Behavioral Science News
August 12, 2025
Top Headlines
Aug. 6, 2025 — A prehistoric predator changed its diet and body size during a major warming event 56 million years ago, revealing how climate change can reshape animal behavior, food chains, and survival ...
Aug. 4, 2025 — Glasswing butterflies may all look alike, but behind their transparent wings hides an evolutionary story full of intrigue. Researchers discovered that while these butterflies appear nearly identical to avoid predators, they produce unique pheromones ...
July 16, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that a protein once thought to be just a cellular "courier" actually helps plants survive drought. This motor protein, myosin XI, plays a critical role in helping leaves close their pores to conserve water. When it's ...
July 8, 2025 — High heat and heavy metals dampen a bumblebee’s trademark buzz, threatening pollen release and colony chatter. Tiny sensors captured up-to-400-hertz tremors that falter under environmental stress, raising alarms for ecosystems and sparking ideas ...
July 8, 2025 — Feral water buffalo now roam Hong Kong s South Lantau marshes, and a 657-person survey shows they ignite nostalgia, wonder, and worry in equal measure. Many residents embrace them as living links to a fading rural past and potential conservation ...
June 24, 2025 — Two Ice Age wolf pups once thought to be early dogs have been identified as wild wolves, thanks to detailed DNA and chemical analysis. Surprisingly, their last meals included woolly rhinoceros ...
May 30, 2025 — Researchers have identified a monoacylglycerol acyltransferase-coding gene named bishu-1. It is involved in the thermal responsiveness of cool temperature-sensing neurons by regulating ionotropic ...
May 30, 2025 — Coffee can help you stay awake. But what does caffeine actually do to your brain once you're asleep? Using AI, a team of researchers has an answer: it affects the brain's ...
May 29, 2025 — Scientists analyzed almost 200 cannabis genomes to create the most comprehensive, high-quality, detailed genetic atlas of the plant to date. The atlas reveals unprecedented diversity and complexity within the species, sets the stage for advances in ...
May 29, 2025 — Whether you are lucky enough to have a cat companion or must merely live this experience vicariously through cat videos, Felis catus is a familiar and comforting presence in our daily lives. Unlike most other feline species, cats exhibit sociality, ...
May 29, 2025 — Regular light-dark cycles greatly affect organisms, and events like eclipses induce distinctive physiological and behavioral shifts. While well-documented in animals, plant behavior during eclipses remains largely unexplored. Scientists monitored ...
May 27, 2025 — Researchers conducted a systematic review of 99 scientific publications that compared the flora or fauna of old-growth forests, managed forests and clearcut sites in boreal Europe. The reviewed studies showed large differences in the species ...
Latest Headlines
updated 2:10pm EDT
Aug. 9, 2025 — The newly described Mirasaura grauvogeli from the Middle Triassic had a striking feather-like crest, hinting that complex skin appendages arose far earlier than previously believed. Its bird-like ...
Aug. 2, 2025 — Long before evolution equipped them with the right teeth, early humans began eating tough grasses and starchy underground plants—foods rich in energy but hard to chew. A new study reveals that this ...
July 24, 2025 — A tiny, overlooked wrist bone called the pisiform may have played a pivotal role in bird flight and it turns out it evolved far earlier than scientists thought. Fossils from bird-like dinosaurs in ...
July 24, 2025 — Half a billion years ago, a strange sea-dwelling creature called Mollisonia symmetrica may have paved the way for modern spiders. Using detailed fossil brain analysis, researchers uncovered neural ...
July 9, 2025 — Long-tailed macaques given short videos were glued to scenes of fighting—especially when the combatants were monkeys they knew—mirroring the human draw to drama and familiar faces. Low-ranking ...
June 27, 2025 — Remove the top male spotty fish and, within minutes, the next-in-line female morphs into the tank s new tyrant charging and nipping rivals while her body quietly begins a weeks-long transition to ...
