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How a sanctuary outside LA has cared for rare, endangered gibbons for a half-century

How a sanctuary outside LA has cared for rare, endangered gibbons for a half-century

Over the past 50 years, the Gibbon Conservation Center has become a globally recognized institution dedicated to the care and well-being of gibbons

Bear attacks, conflicts with humans reach historic levels in Colorado

Bear attacks, conflicts with humans reach historic levels in Colorado

A drought in Colorado has bears searching frantically for food to prepare for winter hibernation.

UC Davis Researchers Discover Queen Bees Offload Pesticides into Eggs, Posing Colony Risk

UC Davis Researchers Discover Queen Bees Offload Pesticides into Eggs, Posing Colony Risk

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have uncovered a previously unknown survival mechanism in honeybee queens: they can transfer accumulated pesticides into their eggs. This process, termed maternal offloading, allows the queen to reduce her own chemical burden. The study, published in Current Biology, indicates that while worker bees typically filter harmful substances, their capacity can be overwhelmed, leading to pesticide accumulation in queens. The research involved creating 'nanocolonies' where queens and worker bees were exposed to methyl parathion, a pesticide tagged with a radioactive marker. Scientists tracked the pesticide's movement and found that while worker bees initially filtered out a significant portion, the queen began offloading the chemicals into her eggs over time. This finding suggests a complex interplay between individual bee survival and colony-wide health in the face of environmental contaminants.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Shares Images of Day-Old Goslings Leaping from Nests

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Shares Images of Day-Old Goslings Leaping from Nests

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has released a series of photographs capturing day-old Canada goose goslings leaping from their nests. These nests are typically situated on platforms 25 feet in the air. Photographer Jake Bonello, who is also the refuge manager at the Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the Columbian White-tailed Deer, took these images. The USFWS and the U.S. Department of the Interior have clarified that this behavior is normal for goslings. They are lightweight, and their fluffy down provides a cushion for the fall. After this initial leap, the goslings remain close to their parents throughout the summer until they are capable of flight. Canada geese typically lay clutches of around six eggs, and after approximately 25 days of incubation, the goslings are ready to walk and swim within a day of hatching.

Dead Fin Whale with Shark Bites Continues to Wash Ashore on Maine Islands

Dead Fin Whale with Shark Bites Continues to Wash Ashore on Maine Islands

A dead adolescent fin whale, approximately 43 feet long and covered in shark bites, has been repeatedly washing ashore on various Maine islands since late July. The whale was first reported on McGlathery Island on July 22, then on Spruce Island the following day. After briefly floating away, it was reported on Enchanted Island in early August, where it is believed to remain. Mike Kersula and his volunteer crew encountered the decomposing whale on Enchanted Island, noting its significant size and the presence of shark bites. Rosemary Seton, marine mammal stranding coordinator for Allied Whale at the College of the Atlantic, confirmed it is the same whale. Due to its advanced state of decomposition and precarious position in the intertidal zone, a full examination or necropsy to determine the cause of death has not been possible. Dead fin whales are rare in Maine, with only three reported by Seton in 26 years. The carcass's repeated movements are attributed to tides, currents, and storm surges.

Scientist Edward Knipling Pioneered Screwworm Eradication Through Sterile Insect Technique

Scientist Edward Knipling Pioneered Screwworm Eradication Through Sterile Insect Technique

In the 1950s, scientist Edward Knipling initiated a highly successful campaign to combat the New World screwworm, a parasitic insect that inflicted severe damage on livestock and wildlife across the Americas. Knipling's innovative approach, known as the sterile insect technique, involved breeding and releasing millions of sterile male screwworm flies. The objective was to prevent the insects from reproducing, thereby reducing their population. This method proved to be a transformative development in pest control, as detailed in archive recordings from the Special Collections of the United States Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Library. The BBC World Service podcast 'Witness History' highlighted this significant historical effort, showcasing how Knipling's bold idea led to one of the most effective eradication campaigns in history.

Chinese Scientists Launch AI Breeding Platform for Soybeans to Reduce Import Reliance

Chinese Scientists Launch AI Breeding Platform for Soybeans to Reduce Import Reliance

Chinese agricultural scientists have introduced a generative AI breeding platform, named Fengshu 2.0, for soybeans. This new platform aims to enhance the development of high-yield, high-oil soybean varieties within China. The initiative marks a significant shift from traditional, experience-based breeding methods to a data-assisted and precision decision-making approach. The AI platform is designed to optimize breeding plans by streamlining the processing of research data, thereby improving efficiency. This development is part of China's broader effort to bolster its domestic soybean production and decrease its heavy reliance on imports, which currently account for over 80% of its total consumption. The country views this import dependency as a vulnerability, especially in the context of heightened geopolitical risks. While Chinese scientists have developed breakthrough varieties in the past five years, most have not yet reached large-scale commercial planting, and the nation's demand for soybean meal, a c...

