The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) has been awarded funding from the National Science Foundation BIO-LEAPS (Leading Culture Change through Professional Societies of Biology) Program.
Gray wolves in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone have altered immune responses and evolved anticancer mutations in response to chronic radiation exposure for the past 35 years
Ecological and environmental factors are known to affect invasion success. Now, scientists have found that “braver” birds are better at invading new environments.
Scientists create ‘frogolotls’ - chimeric amphibians using surgical transplants - to see how competing cellular instructions create a unified organism
Graduate student Rebecca Westwick researches how the environment of honey bee larvae influences their adult behavior. By focusing on aggression, she finds that whether bees prioritize hive protection over care of their young depends on their environment.
The classroom is constantly evolving, from chalkboards to powerpoint slides to interactive polling using clickers. But what if science were a story and we could follow along as an ant messes things up for a colony (hint: Pixar’s A Bug’s Life) or a fish is separated from their home (hint: Pixar’s Finding Nemo)? While these stories may not be 100% scientific, their ability to engage is demonstrable in the success of these movies.
Researchers enticed dragonflies to chase a small bead as it hurtled through the air, to examine how these insects capture objects that fly in erratic and unpredictable ways.
When horseweed is grown in contaminated soil, it extracts and accumulates heavy metals like lead, copper, and zinc. These fast-growing plants could help to detoxify even highly polluted environments.
Animals must defend resources critical to their and their offspring’s survival. With few resources, tree swallows become more territorial, which likely increases testosterone allocation in their eggs. This may promote offspring aggression, a trait critical for survival in competitive environments.
Poison dart frogs eat and accumulate toxins in their skin. Yet, unlike their predators, it does not seem to bother them. Researchers at Stanford University discovered a toxin-transporter protein that may hang on to the toxins and prevent them from wreaking havoc before they reach the frog’s skin.
Honesty between faculty and students improves student experiences in college. Professors who actively consider student identity and sharing their own can increase student fulfillment. Although daunting, new data indicate that students are ready to embrace a new kind of learning environment.
Using publicly available data on COVID variant rates, researchers from the University of Hawai'i are investigating how mutations in the virus' genome impact its ability to spread and weaken immune responses.
In an effort to understand how climate changes will affect many species at once, PhD candidate Guillermo Garcia Costoya created simulations that can predict how likely animals are to go extinct in different climatic conditions.
Scientific conferences are the lifeblood of science, but scientists have had to reinvent their beloved annual meetings in the face of COVID-19. The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology has embraced these challenges and opportunities by setting up the ‘Netflix’ of scientific meetings.
New research into how catfish capture prey provides an unparalleled view of the internal mechanics of fish skulls and could inspire the design of new underwater robots.
Scientists Ethan A. Beseris, Steven E. Naleway and David R. Carrier recently discovered that though having a beard won’t save you from getting knocked out in a fight, it will likely save you from collateral damage.
Post-doctoral training is a critical career stage for researchers in the life sciences yet interviewing for a post-doctoral position is largely an unregulated process. Without regulation, interviews are susceptible to unconscious biases that may lead to discrimination against certain demographic groups (e.g., women and minorities). Using data from an online survey of post-docs, we show that interview procedures for post-doctoral positions in the life sciences are correlated with several factors (e.g., candidate demographics) in ways that may bias the outcome of interviews. We discuss key components of interviews and suggest that conducting standardized, well-planned interviews that are less susceptible to unconscious biases may help increase the retention of women and under-represented minorities in the life sciences.
Scientists at Tufts University have designed special LED “suits” that help them understand how caterpillars crawl. Versace might dress the likes of Shakira and Beyoncé, but Guy Levy designs for a far more unusual – and wriggly – client: the tobacco hornworm caterpillar (Manduca sexta).
Bats have long intrigued humans. In a variety of cultures, they embody malevolent symbolism, including darkness, death, foreboding, and evil spirits. In others, they’re benevolent flyers who bestow good fortune. Bats themselves also come in a variety of forms and shapes. The miniscule “bumblebee bat,” ranks among the world’s smallest mammals. Flying foxes, which eat mostly fruit and other vegetation, can have wingspans reaching up to 6 feet long. The clear-winged wooly bat may be one of the strangest to look at. Its wings are nearly transparent, and the muscles, circulatory system, and bones are clearly visible through the translucent, almost-paper-thin skin.
Light pollution is on everyone’s minds in Reno, Nevada, a city famous for its bright lights and nightlife. Nighttime light pollution is a growing concern for cities worldwide. Artificial light at night has been found to cause serious health effects including disrupting our sleep-wake cycle ¬–our circadian rhythm.