June 25, 2025 — Leafcutter ants live in highly organized colonies where every ant has a job, and now researchers can flip those jobs like a switch. By manipulating just two neuropeptides, scientists can turn ...
June 16, 2025 — Sea anemones may hold the key to the ancient origins of body symmetry. A study from the University of Vienna shows they use a molecular mechanism known as BMP shuttling, once thought unique to ...
June 15, 2025 — Aphid-hunting wasps can reproduce with or without sex, challenging previous assumptions. This unique flexibility could boost sustainable pest control if its hidden drawbacks can be ...
May 26, 2025 — Researchers uncover a notorious cholera strain that contains sophisticated immune systems to fend off viruses, which potentially helped it to fuel a devastating epidemic across Latin ...
Earlier Headlines
May 23, 2025 — The molecular pathways involved in antiviral defenses and counter-defenses in host-pathogen systems remain unclear. Researchers have used Neurospora crassa as a model organism to explore how RNA ...
May 22, 2025 — Research reveals that for C. elegans worms, the presence of dead members of their species has profound behavioral and physiological effects, leading them to more quickly reproduce and shortening ...
May 22, 2025 — Planting flower strips in a field with at least two species can increase the number of natural enemies of pests by 70 percent. The more flower species, the better the effect, according to a new ...
May 21, 2025 — When pollinators visit flowers, they produce various sounds, from wing flapping during hovering, to landing and takeoff. Scientists studied these vibroacoustic signals to develop noninvasive and ...
May 21, 2025 — Bats are known as natural hosts for highly pathogenic viruses such as MERS- and SARS-related coronaviruses, as well as the Marburg and Nipah viruses. In contrast to the severe and often fatal disease ...
May 21, 2025 — Songbirds who make the arduous flight from their nesting sites in northern boreal forests to warm, southern climates in the winter may be rewarded for their journey with greater genetic ...
May 20, 2025 — African elephants are the largest land animals on earth and significantly larger than their relatives in Asia, from which they are separated by millions of years of evolution. Nevertheless, Asian ...
May 20, 2025 — Humpback whales are not always born in tropical waters, new research has shown -- challenging long-held assumptions about their breeding and migration behaviors, while raising new questions for ...
May 19, 2025 — A new report identifies the top 12 emerging threats that could accelerate pollinator losses within the next 5-15 years, according to ten of the world's leading ...
May 19, 2025 — A team was able to show that swimming movements are possible even without a central control unit. This not only explains the behavior of microorganisms, it could also enable nanobots to move in a ...
May 19, 2025 — Researchers have shown that mice use chemical cues, including odors, to detect the social rank of an unfamiliar mouse and compare it to their own, using this information to determine their ...
May 16, 2025 — In the natural world -- where predators pounce, prey flee, and group members feed and sleep in solidarity -- animal behavior is glorious in its variety. Now, new research suggests there may be an ...
May 16, 2025 — Researchers have shown in mice that brain cells known as astrocytes are required for a signaling chemical called norepinephrine to modify brain activity, changing the textbook understanding that ...
May 15, 2025 — A decades-long scientific challenge in HIV vaccine development has been finding a way to train the immune system to produce antibodies that can target many variants of the virus. Traditional ...
May 15, 2025 — An international research team has discovered a critical protein that acts as a 'switch' regulating immune responses to ...
May 15, 2025 — Many an orange cat-affiliated human will vouch for their cat's, let's say, specialness. But now scientists have confirmed that there is, in fact, something unique about ginger-hued domestic ...
May 15, 2025 — A dinosaur's 40-second journey more than 120 million years ago has been brought back to life by a research team using advanced digital modelling ...
May 14, 2025 — Scientists are using artificial intelligence to determine which genes collectively govern nitrogen use efficiency in plants such as corn, with the goal of helping farmers improve their crop yields ...
May 14, 2025 — Archaeopteryx is the fossil that clearly demonstrated Darwin's views. It's the oldest known fossil bird, and it helps show that all birds -- including the ones alive today -- emerged from ...
