Researchers find the snake clitoris
University of AdelaideAn international team of researchers, led by the University of Adelaide has provided the first anatomical description of the female snake clitoris, in a first-of-its-kind study.
An international team of researchers, led by the University of Adelaide has provided the first anatomical description of the female snake clitoris, in a first-of-its-kind study.
It’s often said that ‘from little things, big things grow’. Now, research at the University of South Australia is showing that the simple act of gardening can deliver unique learning experiences for primary school children, helping them engage with their curriculum while also encouraging a sustainable future.
Zoologist Professor Rainer Willmann, former Director of the Zoological Museum at the University of Göttingen, has described and classified previously unknown species of scorpionflies from Nepal.
More action is urgently needed to safeguard the world’s precious mountain ecosystems, according to a University of York researcher whose policy brief is being presented at this month’s United Nations Biodiversity Conference (“COP15”) in Montreal, Canada.
The five-year multidisciplinary initiative is focused on tree species critical to Western Apache tribal communities and includes multiple researchers from throughout NAU.
Invasive species of plants have a knack for settling in new settings and making big changes to an ecosystem, even leading to extinctions of native species.
NAU professor Jeff Foster was recently awarded a grant by the DoD for a new study, “Demonstration of Metabarcoding for Monitoring Bird Species Habitat Quality on DoD Installations.” This three-year, $900,000 project will focus on five insectivorous species on four military sites.
An international team, including a researcher from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), report the oldest ancient environmental DNA (eDNA) record to date describing the rich plant and animal assemblages of the Kap København Formation in north Greenland that existed 2 million years ago.
A global deal to protect nature and the benefits it provides to people will be negotiated during the United Nations COP15 biodiversity conference in Montreal, with a key target of the new biodiversity framework calling for at least 30 per cent of global land and sea areas to be conserved by 2030.
Experimental physicists growing icicles at the University of Toronto are closer to understanding why some form with ripples up and down their outsides, while others form with smooth, slick, even surfaces.
In Physics of Fluids, researchers have been studying the dynamics of how crescent-shaped sand dunes are formed. Known as barchans, these formations are commonly found in various sizes and circumstances, on Earth and on Mars. Using a computational fluid dynamics approach, the team carried out simulations by applying the equations of motion to each grain in a pile being deformed by a fluid flow, showing the ranges of values for the proper computation of barchan dunes down to the grain scale.
More and more trees are suffering the consequences of decades of man-made climate change.
A forest’s resilience, or ability to absorb environmental disturbances, has long been thought to be a boost for its odds of survival against the looming threat of climate change.
While most animals don’t learn their vocalizations, everyone knows that parrots do – they are excellent mimics of human speech. Researchers aim to add to what we know about animal vocal learning by providing the largest comparative analysis to date of parrot vocal repertoires.
Human-released greenhouse gasses are causing the world to warm, and with that warming comes increasing stress for many of the planet’s plants and animals.
Nature in Madagascar, an island off southeast Africa slightly larger than metropolitan France, is so unusual that 82% of its plant species and 90% of its vertebrates are endemic, only occurring there.
The strongest Arctic cyclone ever observed struck in January 2022. A new analysis shows that while forecasts accurately predicted the massive storm, models seriously underestimated its impact on sea ice. Results suggest places to improve forecast models in a changing Arctic Ocean.
Bats use distinct structures in the larynx to produce high-frequency echolocation calls and lower-frequency social calls, according to a study.
Zero deforestation commitments may inadvertently leave vital habitats in Latin America and Africa vulnerable to agricultural expansion, a new study has found.
From pangolin scales that can stand up to hard hits to colorful but sturdy peacock feathers, nature can do a lot with a few simple molecules.
As nations meet in Uruguay to negotiate a new Global Plastics Treaty, marine and forensic scientists publish new results this week that reveal the discovery of synthetic plastic fibres in air, seawater, sediment and sea ice sampled in the Antarctic Weddell Sea.
Researchers say that the Chilean Andes could face marked snow loss and roughly 10% less mountain water runoff with a global warming of approximately 2.5 degrees Celsius over the next 30 years. The study has implications for the California Sierra Nevada and highlights the need for carbon mitigation.
Capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.) are among only a few primates that use tools in day-to-day activities.
