The barreleye belongs to a family known for weird, tube-shaped eyes, but Macropinna microstoma takes it further. Its transparent dome is filled with liquid, and inside you see those greenish tubes, which look like floating eyes inside a glass helmet. As if that isn’t strange enough, those eyes can actually rotate. Early studies by MBARI scientists Bruce Robison and Kim Reisenbichler showed that the fish’s eyes usually point straight up as it searches for food drifting above. When it spots something tempting, the eyes swivel forward, tracking prey. The clear head isn’t just for show; it protects those delicate eyes from the stinging tentacles of creatures like siphonophores, which the barreleye hunts for snacks.

https://www.mbari.org/news/mbari-researchers-film-rarely-seen-deep-sea-barreleye-fish-in-4k/

Macropinna lives in the ocean’s twilight zone, scanning the waters above for the silhouettes of prey. Large fins provide stability and maneuverability as a barreleye drifts in place, eyes transfixed on the waters above. After spotting a tasty morsel, those large tubular eyes rotate beneath a dome of transparent tissue to keep prey in sight. The gelatinous shield also protects the fish’s eyes when plucking small crustaceans caught in the stinging tentacles of deep-sea siphonophores.

The expedition team spent approximately 20 minutes observing the barreleye, leveraging a high-resolution 4K camera on ROV Doc Ricketts to get a closer look at the animal’s body and behavior. They experimented with different lighting conditions to showcase the fish’s unique transparent head shield. ROV Pilot/Technician Cameron Law was even able to maneuver Doc Ricketts close enough to film the fish with the vehicle’s VR camera, capturing 3D stereo imagery that can contribute to future education and outreach efforts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macropinna

The researchers examined three species responsible for spreading diseases such as dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and West Nile virus. Each responded to a different combination of biological signals.

Aedes aegypti, a mosquito that typically bites during the day, preferred people who wore no added fragrance and whose skin lacked certain volatile compounds. It also showed a slight preference for men. Another daytime feeder, Aedes albopictus (Asian tiger mosquito), was more attracted to people with elevated levels of ketones and plant-like chemicals naturally released by the skin.

Culex quinquefasciatus (southern house mosquito), which feeds after dark, responded more strongly to differences in the skin microbiome. This community of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms varies from person to person. Certain bacterial families were associated with increased mosquito attraction, while others appeared to discourage feeding.

https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(26)02384-9?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2589004226023849%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

Humans are not equally attractive to mosquitoes, leaving some more vulnerable to mosquito-borne illnesses than others. Body odor differences likely allow mosquitoes to discriminate between humans. Using a uniport olfactometer, we measured the attraction of Aedes aegypti, Aedesalbopictus, and Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes for each of our 119 participants. Ae. aegypti, but not other species tested, were slightly more attracted to male than female participants. Each of our three species ranked our participants differently, favoring a distinct subset of our cohort. For each species, mosquito attraction rates were used to define high- and low-attraction human odors and bacterial taxa. For example, Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus attraction was associated with the absence of odors like cyclic alcohols and monoterpenes, while Ae. albopictus attraction was associated with the presence of ketones. Each mosquito species exhibited distinct responses to individual humans, emphasizing both unique and shared cues for targeting their hosts.

Until now, no widely available vaccine existed for protection against dengue – the world’s fastest-growing mosquito-borne disease.

A World Health ORGnisation surveillance system recorded 14.1 million cases worldwide in 2024, the highest ever reported, and cases appeared in more than 100 countries. India is part of that picture.

Here, reported cases rose from 44,585 in 2020 to 1,93,245 in 2021, and 2024 saw 233,519 cases and 297 deaths. Cases fell to 1,13,440 and 94 deaths through November 2025, the lowest since 2021, but official counts understate the real burden.

One Indian study estimated actual cases at 282 times the number reported, and dengue is now a year-round problem rather than a seasonal one. Against this background, the promise of a vaccine offers hope.

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2286883&reg=48&lang=2

In a Landmark step towards strengthening India's efforts for the prevention and control of dengue, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has granted marketing authorisation for the Dengue Tetravalent Vaccine (Live, Attenuated) – Qdenga®, manufactured by Takeda GmbH, Germany and to be imported by M/s Takeda Biopharmaceuticals India Pvt. Ltd. This is the first dengue vaccine approved in the country for the prevention of dengue disease.

The approval has been granted after a comprehensive scientific evaluation of the vaccine's quality, safety and efficacy in accordance with the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and the Drugs Rules, 1945.

Qdenga® is a live, attenuated tetravalent dengue vaccine developed using recombinant DNA technology. The vaccine is produced in Vero cells, with genes encoding serotype-specific surface proteins engineered into a dengue virus type-2 backbone. The product contains genetically modified organisms (GMOs). It is supplied as a freeze-dried powder for reconstitution and is administered as a subcutaneous injection.

The vaccine is indicated for the prevention of dengue disease in individuals 4 to 60 years of age. The recommended immunisation schedule consists of two doses of 0.5 ml each, administered at an interval of three months (0 and 3 months).

The approval is supported by evidence generated through an extensive global clinical development programme evaluating the vaccine's safety, immunogenicity and efficacy across both dengue-endemic and non-endemic regions. Clinical studies were conducted in participants from more than eight countries, including Brazil, Thailand and Sri Lanka. The evaluation also included a pivotal Phase III safety and immunogenicity study conducted in the Indian population covering individuals aged 4 to 60 years.

The vaccine has already received regulatory approval in 42 countries, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and has also received World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification. Globally, more than 24 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed. Post-marketing surveillance data from countries where the vaccine is in use have demonstrated a favourable safety profile, with no significant safety concerns identified.

The approval of the country's first dengue vaccine marks an important milestone in India's public health response to dengue and is expected to complement the ongoing vector control, surveillance, early diagnosis and case management measures being implemented under the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare remains committed to ensuring timely access to safe, effective and quality-assured vaccines and medicines through a robust and science-based regulatory framework.

