂ in the atmosphere. 

In the scenario with a fixed CO₂ concentration, the team found that in 1.7 billion years, Earth’s surface reached an average of 122°F (50°C), which is too hot for most land plants. After 1.9 billion years, it reached 149°F (65°), becoming too hot for all land plants to survive as temperatures continued to rise. 

They also found that in the fixed average surface temperature scenario, atmospheric CO₂ dropped below the 150 ppm level that most plants require for photosynthesis within 500 million years. After 1.4 billion years, CO₂ levels fell below 10 ppm, leaving only a few land photosynthesizers and aquatic plants alive. After about 1.8 billion years, atmospheric CO₂ dropped to 1 ppm, leaving only microbes capable of photosynthesis.

The researchers’ findings generally extend the estimated lifetime of Earth’s future biosphere compared with earlier, simpler models that suggested maximum lifespans of 100 million to 1.5 billion years. However, they clarified that other scientists should verify their results by running tests with other models, especially under extreme conditions of high incoming solar radiation and low atmospheric CO₂. 

Lastly, Haqq‐Misra and Wolf noted that their model did not account for major evolutionary changes that could help life adapt to future conditions. Over time, plants could evolve to tolerate higher temperatures or lower atmospheric CO₂ levels. Future humans or another intelligent species might also engage in large-scale geoengineering projects to prevent the end of life on Earth. If life on Earth proves adaptable enough, the biosphere may endure until a Red Giant fills the daytime sky.

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ASU researchers found that genetics alone cannot explain the origins of eusociality. Inside an ant colony, queens reproduce while workers care for young and maintain a society built around shared labor. For more than six decades, evolutionary biologists have debated whether this extraordinary arrangement, known as eusociality, arose partly because ants, bees, and wasps share [...]

The Mauritian dodo—a global symbol of human-caused extinction and one of the world's largest pigeons—may not have deserved its reputation as a silly simpleton and may have been the only member of its group to live in the dark.

The Mauritian dodo—a global symbol of human-caused extinction and one of the world's largest pigeons—may not have deserved its reputation as a silly simpleton and may have been the only member of its group to live in the dark.

A tiny greenish, nocturnal frog that thrives in coffee plantations has been discovered in Costa Rica's central Pacific region, where it also faces risks from agrochemicals used in farming.

A tiny greenish, nocturnal frog that thrives in coffee plantations has been discovered in Costa Rica's central Pacific region, where it also faces risks from agrochemicals used in farming.

Scientists and citizen volunteers discovered two new snail species in northwestern Montenegro, revealing the region’s hidden biodiversity and strengthening calls to protect Komarnica Canyon within the Durmitor World Heritage Site rather than build a hydropower plant. Two previously unknown snails have been added to Europe’s documented wildlife. Named Cochlostoma komarnica and Cochlostoma dobrido, the species [...]

Weather extremes may be contributing to an unusually quiet summer for Britain’s ecologically important social wasps. A summer picnic often feels complete only when a wasp arrives to investigate the food. Common social wasps are familiar warm-weather visitors, whether they are circling outdoor meals or building an unwanted nest in the loft. Summer 2026, however, [...]

What can Earth's magnetic field teach us about attracting people to a more connected environmental movement?

In the Bolivian Altiplano, fewer Aymara farmers are relying on local weather knowledge to schedule farming tasks, like choosing the best dates to plant crops and predicting a frost or drought. At the same time, there is growing doubt about whether these traditional indicators remain relevant today in the context of rapid social, economic, and climatic changes. 

Farmers are struggling because the National Weather Service of Bolivia (SEHNAMI) fails to provide useful weather forecasts due to the geographical complexity of the Andes and a scarcity of weather stations. In addition, many farmers can’t access this information because SEHNAMI lacks local outreach programs to deliver reports directly to them. In a region with a weak technical forecasting system, local knowledge is a vital resource, but its use is declining.

Scientists in the past focused on preserving local weather knowledge or discussing how it might help communities adapt to climate change. However, very few researchers have scientifically validated local weather indicators, since doing so requires many years of historical meteorological data to establish statistical “skill” in local forecasting. 

Faced with this gap, researchers in the US and Bolivia recently set out to validate indigenous indicators in 2 Bolivian municipalities: Umala in the Central Altiplano and Ancoraimes in the Northern Altiplano. To do this, they paired each traditional weather sign with a measurable variable, like temperature, that could approximate it. This approach allowed them to directly compare traditional observations with scientific data.

The researchers wanted to determine whether traditional weather knowledge is still accurate and relevant under current conditions, since validating these methods would strengthen local knowledge and benefit the schools and policies that promote it. To test this, the researchers worked with 6 Aymara communities. First, they conducted workshops with local leaders and experts to compile a set of weather-forecast indicators. Then, they surveyed 95 farmers to rank the reliability of these indicators. 

Through discussions with these communities, the team identified 13 weather indicators in the Central region and 20 in the Northern region. These indicators included specific plants, animals, and physical factors like constellations or winds that the farmers used to decide when and where to plant crops, and to predict weather conditions for the next season. The researchers focused on 2 key indicators that the farmers ranked as most reliable: the presence or absence of moisture under rocks on the Fiesta de San Juan on June 24th, and the flowering patterns of specific plants, called Thola and Sank’ayu. The farmers used the San Juan indicator to predict whether the upcoming year would be rainy or dry, and the plants to determine the most favorable dates for planting to avoid agricultural risks like frosts.

