The evolution of sex remains one of biology's greatest puzzles. While sexual reproduction dominates across the animal kingdom, scientists still debate why it persists despite its high costs. Even more mysterious is the loss of sex in favor of asexual reproduction whereby females give birth to copies of themselves without any contribution from males.

A new study examining harbor and gray seal pups undergoing rehabilitation in the U.S. has identified important steps that could improve animal welfare during their recovery. Researchers from the University of Chester and Manchester Metropolitan University monitored 25 seal pups admitted to Tynemouth Seal Hospital after becoming stranded due to reasons such as malnourishment, injury, or abandonment, all common consequences of environmental and human related pressures around the U.K. and Ireland.

A new advance in animal husbandry involving a popular aquarium fish should speed the pace of discovery in laboratory studies of host-microbe interactions, researchers report. The new findings by researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are detailed in the journal mSystems.