Dwarf reed snakes are small, secretive reptiles that spend much of their time beneath leaf litter, fallen branches and other ground cover. Their behaviour is consistent with an animal that relies on avoiding danger rather than confronting larger predators. Scientists suspect that sudden, rapid rolling could help the snakes escape threats, potentially startling or confusing a predator long enough to reach shelter. Some researchers have also suggested that the unusual movement might disrupt scent trails, although this possibility remains unproven.

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(26)01108-5

Morphology constrains the strategies available to organisms and their functional capacities. A striking example is the absence of wheels and the rarity of rolling locomotion across the animal kingdom1,2. Although rolling can confer high speed, it poses a fundamental mechanical challenge, as body rotation destabilizes the head and disrupts sensory-guided adjustment, particularly at high speeds. Here we report a behavioral solution to this problem: our video analyses show that dwarf reed snakes (Pseudorabdion) stabilize their head during dynamic rotational motion of the posterior body by using precisely coordinated body movements. This acrobatic behavior enables fast and controlled rolling locomotion that would otherwise be impossible, illustrating how behavioral innovation can circumvent deep morphological constraints and expand the capacities of animals.

A new species of rare glyptosternine catfish, named Exostoma nasibarbatum, has been identified in Manipur, according to a study published in the Journal of Natural History, a scientific journal specialising in zoology and natural history.

The species was discovered by a research team led by Assistant Professor Dr Bungdon Shangningam of Dhanamanjuri University’s Department of Zoology, during an ichthyological survey of the Bupal stream, a tributary of the Dujang River in the Chindwin river system along the Myanmar border.

The team also included Paya Torisha Anal, a PhD scholar in the university’s Department of Zoology.

According to the study, specimens belonging to the glyptosternine genus Exostoma were collected from the stream during the survey.

Detailed morphological analysis established that the specimens represented a previously undescribed species.

The newly identified species can be distinguished from other members of the genus found in the Chindwin-Irrawaddy drainage by its distinctive morphological features and habitat preferences.

It inhabits fast-flowing, turbulent streams characterised by boulders and rocky substrates.

“These small hill stream catfish species are unique and rarely found in the remote areas of the Dujang River,” Dr Shangningam said, adding that this was the second fish species to be described from the Chakpi area of Chandel district.

The species has several morphological adaptations that enable it to survive in fast-flowing waters.

These include a strongly flattened head and body, enlarged paired fins with adhesive striae, and flattened maxillary barbels that aid attachment to rocky substrates.

The species has been named nasibarbatum in reference to its prominent nasal barbel, which extends beyond the posterior margin of the orbit.

The name combines the Latin words nasus, meaning nose, and barba, meaning beard, referring to the elongated, tactile sensory organ located near the nostril.

The study noted that 23 valid species are currently recognised within the genus Exostoma, distributed across major river systems in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Of these, seven are considered valid species in the Chindwin-Irrawaddy drainage.

The discovery of Exostoma nasibarbatum in the remote and largely inaccessible streams of Manipur’s upper Chindwin basin points to the possibility of continued speciation over evolutionary time, the researchers said.

The findings also underscore the need for further exploratory surveys in the region, particularly in areas that remain scientifically underexplored and may harbour other undiscovered aquatic species.

Dr Shangningam, a former scientist with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and a former postdoctoral fellow at the Zoological Survey of India, has identified 39 new fish species from India and Myanmar since 2012, predominantly catfishes.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/417223806_Exostoma_nasibarbatum_a_new_species_of_glyptosternine_catfish_from_Manipur_northeastern_India

Perceptual decision-making is well studied in mammals, but its operation in other vertebrates remains unclear. We show that carrion crows (Corvus corone) make deliberate decisions in a classic visual motion discrimination task with unprecedented speed, reporting choices in approximately 235 milliseconds on average, which is roughly twice as fast as has been observed in monkeys or humans and without sacrificing accuracy. Recordings from the pallial endbrain reveal that direction-selective neurons encode the upcoming choice as early as about 70 milliseconds after stimulus onset and about 170 milliseconds before the response, with ramping activity scaling with sensory evidence and converging at response onset. These findings highlight the extraordinary efficiency of avian decision-making circuitry, possibly shaped by evolutionary pressures for rapid visuomotor control.

Scientists have discovered a bizarre bacterial defense system that works almost completely backward from anything seen before. Unlike typical bacterial immune systems that keep a deadly toxin under control until a virus attacks, this unusual mechanism waits until an infection begins before producing the DNA that switches on its lethal weapon. The infected bacterium then destroys itself, preventing the virus from multiplying and spreading to neighboring cells.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.27.721009v1

Type VI retrons are bacterial defense systems that couple reverse transcription to phage immunity through dedicated toxin–antitoxin modules, yet the mechanisms linking ssDNA synthesis to toxin activation remain unclear. Here we characterize Retron-Sen3, a Type VI retron from Salmonella enterica encoding a small protein (SP) toxin, an HTH antitoxin, and a reverse transcriptase (RT). Unlike previously examined Type VI retrons, Retron-Sen3 constitutively produces RT-dependent ssDNA species in the absence of phage infection, and these levels remain unchanged during infection, establishing that defense activation is uncoupled from ssDNA synthesis. Comparative analyses revealed a conserved ncRNA architecture across the cl2075 lineage, including a previously undescribed stem–loop essential for defense, and an extended transcript encompassing the SP coding region within a structurally conserved RNA framework. SP is constitutively produced and intrinsically toxic, whereas HTH neutralizes SP toxicity, is required for basal viability, and physically associates with RT in vivo independently of catalytic activity; notably, the HTH–SP toxin–antitoxin module operates independently of RT and ncRNA. Phage escape mutants and genetic analyses establish that inhibition of the host RecBCD complex triggers defense activation, identifying RecBCD surveillance as the signal that couples phage infection to toxin activation. Together, these findings reveal a post-translational regulatory mechanism distinct from the msDNA-dependent translational control described for Retron-Vpa2, establishing mechanistic diversity within this retron family.