May 14, 2025 — have created a new type of insect cyborg that can navigate autonomously -- without wires, surgery, or stress-inducing electrical shocks. The system uses a small ultraviolet (UV) light helmet to steer ...
Friday, May 23, 2025
Thursday, May 22, 2025
- The Scent of Death? Worms Experience Altered Fertility and Lifespan When Exposed to Dead Counterparts
- Ox-Eye Daisy, Bellis and Yarrow: Flower Strips With at Least Two Sown Species Provide 70 Percent More Natural Enemies of Pests
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
- Can Plants Hear Their Pollinators?
- Unlocking the Secrets of Bat Immunity
- Songbirds' Great Risk Results in Great Genetic Reward
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
- Asian Elephants Have Larger Brains Than Their African Relatives
- Surprise Baby Whale Sightings Reveal There's Still Much to Learn About Humpbacks
Monday, May 19, 2025
- Bees Facing New Threats, Putting Our Survival and Theirs at Risk
- How to Swim Without a Brain
- Mice Use Chemical Cues Such as Odors to Sense Social Hierarchy
Friday, May 16, 2025
- Very Different Mammals Follow the Same Rules of Behavior
- Overlooked Cell Type Orchestrates Brain Rewiring
Thursday, May 15, 2025
- Two HIV Vaccine Trials Show Proof of Concept for Pathway to Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies
- Protein Switch Turns Anti-Viral Immune Response on and Off
- Scientists Track Down Mutation That Makes Orange Cats Orange
- Digital Reconstruction Reveals 80 Steps of Prehistoric Life
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
- Artificial Intelligence and Genetics Can Help Farmers Grow Corn With Less Fertilizer
- UV Light and CT Scans Helped Scientists Unlock Hidden Details in a Beautifully-Preserved Fossil Archaeopteryx
- Light-Driven Cockroach Cyborgs Navigate Without Wires or Surgery
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
- Palaeontologists Discover 506-Million-Year-Old Predator
- Not All Orangutan Mothers Raise Their Infants the Same Way
- With AI, Researchers Predict the Location of Virtually Any Protein Within a Human Cell
- 'Loop'hole: HIV-1 Hijacks Human Immune Cells Using Circular RNAs
- Butterflies Hover Differently from Other Flying Organisms, Thanks to Body Pitch
Monday, May 12, 2025
- Echidna Microbiome Changes While Mums Nurse Puggle
- Evidence of Mother-Offspring Attachment Types in Wild Chimpanzees
Friday, May 9, 2025
- The Origins of Language
- Novel, Needle-Free, Live-Attenuated Influenza Vaccines With Broad Protection Against Human and Avian Virus Subtypes
- Heat and Land Use: Bees Suffer in Particular
- Can Frisky Flies Save Human Lives?
