Pests and Parasites News
July 16, 2025
Top Headlines
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 12, 2025 — A cat named Pepper has once again helped scientists discover a new virus—this time a mysterious orthoreovirus found in a shrew. Researchers from the University of Florida, including virologist John Lednicky, identified this strain during unrelated ...
July 10, 2025 — Climate change is silently sapping the nutrients from our food. A pioneering study finds that rising CO2 and higher temperatures are not only reshaping how crops grow but are also degrading their nutritional value especially in vital leafy greens ...
July 7, 2025 — Danish and Welsh botanists sifted through 400 studies, field-tested seed mixes, and uncovered a lineup of native and exotic blooms that both thrill human eyes and lure bees and hoverflies in droves, ...
July 4, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that the bacteria behind Lyme disease and anaplasmosis have a sneaky way of surviving inside ticks—they hijack the tick’s own cell functions to steal cholesterol they need to grow. By tapping into a built-in protein ...
July 3, 2025 — When Siberian volcanoes kicked off the Great Dying, the real climate villain turned out to be the rainforests themselves: once they collapsed, Earth’s biggest carbon sponge vanished, CO₂ ...
June 25, 2025 — Two newly discovered viruses lurking in bats are dangerously similar to Nipah and Hendra, both of which have caused deadly outbreaks in humans. Found in fruit bats near villages, these viruses may spread through urine-contaminated fruit, raising ...
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 ...
June 23, 2025 — In a remarkable twist of science, researchers have transformed a fungus long associated with death into a potential weapon against cancer. Found in tombs like that of King Tut, Aspergillus flavus was ...
June 16, 2025 — A lifelong fascination with nature and fieldwork led this researcher to the world of ethnobiology a field where ecology, culture, and community come together. Investigating how local people relate to species like the anaconda, their work blends ...
June 15, 2025 — Underground fungi may be one of Earth s most powerful and overlooked allies in the fight against climate change, yet most of them remain unknown to science. Known only by DNA, these "dark taxa" make up a shocking 83% of ectomycorrhizal species fungi ...
June 15, 2025 — Ten thousand years after mastodons disappeared, scientists have unearthed powerful fossil evidence proving these elephant cousins were vital seed spreaders for large-fruited trees in South America. ...
Latest Headlines
updated 2:12pm EDT
July 15, 2025 — High in Fiji s rainforest, the ant plant Squamellaria grows swollen tubers packed with sealed, single-door apartments. Rival ant species nest in these chambers, fertilizing their host with ...
July 11, 2025 — In a bold step toward sustainable space travel, scientists are engineering a radically small, protein-rich rice that can grow in space. The Moon-Rice project, led by the Italian Space Agency in ...
June 26, 2025 — Cats overwhelmingly choose to sleep on their left side, a habit researchers say could be tied to survival. This sleep position activates the ...
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 ...
June 14, 2025 — Study suggests that appetite for bushmeat -- rather than black market for scales to use in traditional Chinese medicine -- is driving West Africa's ...
June 12, 2025 — Reef "beauty salons" staffed by tiny cleaner fish aren t just for parasite removal they may also shape the microbial life of the entire ecosystem. A fascinating new study shows these bustling fish ...
June 10, 2025 — A prehistoric digestive time capsule has been unearthed in Australia: plant fossils found inside a sauropod dinosaur offer the first definitive ...
June 10, 2025 — After millions of years of evolutionary isolation, Madagascar developed an unparalleled array of wildlife, and recent research has uncovered an ...
June 10, 2025 — Bumblebee queens don t work nonstop. UC Riverside scientists discovered that queens take strategic reproductive breaks early in colony formation likely to conserve energy and increase the chance of ...
Earlier Headlines
June 6, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that a molecule known for defending animal immune systems called itaconate also plays a powerful role in plants. Researchers showed that itaconate not only exists in plant ...
June 6, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered over 200 new giant viruses lurking in ocean waters that not only help shape marine ecosystems but also manipulate photosynthesis in algae. These massive viruses once nearly ...
June 8, 2025 — In a paper published in National Science Review, a Chinese team of scientists highlights the discovery of well-preserved blue-stain fungal hyphae within a Jurassic fossil wood from northeastern ...
June 3, 2025 — The biosynthesis of the great variety of natural plant products has not yet been elucidated for many medically interesting substances. In a new study, an international team of researchers was able to ...
June 3, 2025 — A new study shows how person-to-person variation in antibody immunity plays a key role in shaping which influenza (flu) strains dominate in a ...
June 2, 2025 — New research shows that the presence of solar panels in Colorado's grasslands may reduce water stress, improve soil moisture levels and -- particularly during dry years -- increase plant growth ...
May 30, 2025 — Laboratory could improve crop resilience In a discovery three decades in the making, scientists have acquired detailed knowledge about the internal structures and mode of regulation for a specialized ...