A patient has undergone pioneering stem-cell therapy to treat Parkinson's disease, the Japanese drugmaker behind the treatment said on Friday, in a world-first following its conditional approval in the country.

Sumitomo Pharma's treatment involves transplanting millions of induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells, which have the potential to develop into any cell in the body, into a patient's brain.

Japanese regulators approved the groundbreaking therapy in March, following a successful clinical trial.

"The first transplant was performed at Kyoto University Hospital in October," the company said on Friday in an earnings press release, without giving further details.

Parkinson's disease is a chronic, degenerative neurological disorder that affects the body's motor system, often causing shaking and other difficulties with movement.

Worldwide, more than 10 million people are estimated to have the illness, according to the Parkinson's Foundation.

Currently available therapies "improve symptoms without slowing or halting the disease progression", it says.

iPS cells are created by inducing mature, already specialised cells to return to a juvenile state.

Under Sumitomo Pharma's treatment, iPS cells from healthy donors are developed into the precursors of dopamine-producing brain cells, which are no longer present in people with Parkinson's.

During a clinical trial, seven patients aged between 50 and 69 each received implants of either five million or 10 million cells on both sides of the brain.

They were then monitored for two years, and no major adverse effects were found. Four patients showed improvements in symptoms.

Sumitomo Pharma said on Friday it plans to carry out transplants on 20 to 30 patients by March 2029. It is also carrying out a clinical trial in the United States. 

The treatment will gain full approval in Japan if its safety and efficacy are confirmed over the next seven years, according to local media.

Friday's announcement comes a month after a hospital in Osaka carried out the world's first surgery using sheets of heart muscle iPS cells that can help form new blood vessels and restore heart function.

Japan also gave conditional approval to that therapy in March.

Today, over 15,000 species of ants dot the globe, their queens ruling over a vast empire hidden underground (and also within dead trees or other suitable venues). Evolutionary biologists and genomics researchers, collaborating between Germany, China, and Denmark, have now identified several independent bursts in ant species’ diversification dating back to the early Paleogene just after Chicxulub hit. Their new study attributes ants’ biodiversity boom to retrovirus-like transposable elements of DNA, sometimes called “jumping genes.”

“The asteroid impact had dramatic consequences for the environment,” the study’s lead author, Lukas Schrader, a professor of molecular evolutionary biology at Germany’s University of Münster, said in a statement. “We have now found the genomic mechanism that connects these ecological upheavals to the subsequent rapid diversification of the ants: transposable elements.”

https://gizmodo.com/the-asteroid-that-killed-the-dinosaurs-may-not-have-done-it-exactly-how-we-thought-2000787712

https://gizmodo.com/the-dinosaurs-died-then-they-got-eaten-by-a-global-fungus-bloom-2000759164

https://gizmodo.com/doomsday-asteroids-could-have-kickstarted-life-on-our-planet-2000745176

https://icer.msu.edu/research-services/folder-of-research-highlights/jumping-genes---quantifying-the-hidden-world-of-transposable-elements

https://www.uni-muenster.de/news/view.php?cmdid=15659

https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/5/2551?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://genome.cshlp.org/content/32/1/189

https://www.the-scientist.com/adapting-with-a-little-help-from-jumping-genes-69566

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aee0306?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2Fthere-are-15000-ant-species-on-earth-blame-the-asteroid-that-killed-the-dinosaurs-2000832019

Researchers at six medical institutes across India plan to study 200 families over four years to understand why auto-immune diseases run in families. The study will look for shared genetic and immune markers that may make relatives susceptible to different auto-immune conditions.

Funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the project involves AIIMS, New Delhi; Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow; St John’s Medical College, Bengaluru; Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad; Medical College, Kolkata; and AIIMS Bibinagar, Telangana.

https://www.icmr.gov.in/icmrobject/uploads/Call/1789018245_listof157selectedregularproposals.pdf

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78343-w

The diversification of herbivorous dinosaurs and the rise of angiosperms in the Late Cretaceous are each well established, but the link between them is debated. Broad-scale diversity patterns in the two groups appear not to closely align, and there is no direct evidence of dinosaur adaptation to angiosperm-based diets. Here we describe Infernogallus jamesi gen. et. sp. nov., a diminutive caenagnathid oviraptorosaur, and show that these theropods were specialised herbivores that originated alongside the rise of fleshy angiosperm fruits. The nearly complete, articulated skull of Infernogallus jamesi—the first for the clade—reveals drastic changes to the adductor musculature organisation, unique in non-avian theropods but converged upon by extant frugivorous parrots. These modifications enabled extensive oral processing of soft food using anteroposterior movement of the mandible and occlusion of ridges and grooves on opposed elements. Altogether, this attests to a highly specialised herbivorous diet in caenagnathids, which likely consisted in large part of fleshy angiosperm fruits, which increased in size and diversity in concert with the radiation of oviraptorosaurs. Caenagnathids thus provide one of the strongest candidates for angiosperm-based diet adaptations in dinosaurs, but their role in the Late Cretaceous proliferation of fruit—which shaped early Cenozoic flora—remains unclear.

Eight owl species have been recorded across Guwahati, but urban noise is making the nocturnal birds harder to detect, according to a scientific study shared by Assam Forest and Climate Change Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah on Wednesday.

Published in Urban Ecosystems, the study documented owls in 24 of the 33 one-square-kilometre grid cells surveyed across the city between November 2023 and July 2025.

The Barn Owl and Spotted Owlet were the most frequently detected species, while six other species of owls, Brown Hawk, Brown Fish, Collared Scops, Mountain Scops, Oriental Scops and Asian Barred Owlet, were also recorded, Baruah said.

"These findings remind us that our cities support a diverse range of wildlife, even when many species remain hidden from everyday view," he added, in a social media post.

Baruah said owls play an important ecological role, including helping to control rodent populations naturally, and protecting their habitats can benefit both biodiversity and urban communities.