Finally, the researchers compared forecasts based on these 2 signs with over 30 years of meteorological data from nearby weather stations. In both cases, they used the minimum daily temperature as the measurable way to represent these local signs scientifically. Their results showed that the minimum daily temperature on the Fiesta de San Juan could explain more than half (55.5%) of the changes in rainfall during the growing season. They also confirmed that severe frosts that “burned” Thola and Sank’ayuthe flowers were followed by periods without rain, validating the farmers’ strategy of delayed planting.

The researchers concluded that local weather indicators used by Aymara farmers are most reliable for seasonal planning, especially in predicting the start of the rainy season. They stated that this result helps legitimize traditional knowledge and empower the community. For example, these communities now hold regular meetings to discuss forecasts and share this information with their neighbors via WhatsApp groups. 

However, the team acknowledged that local knowledge was limited to short-term forecasting, as it only provided warnings a few hours in advance. Farmers need alerts several days in advance to effectively reduce their vulnerability to events such as frosts or hail. For this reason, the researchers suggested that the next step will be to co-produce forecasts by combining meteorological science with traditional knowledge.

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Strict regulations have prevented continental U.S. beekeepers from participating in the lucrative organic honey market, but new research finds that bees' actual habits make certain rules too extreme. The findings potentially provide evidence for federal agencies to ease restrictions and open organic markets to U.S. producers.

The spots on a leopard, the stripes on a zebra, and the mask on a raccoon are all types of coloration in mammal fur, referred to as pelage. Scientists have struggled for a long time to understand how these colorations evolved. A team of researchers recently discovered how to reconstruct the colors of ancient mammal fur using cell structures that contain the chemical pigment melanin, known as melanosomes. They hope to use this understanding of ancient mammal pelage to determine how they lived and what their environments were like.

To decipher the color of ancient mammal fur, the researchers constructed a statistical computer model to predict their fur colors based on the shape of their melanosomes. First, they needed to understand how the shapes of melanosomes control fur color in modern mammals. To measure the length and width of the modern melanosomes, the scientists used a beam of electrons like a flashlight to map them in great detail, a technique called scanning electron microscopy.

They measured the length and width of 2,615 melanosomes from the fur of 116 different living mammal species, including a Red Panda, a German Shepard, and one or more species of most types in the mammalian classification. Then they recorded the wavelengths of light reflected off each melanosome using a microspectrophotometer. These wavelengths represented the exact color of hair from each melanosome they measured. This means they now had a quantitative measurement of the color of each hair to compare with its corresponding melanosome length and width.

When they examined their data, the researchers found that spherical melanosomes produced brighter fur colors, like reds and oranges, while elongated melanosomes produced darker fur colors, like browns and grays. The researchers plotted the microspectrophotometric measurements for each melanosome as a graph showing how much light it absorbed across each possible wavelength, creating reflectance curves. Based on these data, the researchers used computer software to create a statistical model that could predict reflectance curves, and therefore color, from melanosome shape alone.

Once the researchers created a model, they needed to find fossilized mammal melanosomes to predict their fur color. Mammal fossils are rare, and pieces of cells are only preserved in the most immaculate fossil deposits. In fact, these researchers only found 6 fossils of this caliber, from Mesozoic rocks deposited around 250 million years ago, soon after mammals evolved. 

The fossils came from 2 world-renowned deposits in Northeastern China, the Yanliao and Jehol biotas. They selected 5 previously studied fossils from these locations, including 1 specimen of Megaconus mammaliaformis, 1 specimen of Vilevolodon diplomylos, 2 specimens from the group Docodonta, and 1 specimen from the group Eutheria. All of these animals were small, rodent-like mammals. The researchers also discovered a new species of tree-dwelling mammal, Arboroharamiya fuscus.

The scientists used scanning electron microscopy to measure a total of 2,159 fossilized melanosomes to refine their color predictions. The fossilized melanosomes were all slightly elongated spheres and had far fewer differences in shape than in modern mammals. The researchers used their model to predict reflectance curves based on the shapes of the fossil melanosomes to determine the ancient mammals’ colors. They found that all the extinct mammals they examined likely had dark brown fur without any color patterns.

Based on these findings, the researchers suggested that most, if not all, early mammals were nocturnal, like many dark-colored mammals today. They suggested that this nocturnal lifestyle probably helped them survive the meteorite impact that wiped out the dinosaurs 100 million years later. While dinosaurs were unable to survive in the post-impact wasteland, these smaller, dark-colored mammals were more resilient and thrived in the aftermath. As mammals filled the ecological roles left by the dinosaurs, they evolved new color patterns, some based solely on camouflage, and others on new factors, like sexual selection and visual communication.

The researchers concluded that their model can predict fossilized mammal colors and help determine how these ancient animals lived. Notably, their data suggest that mammals likely stayed small and nocturnal throughout the Mesozoic until the dinosaurs were gone. Future researchers could use similar methods to uncover exactly how mammals evolved the colors we see today. For example, studying mammals closer to the impact event could reveal if it took a long time to develop diverse fur patterns, or if they began before the dinosaurs’ demise. Ultimately, similar studies could help determine whether the extinction of dinosaurs was necessary for the rise of mammals.

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