Just two years ago, the U.S. Embassy in Havana was bustling with U.S. personnel sent by the Obama Administration to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba. Today it is nearly empty. In late 2016, diplomats started hearing a loud, piercing noise. Two dozen of them reported symptoms such as ear pain and dizziness, and were diagnosed with injuries consistent with a concussion. Suspicions of politically motivated “sonic attacks” soon followed.
Climate change, pollution, and a multitude of threats are putting our freshwater supplies at risk. Water collection and purification technologies are becoming increasingly important, especially in major urban areas. In places such as the San Francisco Bay area, access to freshwater is limited. There, fog collection technologies have piqued the interest of many engineers looking to mediate the shortage of freshwater.
People, animals, and even vehicles face the problem of tradeoffs – being good at one thing often means being bad at others. Circumventing tradeoffs can be a key to success. Some swimming turtles have solved this problem and are both highly stable and maneuverable in water – tasks usually at odds.
New models identify factors that put coral reefs at risk of extinction in the face of climate change, and suggest that facilitating migration of corals could allow reefs to adapt. The results of this research will be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in San Francisco, CA on January 7, 2018.
New research applies machine learning to classify the behavior of juvenile salmon based on tracking data. Scientists are using these approaches to identify when and where salmon are being eaten by invasive fishes. The results of this study will be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in San Francisco, CA on January 7, 2018.
New research shows that bonnethead sharks are able to digest seagrass, challenging the notion that all sharks survive on a purely carnivorous diet. This work will be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in San Francisco, CA, on January 7th, 2018.
New research on the isotopic composition of barnacle shells shows that prehistoric whales were undertaking migrations, just like their modern-day descendants.
New research shows that inflammation was modified by uterine decidual cells to facilitate implantation in placental mammals. The results of this study will be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in San Francisco, CA on January 5, 2018.
New research characterizes jumping behavior in larval midge flies. Even though these larvae are typically restrained during development, they can use a unique physiological mechanism to jump long distances. These results will be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in San Francisco, CA.
Scans of fossilized dinosaur prints show how some dinosaur feet moved not just on top of but through the earth. The results of this study will be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in San Francisco, CA on January 4, 2018
New research shows that the electrosensory organs of cartilaginous fish contain chitin, an invertebrate biopolymer. The results of this study will be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in San Francisco, CA on January X, 2018
Scientists and artists will gather in San Francisco to discuss ways of engaging broad audiences with science using narrative, through a special symposium, a workshop, and a story booth at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA, on January 5, 2018.
linked changes in social behavior with sublethal exposure to the neonicotinoid pesticide, imidacloprid.
To create prototype suction cups that are capable of glomming onto rough, wet surfaces and staying there, Ditsche has found inspiration in an aptly-named marine creature: the clingfish.
One potential is to create some sort of biomimetic earwax adhesive surface that can be used in a ventilation system for robotics or for other kinds of machinery.
Yet, how this key innovation evolved remains a mystery locked within the leathery shell of a lizard egg. Now, Dr. Thomas Sanger at Loyola University in Chicago has developed new techniques to understand more about the process of evolutionary diversification by observing development in real time.
More than 200 species of “true toads” have fully functional inner ears, but cannot fully use them because they have lost their tympanic middle ears, the part of the ear which transmits sound air pressures from the outside world to the inner ear. These “earless” toads rely on sounds to communicate, so why would they lose a sense that is key to their survival and reproduction?
The individual and the group: insignificant alone, awesome together. Like ants in a colony or neurons of a brain, the collective action of single actors can beautifully coalesce into something more complex than the parts.
New research shows that orchids relying on mosquitoes for pollination attract them by producing the same odors found in common mosquito blood-hosts. The results of this study will be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in New Orleans, LA on January 7, 2017.
Do bats adjust their echolocation calls in response to other bat calls
7th graders conducted classroom experiments using live Trinidadian guppies to test questions related to evolution, increasing both knowledge about and acceptance of evolutionary concepts.
Some corals may cope with climate change by changing markings on their DNA to modify what the DNA produces.
Simple consumer-grade equipment was used to study the combat flight behaviors of carpenter bees right at the researcher’s home.
Variation in egg-coat and sperm expressed genes influences fertility in diverse organisms, from sea stars to mice to humans.
New research finds that escape behaviors cause the normally transparent Pederson’s cleaner shrimp to turn opaque, disrupting their camouflage.
New research on snakes shows that eating increases the amount of damaging reactive molecules in the body, potentially shaping and constraining life history evolution across animal groups.
Parasitoid wasps manipulate their caterpillar hosts into eating a more wasp-friendly diet.
New research zeroes in on how the hooded sea slug safely loses limbs.
New research shows that mating pairs of the bird species known as great tits become more similar in their hormones over time. The results of this study will be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in West Palm Beach, Florida on January 7, 2015.
Hands-on, innovative educational material is being developed to help blind students learn about evolution. The development of toolboxes for the blind will be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in West Palm Beach, Florida on January 6, 2015.
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