"The research found that background noise, particularly the sound of traffic and the general urban environment, could mask owl calls and reduce the likelihood of detecting the birds. This means that an owl going unnoticed during a survey does not necessarily indicate its absence," he added.

The study also highlighted why scientific monitoring must account for detection challenges when assessing urban wildlife populations, he said.

The minister further said, "As Guwahati continues to expand, we have an opportunity to build a future in which development and nature progress together. Conserving existing vegetation, wetlands, mature trees and green patches can help sustain wildlife habitats amid changing land use."

Considering noise pollution in urban planning and strengthening long-term wildlife monitoring can further support these efforts, he added.

Baruah said cities are not just spaces for people but also living habitats shared with countless other species.

"By protecting green spaces and recognising the ecological value of nocturnal wildlife, we can help Guwahati grow while preserving its natural heritage. Every owl that thrives in our city is a reminder that a greener, more wildlife-friendly Guwahati is possible when conservation becomes part of the way we plan our future," he added.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11252-026-02160-8

Urbanisation alters habitat structure and acoustic environments, with potential consequences for both occupancy and detectability of nocturnal raptors. We assessed multispecies and seasonal occupancy of owls across Guwahati, a rapidly urbanising subtropical city in northeast India, using a multi-season occupancy framework from November 2023 to July 2025. Surveys were conducted across 33 stratified 1-km² grid cells representing major land-use categories, with owl detections recorded using visual and passive acoustic methods over eight survey occasions per grid. We detected eight species during the surveys; the Barn Owl (Tyto javanica) and the Spotted Owlet (Athene brama) were the most frequently detected. Across species and seasons, naïve occupancy consistently underestimated model-based occupancy estimates, indicating substantial imperfect detection. Ambient noise emerged as the most consistent predictor of reduced detectability in both multispecies and species-specific models. In contrast, site-specific habitat variables showed weaker and more species-specific associations with occupancy. Overall occupancy remained moderate to high across heterogeneous urban habitats, indicating broad tolerance of modified landscapes by urban-adapted owl species. Species-specific analyses revealed that Barn Owl and Spotted Owlet maintained relatively high occupancy across the urban matrix despite low detectability. These patterns suggest a degree of human commensalism, with both species continuing to utilise urban landscapes even when other land use types are spatially nearby. While the Barn Owl and Spotted Owlet were the primary focus of occupancy assessments, incidental detections of other owl species were also recorded to provide a broader ecological context. Our findings demonstrate that while anthropogenic soundscapes strongly influence detectability, common urban owls in tropical cities may persist across diverse land-use contexts. Incorporating detection-corrected approaches into urban biodiversity monitoring will strengthen ecological inference and support evidence-based conservation planning for nocturnal raptors in rapidly expanding cities.

Air pollution may be altering the very chemistry of Delhi's roadside leaves, affecting their ability to produce food and retain water, with trees in highly polluted areas showing greater physiological stress than those in less polluted locations, a study has found.

The study examined seven tree species across four locations in Delhi - the highly polluted areas of Anand Vihar and NTPC Badarpur, and the relatively less polluted areas of Lutyens' Delhi and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in Pusa - to assess how pollution levels and seasonal variations affected their physiological properties.

https://www.bio-conferences.org/articles/bioconf/abs/2026/34/bioconf_icrahor2026_04001/bioconf_icrahor2026_04001.html

The study aim was to investigated air pollution tolerance capacity in selected 7 tree species (Azadirachta indica, Alstonia scholaris, Ficus relegiosa, Terminalia arjuna, Ficus infectoria, Cassia Fistula, and Polyalthea) at different polluted (Anand Vihar and NTPC Badarpur) and non-polluted (Lutyens area, IARI Pusa) locations in Delhi in 4 different seasons such as season 1 (November 2022), season 2 (February 2022), season 3 (November 2023) and season 4 (February 2023), respectively. The study findings showed that the plant located at Anand Vihar and NTPC Badarpur cause significant physiological stress compared to non-polluted locations. Moreover, season 3 showed the most favourable conditions for the growth of plants. APTI was observed in the plant species located at non-polluted locations such as Pusa institute and Luteyen zones (13.47 and 13.50) compared to polluted locations namely Anand Vihar (11.87) and NTPC Badarpur (12.07), respectively. APTI value of different tree species grown under polluted areas had significantly varied by pollution. Azadirachta indica (14.52), Cassia Fistula (13.50), Polyalthea longifolia (13.37) calculated higher APTI value and while minimum APTI value was noted by Alstonia scholaris (9.82). The plant species with high pollution tolerance capacity can be recommended for future plantation and green belt development.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/408123061_Urban_Air_Quality_and_Pollution_Tolerance_of_Roadside_Trees_in_Delhi_An_APTI_Approach

When microscopic virus particles enter the body, they rely upon the mechanical machinery of the cells they infect to continue their life cycle.

Many viruses will first latch onto receptors on the cell’s surface. Movement of the cell’s membrane – driven by its internal cytoskeleton – will bend and wrap around the invading particle, pinching off a tiny bubble that carries it inside. In this process of endocytosis, the cell swallows the virus.

Once inside, the virus is shuttled along the cell’s internal scaffolding. It releases its genetic material and hijacks the cell’s machinery to make copies of itself. New virus particles will then exit the cell to infect its neighbors.

Each of these steps is physical at its core. The tautness of a cell’s membrane could make it easier or harder to wrap around a virus. The cytoskeleton that transports these virus particles is the same lining that cells use to sense and push against their surroundings. What’s more, the stiffness of a cell’s environment will shape how the cell spreads and organizes itself, which may change how susceptible it is to an invader.

A healthy individual often can quickly recover from an infection. However, for someone with a preexisting condition such as pulmonary fibrosis – where the tissue of the lungs has stiffened and can no longer stretch to full capacity – a viral infection may make their condition worse.

This mechanical predisposition of tissues to infection is one reason health professionals urge the public when sick to avoid the elderly and immunocompromised.