May 29, 2025 — Long considered a disease brought to the Americas by European colonizers, leprosy may actually have a much older history on the American continent. Scientists reveal that a recently identified second ...
May 29, 2025 — Scientists have documented the way a single gene in the bacterium that causes bubonic plague, Yersinia pestis, allowed it to survive hundreds of years by adjusting its virulence and the length of ...
May 29, 2025 — A professor of crop sciences and of plant biology describes research efforts to 'future-proof' the crops that are essential to feeding a hungry world in a changing climate. Long, who has ...
May 29, 2025 — Scientists have pioneered a new way to breed climate-resilient crops faster by combining plant genebank data with climate and DNA analysis. The method, tested on sorghum, could speed up global ...
May 29, 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 — New HIV research shows that small changes in the virus affect how quickly or slowly it replicates and how easily it can reawaken in the body. These insights bring researchers closer to finding ways ...
May 29, 2025 — A virus responsible for damaging cotton crops across the southern United States has been lurking in U.S. fields for nearly 20 years -- undetected. According to new research, cotton leafroll dwarf ...
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 ...
May 28, 2025 — A study finds small-scale tree cover in Costa Rica boosts biodiversity while limiting dangerous mosquito ...
May 28, 2025 — A new study shows that planting too much genetically modified corn designed to fight off a tough insect -- the corn rootworm -- especially in the eastern U.S. Corn Belt states may be causing more ...
May 28, 2025 — A new concept of kinetic modules in biochemical networks could revolutionize the understanding of how these networks function. Scientists succeeded in linking the structure and dynamics of ...
May 28, 2025 — Researchers compared the whole genome sequence of two genetically distinct lineages of bed bug, and their findings indicate bed bugs may well be the first true urban ...
May 28, 2025 — A new species of velvet worm, Peripatopsis barnardi, represents the first ever species from the arid Karoo, which indicates that the area was likely historically more forested than at present. In the ...
Friday, June 6, 2025
- Scientists Find Immune Molecule That Supercharges Plant Growth
- Scientists Uncover 230 Giant Ocean Viruses That Hijack Photosynthesis
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Tuesday, June 3, 2025
- Two Plant Species Invent the Same Chemically Complex and Medically Interesting Substance
- Large-Scale Immunity Profiling Grants Insights Into Flu Virus Evolution
Monday, June 2, 2025
Friday, May 30, 2025
Thursday, May 29, 2025
- Leprosy Existed in America Long Before Arrival of Europeans
- Evolution of a Single Gene Allowed the Plague to Adapt, Survive and Kill Much of Humanity Over Many Centuries
- 'Future-Proofing' Crops Will Require Urgent, Consistent Effort
- Living Libraries Could Save Our Food
- How Does Coffee Affect a Sleeping Brain?
- HIV Discovery Could Open Door to Long-Sought Cure
- Cotton Virus Circulated Undetected for Nearly 20 Years, Study Finds
- Cannabis Pangenome Reveals Potential for Medicinal and Industrial Use
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
- Trees Vs. Disease: Tree Cover Reduces Mosquito-Borne Health Risk
- Too Much of a Good Thing: Consequences of Overplanting Bt Corn in the US
- Kinetic Coupling -- Breakthrough in Understanding Biochemical Networks
- Bed Bugs Are Most Likely the First Human Pest, New Research Shows
- New Velvet Worm Species a First for the Arid Karoo
- Genetic Deep Dive Dispels Fear of Hybrid Worm Threat
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
- Zika Virus Uses Cells' 'self-Care' System to Turn Against Host
- Nordic Studies Show the Significance of Old-Growth Forests for Biodiversity
- Stirling Research Could Extend Biopesticide Effectiveness
Monday, May 26, 2025
- A Root Development Gene That's Older Than Root Development
- Flowers Unfold With Surprising Precision, Despite Unruly Genes
Friday, May 23, 2025
- Mystery of 'very Odd' Elasmosaur Finally Solved: Fiercely Predatory Marine Reptile Is New Species
- Earliest Use of Psychoactive and Medicinal Plant 'harmal' Identified in Iron Age Arabia
- Modulation of Antiviral Response in Fungi Via RNA Editing
Thursday, May 22, 2025
- Ancient DNA Used to Map Evolution of Fever-Causing Bacteria
- 'Selfish' Genes Called Introners Proven to Be a Major Source of Genetic Complexity
- How Cholera Bacteria Outsmart Viruses
- 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
- Plant Cell Sculptors
- Bed-Netting Prototypes to Target Malaria-Causing Parasites
- Can Plants Hear Their Pollinators?