Rock coasts, which make up over half the world’s coastlines, could retreat more rapidly in the future due to accelerating sea level rise.
Researchers have discovered how plant roots adapt their shape to maximise their uptake of water, pausing branching when they lose contact with water and only resuming once they reconnect with moisture, ensuring they can survive even in the driest conditions.
When polar seas freeze and ice forms, it is not only due to cold air chilling the surface of the water.
A paper published in Environmental Pollution authored by Saint Louis University (SLU) scientists shows that human proximity is the best indicator of microplastics being found in the Meramec River in Missouri.
Preserving and restoring natural habitats could prevent pathogens that originate in wildlife from spilling over into domesticated animals and humans, according to two new companion studies.
Scientists are calling for a ‘decade of global action’ to reforest the planet, following the overnight publication of a themed international journal led by researchers from Australia’s University of the Sunshine Coast.
The Devonian Period, 419 to 358 million years ago, was one of the most turbulent times in Earth’s past and was marked by at least six significant marine extinctions, including one of the five largest mass extinctions ever to have occurred.
Staffordshire University is contributing forensic intelligence to an ambitious project which aims to protect endangered species like wolf, bear, lynx, and sturgeon in remote areas of Europe.
The Horizon Europe NaturaConnect Project will support European Union governments and other public and private institutions in designing a coherent, resilient and well-connected Trans-European Nature Network.
IUPUI scientists have found evidence that the evolution of tree roots over 300 million years ago triggered mass extinction events through the same chemical processes created by pollution in modern oceans and lakes.
In the summer of 2020, Florida Museum researchers Tobias Grun and Michał Kowalewski dove into the shallow waters off the coast of the Florida Keys and scoured the ocean floor for sea urchins.
Researchers examined how rogue waves form and analyzed the likelihood that a ship would encounter them while navigating the rough waters of intense storms.
Life on land may have quieted down during the height of the pandemic, but far offshore the Atlantic Ocean was just as active as ever according to a new study from the University of New Hampshire. Researchers found that there was no significant change in the continental shelf’s underwater soundscape during the year 2020— a surprising contrast to earlier reports of quieter coastal waters during that same timeframe.
Climate change is emerging as a top threat to biodiversity according to the latest Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.
Researchers at Stony Brook University have developed a way to simulate sea spray aerosols in tanks that mirror ocean conditions, allowing them to determine the organic compounds associated with and released by marine microorganisms, and discover clues to the role of these compounds as ice forming particles.
Nature seems to have an inexhaustible supply of inspiration when it comes to butterflies.
Scientists have so far found at least two genetic pathways leading to the same physical outcome: all-black feathers. This change was no random accident. It was a result of nature specifically selecting for this trait. The new study is published in the journal PLOS Genetics.
New research from King’s College London has found that seeing or hearing birds is associated with an improvement in mental wellbeing that can last up to eight hours.
One of the reasons for the global threat to biodiversity is that we humans introduce more nutrients into our environment than would naturally be present there, for example, when fertilising agricultural land.
The soil used for crops provides more than a space to grow.
The latest articles that have been added to the Environmental Health channel.
Alien floras in regions that were once occupied by the same European power are, on average, more similar to each other compared to outside regions and this similarity increases with the length of time a region was occupied. This is the conclusion of a study by an international team of researchers led by Bernd Lenzner and Franz Essl from the University of Vienna, which was recently published in the scientific journal "Nature Ecology and Evolution".
A team at the University of Exeter has shown experimentally for the first time, that hoverflies migrating during the spring orientate north.
A global cross-disciplinary team of scientists led by UNSW Sydney researchers has developed the first comprehensive classification of the world’s ecosystems across land, rivers and wetlands, and seas.
A newly released State of the Birds report for the United States reveals a tale of two trends – one hopeful, one dire. Long-term trends of waterfowl show strong increases where investments in wetland conservation have improved conditions for birds and people. But data show birds in the U.S. are declining overall in every other habitat – forests, grasslands, deserts, and oceans.
Two endemic species of the same flowering plant -- O nakaiana and O hexandra -- have distinctly different origins. Their study is based on molecular analysis of chloroplast samples of this genus taken from surrounding areas. The study demonstrates the complexity of floral speciation and distribution.