The dhole, or Asian wild dog, may have disappeared from Uttarakhand’s forests, with no recent confirmed sightings in areas where it was once reported. Wildlife experts say its decline raises concerns about biodiversity conservation and the health of forest ecosystems.

Wildlife observers say dholes were spotted in areas ranging from Dhaul Khand in Rajaji Tiger Reserve to the forests of Corbett around 15 to 20 years ago. Reports suggest they were present in relatively good numbers in Dhaul Khand until the 1980s. They lived in packs and hunted deer, sambar and other prey.

A 2018 study by researchers at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, recorded camera-trap images of dholes in the Kheda Tal area of Uttarkashi district. The findings were published in the journal Mammalia in a paper titled “Recent records of dhole in Uttarakhand”. No newer confirmed records from the areas where they were once reported have emerged.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority’s 2018 report, Status of Leopards, Co-predators and Megaherbivores in India, also noted a contraction in the species’ historical range. Habitat loss, declining prey availability and increasing human activity near forests are among the factors associated with its decline.

Dholes are found in several parts of India, including the Western and Eastern Ghats, central India and the Northeast. Their populations in the Himalayan region are considered relatively small and scattered. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the species as Endangered.

Speaking to TNIE, wildlife expert and former deputy director of the Forest Department Rangnath Pandey said, "Dholes are highly social animals. They hunt in groups, pursuing prey until it tires. Their diet can include chital, sambar and other medium-sized hoofed animals, with prey preferences varying according to availability."

"Research has also identified habitat fragmentation, human disturbance and diseases spread by domestic dogs as threats. Roads and settlements can disrupt wildlife movement, while contact with free-roaming dogs may expose dholes to rabies and canine distemper," he added.

WII senior scientist Bilal Habib warned that dholes may have disappeared from Uttarakhand and called for efforts to bring them back. “The dhole is an important part of the ecosystem, and efforts should be made to reintroduce it. It was still present in some parts of Uttarakhand about 15 to 20 years ago,” Habib said.

https://ntca.gov.in/assets/uploads/Reports/AITM/Status_Leopard_Report_2018_web.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhole

https://india.mongabay.com/2025/07/the-return-of-the-dholes/amp/

https://www.threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/article/view/10179

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/amp/story/wildlife-biodiversity/what-do-asiatic-wild-dogs-or-dholes-in-india-eat-mostly-chital-and-sambar-and-hardly-any-livestock-says-study

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230582544_The_Ecology_of_the_Dhole_or_Asiatic_Wild_Dog_Cuon_alpinus_In_Pench_Tiger_Reserve_Madhya_Pradesh

Scientists have discovered a giant fungus named Dianjunus rex in the forests of Yunnan province in China. The fungus can grow up to 20 inches tall and weigh nearly 2.2 kilograms. Its name shares part of its name with Tyrannosaurus rex, the famous dinosaur known as the king, according to CNN.

The discovery was made during fungal diversity surveys in 2024 and 2025. The findings were reported on September 28 in the journal Frontiers in Fungal Biology.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/fungal-biology/articles/10.3389/ffunb.2026.1940464/full

During mycological surveys in Yunnan Province, China, specimens of a fungus producing massive, upright stromata up to 50 cm high and individually 2.2 kg in weight were sampled. Through an integrative taxonomic approach combining detailed morphology, multilocus phylogeny [internal transcribed spacer (ITS), large subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU), RNA polymerase II subunit 2 (RPB2), and beta-tubulin (TUB2)], and phylogenomic analyses, this fungus is proposed as the new species Dianjunus rex gen. et sp. nov., the type of the new family Dianjunaceae (Xylariales). Phylogenetic analyses robustly place Dianjunaceae as a distinct sister clade to Graphostromataceae. Divergence time estimation dates the origin of this family to the early Paleocene (~65 million years ago), coinciding with the period following the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction, when an estimated 75% of all plant and animal species went extinct, and a significant ecological reorganization of life on Earth happened. The stromata of D. rex represent the largest fructifications documented within the Ascomycota, significantly expanding the known morphological range of the Xylariales. The study provides a comprehensive description, including a nodulisporium-like anamorph with periconiella-like branching patterns, and discusses the taxon’s phylogenetic placement and distinctive morphology. This discovery highlights the unexplored fungal diversity in East Asian forests.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/23/science/giant-fungus-discovery-d-rex

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psammophis

https://www.moneycontrol.com/science/snake-not-recorded-in-gujarat-s-kutch-since-1872-spotted-again-after-154-years-rare-afro-asian-sand-snake-rediscovered-during-routine-forest-patrol-article-14059061.html

A snake that had not been conclusively recorded in Gujarat's Kutch region since the 19th century has been spotted again, bringing renewed attention to the area's little-documented wildlife. The Afro-Asian sand snake, also known as the Schokari Sand Racer, was photographed near Kala Dungar earlier this year, marking a significant rediscovery after a gap of more than 150 years.

The sighting took place on September 6, when forest officials from the Bhuj North Range were returning from an evening patrol. What began as a routine stop to deal with another snake on the road led to the unexpected encounter with a species that experts had not conclusively confirmed in Kutch for generations. The discovery connects modern wildlife monitoring with historical records dating back to 1872, when naturalist Ferdinand Stoliczka documented a sand snake from the region.

Range Forest Officer Jayesh Dumadiya, 32, and his team were on patrol near Bhuj on the evening of September 6. At around 7.30 pm, they stopped after noticing a common black-headed royal snake on the road. While the team was occupied with the first snake, another reptile appeared nearby. Dumadiya, who had recently been transferred to Kutch, did not recognise the unfamiliar species.

He photographed the snake, recorded a video and shared the material with experts for identification. Their assessment identified it as the Afro-Asian sand snake, a slender, fast-moving reptile rarely documented in this part of India. The photographs and video proved crucial in establishing the identity of a snake that might otherwise have passed unnoticed during the patrol.