Thursday, May 8, 2025
- Red Alert for Our Closest Relatives
- Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of a Smallpox Vaccine for Preventing Mpox
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
Monday, May 5, 2025
- Halo Patterns Around Coral Reefs May Signal Resilience
- Gorilla Study Reveals Complex Pros and Cons of Friendship
- Vertical Farming to Increase Yields and Reduce Environmental Impact
Friday, May 2, 2025
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
- Zoo Life Boosts Object Exploration in Orangutans
- Deciphering the Migratory Behavior and Connectivity of Mediterranean and Atlantic Cory's Shearwaters
- When Sea Stars Fall, Sea Otters Rise: Sea Otters Benefit from Prey Boom Triggered by Loss of Ochre Sea Stars
- Machine Learning Brings New Insights to Cell's Role in Addiction, Relapse
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
- Giant Croclike Carnivore Fossils Found in the Caribbean
- Palatable Versus Poisonous: Eavesdropping Bats Must Learn to Identify Which Prey Is Safe to Eat
Monday, April 28, 2025
- Social 'hippie' Spiders Don't Believe in Labels: Study Challenges Long-Held Assumptions About Animal Personalities
- Family First: Scientists Reveal Long-Tailed Tits' Remarkable Family Bonds
- New Research on Bird Behavior Suggests That Evolution May Repeat Itself
- Evolution of Pugs and Persians Converges on Cuteness
Friday, April 25, 2025
Thursday, April 24, 2025
- Blocking a Surprising Master Regulator of Immunity Eradicates Liver Tumors in Mice
- Monkey Database Reveals Shift Towards Open Science
- New Approach Makes AI Adaptable for Computer Vision in Crop Breeding
Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Monday, April 21, 2025
- Wild Chimps Filmed Sharing 'boozy' Fruit
- Even Sublethal Insecticide Dose May Disrupt Pollinator Mating Process
- How Changes in Lemur Brains Made Some Mean Girls Nice
Friday, April 18, 2025
Thursday, April 17, 2025
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
- Little Birds' Personalities Shine Through Their Song -- And May Help Find a Mate
- Primate Mothers Display Different Bereavement Response to Humans
- Foraging on the Wing: How Can Ecologically Similar Birds Live Together?
- Gut Microbes Release Cancer-Fighting Bile Acids That Block Hormone Signals
Monday, April 14, 2025
- New Plant Molecule Encourages Plant-Fungi Symbiosis to Improve Crops
- Unlocking the Genetic Basis of Animal Behavior Using Fruit Flies
Friday, April 11, 2025
Thursday, April 10, 2025
- Immune Protein Modification Blocks Viral Replication, Heart Inflammation
- Drug Pollution Alters Salmon Migration
- Researchers Put Glycemic Response Modeling on a Data Diet
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
- Love Songs in the Sand: Researchers Listen in to Fiddler Crab Courtship
- Eight or More Drinks Per Week Linked to Signs of Injury in the Brain
- Scientists Map Unprecedented Detail of Connections and Visual Perception in the Mouse Brain
- Six Ape Genomes Sequenced Telomere-to-Telomere
- Reduced Movement of Starlings With Parasite Infections Has a Negative Impact on Their Offspring
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
- Declining Insect Biodiversity in the Tropics
- Lactic Acid Bacteria Can Improve Plant-Based Dairy Alternatives
Thursday, April 3, 2025
- Picky Eaters by Day, Buffet by Night: Butterfly, Moth Diets Sync to Plant Aromas
- Animal Behavioral Diversity at Risk in the Face of Declining Biodiversity
- Corpse Flowers Are Threatened by Spotty Recordkeeping
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
- Monkeys Are World's Best Yodellers -- New Research
- Sensing Sickness: New Method for Boosting Bee Health
- Migrating Flies Vital for People and Nature
- How the Brain Evaluates Rewards
Thursday, March 27, 2025
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
- How Did the Large Brain Evolve?
- Rare Disease Drug Nitisinone Makes Human Blood Deadly to Mosquitoes
- Scientists Discover Why Obesity Takes Away the Pleasure of Eating
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
- A Hit of Dopamine Tells Baby Birds When Their Song Practice Is Paying Off
- Ecosystem Disrupted Following the Disappearance of Great White Sharks
- Insecticides May Contribute to Bigger Problems With Certain Weeds
Monday, March 24, 2025
- Teaching Kids About Bugs Benefits the Environment
- Chimpanzees Act as 'engineers', Choosing Materials to Make Tools Based on Structural and Mechanical Properties
- New Research Reveals Secrets About Locust Swarm Movement
Friday, March 21, 2025
- Groundbreaking Study Unveils New Complexities in Synchronization Phenomena
- Boosting Brain's Waste Removal System Improves Memory in Old Mice
Thursday, March 20, 2025
- Galapagos Birds Exhibit 'road Rage' Due to Noise
- Insomniac Fruit Fly Mutants Show Enhanced Memory Despite Severe Sleep Loss