- Why Some Spiders Are More Venomous Than Others
- Unlocking the Secrets of Bat Immunity
- Natural Algal Communities Can Inhibit Aquaculture Pathogens
- Toothache from Eating Something Cold? Blame These Ancient Fish
- A New Technology for Extending the Shelf Life of Produce
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
- On the Origin (and Fate) of Plants That Never Bloom
- New Research Reveals Puff Adders as an Important Conservation and Rodent Control Solution
- Advanced Genomics Study Improves Detection of Hard-to-Find Diarrheal Infections
- Asian Elephants Have Larger Brains Than Their African Relatives
- Wild Spinach Offers Path to Breed Disease Resistance Into Cultivated Varieties
- Why Some Viral Infections Appear to Trigger Autoimmune Disease
- Native Turtles Return to Yosemite After Removal of Invasive Bullfrogs
- Thousands of Animal Species Threatened by Climate Change
Monday, May 19, 2025
- Bees Facing New Threats, Putting Our Survival and Theirs at Risk
- Genomic Data Shows Widespread Mpox Transmission in West Africa Prior to 2022 Global Outbreak
- Survival Trick: Pathogen Taps Iron Source in Immune Cells
- First-of-Its-Kind Global Study Shows Grasslands Can Withstand Climate Extremes With a Boost of Nutrients
- Family of Parasite Proteins Presents New Potential Malaria Treatment Target
- How Did Plants Evolve the Ability to Transport Massive Amounts of Protein Into Seed Vacuoles?
Friday, May 16, 2025
Thursday, May 15, 2025
- Two HIV Vaccine Trials Show Proof of Concept for Pathway to Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies
- World's Largest Bat Organoid Platform Paves the Way for Pandemic Preparedness
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
- Artificial Intelligence and Genetics Can Help Farmers Grow Corn With Less Fertilizer
- Europe's Forest Plants Thrive Best in Light-Rich, Semi-Open Woodlands -- Kept Open by Large Herbivores
- Light-Driven Cockroach Cyborgs Navigate Without Wires or Surgery
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
- Growth Before Photosynthesis: How Trees Regulate Their Water Balance
- 'Loop'hole: HIV-1 Hijacks Human Immune Cells Using Circular RNAs
Monday, May 12, 2025
- Measles Virus Detected in Houston Wastewater Before Cases Were Reported
- Invasive Salmon, Clams and Seaweed Are Next Threats to Biodiversity in Britain
- Microbial 'phosphorus Gatekeeping' Found at Center of Study Exploring 700,000 Years of Iconic Coastline
- The Kids Are Hungry: Juvenile European Green Crabs Just as Damaging as Adults
Friday, May 9, 2025
- First Fossil Evidence of Endangered Tropical Tree Discovered
- Antibiotics from Human Use Are Contaminating Rivers Worldwide, Study Shows
- Novel, Needle-Free, Live-Attenuated Influenza Vaccines With Broad Protection Against Human and Avian Virus Subtypes
- Researchers Map 7,000-Year-Old Genetic Mutation That Protects Against HIV
- Heat and Land Use: Bees Suffer in Particular
- Can Frisky Flies Save Human Lives?
- Internal Clocks Determine the Ups and Downs of Antarctic Krill
Thursday, May 8, 2025
- Researchers Find New Defense Against Hard-to-Treat Plant Diseases
- Novel Point of Attack to Combat Dangerous Tropical Diseases
- Engineering an Antibody Against Flu With Sticky Staying Power
- Building Vaccines for Future Versions of a Virus
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
- Biologists Create a One-Stop Shop for World's Most Charismatic Plants, Ferns
- Viruses Under the Super Microscope: How Influenza Viruses Communicate With Cells
- Fewer Parasites in the Indian River Lagoon Signal Big Ecosystem Problems
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
Monday, May 5, 2025
- New Molecular Label Could Lead to Simpler, Faster Tuberculosis Tests
- Biological Particles May Be Crucial for Inducing Heavy Rain
- Vertical Farming to Increase Yields and Reduce Environmental Impact
- Urban Rats Spread Deadly Bacteria as They Migrate, Study Finds
- Ancient Poems Tell the Story of Charismatic River Porpoise's Decline Over the Past 1,400 Years
Friday, May 2, 2025
Thursday, May 1, 2025
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
- New AI Technique Can Uncover Antiviral Compounds Using Limited Data
- Juvenile Salmon Roam Between Salt and Fresh Water While Exploring Coast and Rivers, New Research Finds
- New Study Unlocks How Root Cells Sense and Adapt to Soil
- Machine Learning Brings New Insights to Cell's Role in Addiction, Relapse
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Monday, April 28, 2025
- New Pests and Diseases Will Cut UK Tree Growth
- New Pangenome Analysis Uncovers Genetic Key to Larger Peanut Yields
- Influenza Virus Hacks Cell's Internal System
- Flower Strips Could Save Apple Farmers Pest Control Costs
- Chip-Shop Fish Among Key Seabed Engineers