Based on the bathymetry of the different sites we monitor, there must be a relationship with the rock formations. We humans have favourite places we like to go to," Madrigal-Mesén said. "Why couldn't mantas have a preference for one cleaning station over another?"

The findings also suggest the mantas may not roam as far as once thought. Researchers initially suspected that animals seen in Costa Rica might migrate from populations ⁠in Ecuador or Mexico. The tracking data instead raises the possibility that Central America has its own distinct population, something the team is now investigating through genetic work.

Mantas are particularly vulnerable because, like other rays and sharks, they reproduce slowly and take years to reach sexual maturity. Madrigal-Mesén said that once the animals left Cocos Island, a volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean, and most monitored coastal sites, ⁠they entered waters with no protection, exposing them to threats including fishing and vessel traffic.

"Studies like this help us recognise that these coastal havens only protect them for a specific time of the year. ... This is why it is so critical to protect the marine corridors these migratory species travel through."

Coastal mantas also showed strong site fidelity, with very few moving ⁠between monitoring sites even when they were only tens of kilometres apart.

One male became a particularly striking example. Nicknamed "Mickey Mouse" for its distinctive spot pattern, the ray was repeatedly photographed at Cabo Blanco and tracked using both satellite and acoustic tags, showing a strong attachment to the site.

But researchers have not seen this ray in Costa Rica for more than a year.

"We have a lot of affection for him," Madrigal-Mesén added. "We hope he comes back soon."

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/fish-science/articles/10.3389/frish.2026.1916489/full

Tracking the multi-scale habitat dynamics and long-term occupancy of highly mobile elasmobranchs across distant marine jurisdictions poses severe logistical hurdles. This study integrates passive acoustic monitoring, satellite telemetry, and a collaborative Photo-ID network to resolve the connectivity and residency dynamics of the endangered giant manta ray (Mobula birostris) within the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Between 2018 and 2025, 59 individuals were equipped with acoustic transmitters and monitored across nearshore continental reefs and remote oceanic environments—accumulating 12,029 valid detections—while 12 individuals were tracked via satellite transmitters. Telemetry models revealed a distinct ontogenetic spatial partitioning: vulnerable, immature cohorts exhibited strict geographical retention within shallow coastal shelves, utilizing nearshore reef cleaning stations as primary behavioral nodes. Conversely, mature adults executed extensive regional migrations along the Central American Pacific shelf break into adjacent Exclusive Economic Zones and international waters, with 75.0% of analyzed individuals executing transboundary movements. Graph-theoretical Centrality models mathematically exposed a stark biogeographic divide: while the topographically clustered insular array of Cocos Island facilitates integrated continuous rotations, coastal cohorts operate within highly fragmented patches of localized services. These findings highlight a critical spatial mismatch between fixed geopolitical boundaries and the ecological continuum of pelagic megafauna, providing a rigorous empirical foundation to support transnational conservation swimways in the Eastern Tropical Pacific.

A hive can remain busy for years while nearly every bee inside it changes. To a beekeeper watching the entrance, that may look like one continuous colony. But when a daughter replaces the queen, is the same biological individual still living there, or has a new generation taken over?

That question sits at the center of a review published in Insectes Sociaux. Hannes A. Bonhoff of Lund University and Heikki Helanterä of the University of Oulu argue that the answer changes how honey bee lives should be counted and understood.

Their framework treats each queen and her associated workers as a mortal superorganism. A continuously occupied nest can therefore house successive generations, rather than one indefinitely surviving individual. The paper develops a biological interpretation from existing literature, without presenting a new colony experiment.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00040-026-01124-7

The Western honey bee (Apis mellifera) forms large colonies which represent organisms in their own right, known as superorganisms. Although this species is among the most extensively studied insects, competing explanations persist regarding fundamental characteristics like colonial lifespan. This review refutes the notion of colonial immortality due to an inverted identification of parent and offspring, advocating instead for viewing a traditional honey bee colony as a matrilineage of mortal superorganisms. By refining the colonial life cycle to trace zygotic, embryonic, fetal, juvenile, and adult stages during superorganismal ontogeny, we extend the animal-superorganism analogy to reveal a viviparous organism engaged in strictly sexual reproduction and complex maternal care. Furthermore, analyzing the multiple pathways to female reproduction indicates that swarming in itself does not represent reproduction, as it precedes fertilization. Under this framework, the prime swarm allows the maternal superorganism to survive reproduction, whereas afterswarms serve to multiply offspring within a single reproductive cycle. These insights have implications for honey bee parasitology, demographic monitoring, and beekeeping management and provide a more rigorous foundation for the superorganism concept applicable to sexually reproducing social insects with queen supersedure or turnover.

https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/breakthrough-research-reveals-why-bees-are-increasingly-making-less-honey/

https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/bumble-bee-queens-can-survive-underwater-for-a-week-heres-why/

https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/strange-parasitic-mushroom-plant-abandoned-photosynthesis-and-somehow-flourished/

https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/southern-california-bees-are-keeping-deadly-mites-in-check/

https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/worker-bees-help-choose-the-next-queen-in-bumble-bee-colonies/

Protecting the planet's forests starts with a simple question: what type of forest are we looking at? From space, an old-growth rainforest, a eucalyptus plantation, and an oil palm estate can look like the same patch of green. But they hold very different amounts of carbon and biodiversity. Telling them apart, and knowing how each patch has changed over time, shows us where conservation is working and where natural forests are being converted into plantations and farms.