New England Wildlife Center Captures Raccoon Play-Wrestling on Camera in Renovated Outdoor Enclosure

New England Wildlife Center Captures Raccoon Play-Wrestling on Camera in Renovated Outdoor Enclosure

The New England Wildlife Center in Weymouth, Massachusetts, recently captured video footage of young raccoons play-wrestling and engaging in other natural behaviors within their newly renovated outdoor enclosure. The center upgraded the enclosure with a reinforced perimeter, improved enrichment structures, and additional outdoor cameras to monitor the animals without direct human presence. These cameras recorded what staff described as 'absolute chaos,' showing several raccoons climbing, playing, and wrestling. According to Priya Patel, the center’s Wildlife Medical Director, the goal is to keep the orphaned raccoons as wild as possible, allowing them to develop natural behaviors like becoming nocturnal and adapting to changing weather conditions before their eventual release.

Rockefeller University Researchers Discover Sprinting's Unique Molecular Impact Compared to Moderate Exercise

Rockefeller University Researchers Discover Sprinting's Unique Molecular Impact Compared to Moderate Exercise

Researchers at Rockefeller University have found that short bursts of intense sprinting trigger a significantly different and more rapid molecular response in the body compared to prolonged moderate exercise. A study revealed that just three minutes of all-out sprinting (six 30-second sprints) altered nearly a quarter of the proteins measured in the blood immediately after exercise. In contrast, 90 minutes of continuous moderate cycling affected less than 0.25% of proteins. Moderate treadmill running impacted more proteins than cycling but still considerably fewer than sprinting. The sprint workout also changed over 200 metabolites and rapidly increased levels of proteins associated with blood vessel growth, tissue remodeling, and hormonal signaling. These proteins often entered the bloodstream through ectodomain shedding, a fast cell-signaling process. Human fat cells exposed to blood after sprinting showed widespread changes in gene activity related to fuel processing, hormone response, and nutrient dete...

Fat Marmot Week Launched to Fund Climate Change Research After Mass Die-Off in Colorado

Fat Marmot Week Launched to Fund Climate Change Research After Mass Die-Off in Colorado

Researchers in Gothic, Colorado, have launched the first-ever 'Fat Marmot Week' to raise awareness and funds for their long-running study on marmots, following a significant die-off last winter. Two-thirds of one marmot population in the Colorado mountains perished during hibernation due to insufficient snow cover, which researchers attribute to scant snowfall and warm temperatures caused by global warming. The event, similar to 'Fat Bear Week,' aims to be fun while highlighting a serious issue: federal funding cuts are jeopardizing the decades-long research project at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. The study, which began in 1962, is one of the world's longest-running studies of individual mammals and provides crucial data on how climate change impacts alpine ecosystems.

California Mail Carrier Accused of Beating Peacock with Rock and Stick

California Mail Carrier Accused of Beating Peacock with Rock and Stick

A mail carrier in Pasadena, California, is accused of beating a beloved neighborhood peacock named Sugar with a rock and then a stick after the bird followed him to his truck. Gina Davis, a local schoolteacher, discovered the incident after reviewing her home security footage when she noticed the peacock appeared disoriented and refused to eat or drink. The video, which circulated among neighbors, shows the mail carrier throwing a rock at the bird and subsequently striking it with an object from his truck. Following the incident, a neighbor contacted Pasadena Humane, and a veterinarian examined the peacock. The bird has since been taken to the group's Wildlife Center for observation and recovery. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has stated it takes allegations of inappropriate conduct seriously and will take appropriate action.

OpenBind-0 Model Advances Molecular Structure Prediction for Drug Discovery

OpenBind-0 Model Advances Molecular Structure Prediction for Drug Discovery

OpenBind-0 (OB0), a new open-source molecular structure prediction co-folding model, has been released. Built on OpenFold3, OB0 specializes in predicting the structures of proteins bound to small-molecule ligands. Alongside the model, a dataset of 717 ligand-bound structures, capturing fragment-to-hit progression across three drug targets, has also been made public. OB0 is trained on data from the Protein Data Bank (PDB) through June 2025 and incorporates chemical steering to enhance the physical validity of predicted ligand structures. Benchmarking shows OB0 is competitive with existing models, particularly in protein-ligand predictions. The release aims to establish a baseline for future OpenBind models and facilitate drug discovery efforts by providing open access to advanced predictive tools and relevant structural data. The model's performance varies by target, with high accuracy on some systems and challenges on others, such as the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) systems.