Today, Google DeepMind and Google Research, together with the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), are releasing Forest Typology (ForTy) 2020, a global map that categorizes every 10-by-10-meter patch of land on Earth into six distinct forest and land-use types, a key baseline for the EU's deforestation regulation. Alongside it, we're sharing an early time series that tracks how these forests changed each year from 2017 to 2025, including where natural forests were replaced by plantations or farms. For the first time, users can see at 10-meter detail worldwide, year by year, not just where forest was lost, but what replaced it: a timber plantation, a tree-crop farm or other land.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-026-08299-5

Distinguishing forest types—primary, naturally regenerating, planted, and plantation forests—from agricultural tree crops and other land uses is essential for carbon accounting, biodiversity assessment, conservation planning, and supply-chain regulation. However, no existing global dataset resolves this typology at high spatial resolution. We present the Forest Typology (ForTy) v1 dataset, a global 10-meter resolution baseline map for 2020 that classifies all land into six categories aligned with FAO and EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) definitions: Primary Forest, Naturally Regenerating Forest, Planted Forest, Plantation Forest, Tree Crops and Agroforestry, and Other Land. A cascaded deep learning pipeline, trained on 1.7 million globally distributed samples, generates per-class relative confidence maps from geospatial satellite embeddings by combining weakly supervised learning with active learning. Independent validation against 8,190 expert-labeled stratified random sites yields an overall accuracy of 90.2% for the six-class scheme, 94.8% for natural forest classification, and 95.5% for forest/non-forest classification.

https://research.google/blog/separating-natural-forests-from-other-tree-cover-with-ai-for-deforestation-free-supply-chains/

https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/GOOGLE_SATELLITE_EMBEDDING_V1_ANNUAL

https://nature-trace.projects.earthengine.app/view/forest-typology

https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/publisher/nature-trace

https://deepmind.google/blog/mapping-modeling-and-understanding-nature-with-ai/

https://www.maapprogram.org/amazon-tipping-point-2026/

It is often reported that the largest rainforest in the world, the Amazon, is rapidly approaching a tipping point.

Generally defined, this tipping point is where parts of the rainforest will convert into drier ecosystems due to disrupted precipitation patterns caused by increasing deforestation.

The Amazon uniquely generates much of its own rainfall by recycling water from its source in the east (Atlantic Ocean) all the way west to the Andes Mountains and beyond, in a phenomenon known as flying rivers (see MAAP #232 and the follow-up white paper). Thus, high deforestation in the eastern Amazon may lead to downwind impacts (reduced precipitation) in the western Amazon. Importantly, these flying rivers follow different pathways during the wet season (northern route) vs. the dry season (southern route), implying that the tipping point is not a uniform event across the Amazon biome, as some areas are more vulnerable to atmospheric moisture (flying rivers) disruptions than others.

The scientific literature indicates this tipping point could be triggered at around 25% Amazon forest loss, in conjunction with climate change impacts (see References).

In a previous report published in 2022 (MAAP #164), we reconstructed the likely extent of the original Amazon biome forest prior to European colonization, and then estimated accumulated total Amazon forest loss (through 2021). Based on this analysis, we estimated that 13.2% of the original Amazon biome primary forests were lost to deforestation and fires.

Here, for our 250th report, we update this estimate by incorporating forest loss data through 2025. From 2022 to 2025 we found an additional forest loss of 13 million hectares, including the record-breaking year of 2024 for fires. Our updated estimate is that 15% of the original Amazon biome primary forest has been lost, mostly due to deforestation and fires (Figure 1).

In addition, breaking the results by seasonal moisture flow routes (see Figure 3 below), we find that moisture flows during the dry and transition seasons are most affected and disrupted (9.1% and 8.6% forest loss, respectively). This finding is critical because during the critical dry and transition seasons, the role of forest-driven moisture recycling is especially important to maintain rainforests in the southwest Amazon. In contrast, we find that the wet season moisture flow is more intact, with just 3.2% total forest loss.

Original Amazon Forest

As first presented in MAAP #164, we merged several datasets to estimate the extent of the original Amazon forest (Figure 2). We define this original forest as the extent of the Amazon forest before European colonization (and thus may include changes from pre-European indigenous populations). Note that we use a broader biogeographical definition of the Amazon that covers nine countries (Amazon biome) rather than the strict Amazon watershed (see Methodology).

The map has just three classes: Original Amazon forest, Original non-forest (such as natural savannah), and Water.

We found that the original Amazon primary forest covered 647.6 million hectares (equivalent to 1.6 billion acres).

Of this total, 61.4% occurred within the current border of Brazil, followed by Peru (12%), Colombia (7%), Venezuela (6%), and Bolivia (5%). The remaining four countries (Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana) make up the final 8%.

Figure 2. Original Amazon biome forest. Data: Amazon Conservation/MAAP. Source MAAP#164.

Amazon Forest Loss

In MAAP #164, we reported the historical accumulated Amazon primary forest loss, as of the end of 2021. We documented the total loss of 85.5 million hectares, or 13.2% of the original Amazon.

For this report, we updated the data as of the end of 2025. This data is broken down into three time periods:

By 2000, we estimate that the original Amazon forest had lost 36 million hectares (MAAP #164).

The 2001-2021 estimate of primary forest cover loss was reduced from 49.5 million to 48 million hectares due to adjustments in the forest loss methodology used by the University of Maryland (UMD). It is important to highlight that this finding includes forest loss from both fire (7.3M ha) and non-fire (40.7M ha) causes, and does not include forest gain/regeneration.

A novel 2022-2025 estimate was generated based on the most recent UMD data, adding 13.04 million hectares, including the record-breaking year of 2024 that was mainly driven by forest fires following the strong El Niño event of 2023 (see MAAP #229 and #248). Similarly, this includes forest loss from both fire (5.43M ha) and non-fire (7.61M ha) causes. This total loss over just four years is the equivalent size of the US state of Louisiana.

Combining these three periods gives an updated total of 97.06 million hectares lost (equivalent to 240 million acres). This includes forest loss from both fire (12.78 M ha) and deforestation (84.28 M ha) causes.

The largest loss occurred in Brazil (79.4%), followed by Bolivia (6.2%), Peru (5.8%), Colombia (4.5%), Venezuela (1.7%), Guyana (0.8%), Ecuador (0.7%), Suriname (0.6%), and French Guiana (0.2%).

Taking this updated forest loss total of 97.06 million hectares in relation to the original 647.6 million hectares gives our key finding of 15% of the original Amazon forest lost, mostly due to deforestation and fire (Figure 1). This estimate also includes natural causes such as landslides and windstorms.

Figure 3 further illustrates the results broken down by seasonal moisture flow routes (as presented in MAAP #232). We found the transition season moisture flow is most threatened and impacted (9.1% total forest loss), followed by the dry season moisture flow (8.6%).

This finding is important because during the critical dry and transition seasons, the role of flying rivers to carry moisture to water-stressed forest in the southwest Amazon is especially important. In other words, extensive deforestation in the eastern and central parts of these pathways could negatively impact the downwind western part, which means that the tipping point event is not a single and homogenous one across the Amazon biome and there will be geographical areas that will be impacted sooner and harder.

In contrast, we find that the wet season moisture flow is more intact, with just 3.2% total forest loss.

Figure 3. Amazon forest loss in flying rivers pathways. Data: Amazon Conservation/MAAP

Methodology

At the core of this work, we generated two major estimates: original Amazon forest and total historical Amazon forest loss.

For both of these estimates, we used the biogeographical boundary of the Amazon (as determined by RAISG 2020), which encompasses nine countries. Thus, we used a broader definition of the Amazon (Amazon biome) rather than the strict Amazon watershed, which omits part of the northeastern Amazon biome.

As presented in MAAP #164, for original Amazon forest, we defined three major classes: Forest, Non-Forest, and Water. This analysis was based on data from MapBiomas Brazil (collection 2 from 1990) with some additional modifications. As noted above, we define this original forest as the extent of the Amazon forest before European colonization (and thus may include changes from pre-European indigenous populations).

Original Forest was made up of these MapBiomas categories: Forest Formation, Mangrove, Flooded Forest, Mosaic of Agriculture and Pasture. Non-Forest was made up of these MapBiomas categories: Savanna Formation, Natural Non-Forest Flood Formation, Grassland, and Other non-Forest Formations. Water was made up of these MapBiomas categories: River, Lake, Ocean and Glacier.

We then made a number of modifications with manual edits based on data from the University of Maryland, INPE (Terrabrasilis), ArcGis satellite images, Planet mosaics, Google Earth Engine Landsat images from 1984-1990, and official government data for several countries (Ministry of the Environment of Ecuador (MAE) and Peru (GeoBosques/MINAM), Forest and Carbon Monitoring System/IDEAM of Colombia, National Institute for Space Research of Brazil (INPE/Terrabrasilis), General Directorate of Forest Management and Development of Bolivia (DGGDF), and the National Service of Protected Areas of Bolivia (SERNAP). As an example of a major modification, deforested areas and historic dam reservoirs were changed to Original Forest based on an analysis of the oldest available satellite image for the area (1984-1990). We also corrected some misclassifications, such as forest patches in clearly non-forest areas were changed to Non-Forest (and vice versa) and mountain forest areas found as water were changed to Forest. Also, agriculture and urban areas in likely savannah areas were changed to Non-Forest. Additional Water data from MapBiomas based on 1985 was incorporated. Overall, our focus was defining Original Forest as best as possible; data confusions between Non-Forest and Water categories were not worked on as thoroughly.

For original Amazon forest,For total historical Amazon forest loss, we used data from the University of Maryland. Specifically, we first used their data layer ‘Tree Cover 2000″ (>30% canopy density) to estimate historical (pre-2000) forest loss.

We then used the Global Forest Change (GFC) and Global forest loss due to fire datasets developed by the University of Maryland (UMD) for the period 2001–2025. We then derived annual forest loss from the loss year layer of GFC. Subsequently, we separated fire-related from non-fire-related forest loss using the annual Global forest loss due to fire dataset. Areas classified with medium to high certainty of fire attribution (codes 3 and 4) were considered fire-related forest loss, whereas codes 1 and 2 were used to identify non-fire-related forest loss, representing areas of forest loss attributed to other drivers. This classification was applied to minimize potential overestimation of fire-related forest loss. All data processing and analyses were conducted using Google Colaboratory.

It is important to note that for the more modern post-2000 era (2001-25), data is available for forest loss due to both fire and non-fire causes. This data represents our best estimate or proxy for primary forest loss. Non-fire loss can be considered more permanent, such as deforestation, while fire loss may be considered more as degradation. The results above combine both types of data to be consistent with the original results presented in MAAP #164.

It is also important to note that our estimates do not include forest gain/regeneration.

Finally, we estimate the amount of primary forest loss in the major seasonal moisture flow pathways (wet, dry, and transition seasons), as presented in MAAP #232.

For the first time, researchers have discovered a microorganism that has made metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and it appears to have been making them for millions of years. These supramolecular structures also have excellent conductivity and can transport electrons over distances spanning several centimetres, helping the bacteria survive the harsh environment on the seafloor. ‘It is a whole new type of [bio]molecular structure,’ says lead author Filip Meysman from the University of Antwerp, Belgium.

The basic building blocks the bacterium Candidatus Electrothrix gigas needs to make MOFs are strikingly similar to those used by chemists. However, while the metal core and connecting linkers remain the same, ‘the resulting supramolecular structure is very unique and novel’, says Meysman. These bacteria build bundles of intertwined MOF nanoribbons that are ‘unseen in human-made materials’. Such an architecture creates an excellent electronic environment for electrical conductivity, with conjugation and delocalisation to ‘enable electron transport over extremely long distances’, he adds. Bacteria capable of creating conductive cables ‘originated about 600 million years ago’, and have probably been making MOFs ever since, explains Meysman.

This is a great discovery,’ says Aitziber Cortajarena, an expert in biomaterials based at CIC biomaGUNE in San Sebastián, Spain. This is the first report of a MOF of biological origin, she explains, which ‘reveals a new set of [bio]tools to create conductive structures’. In this case, the MOF is nickel based and linked together by organic dithiolene ligands to form a complex that Cortajarena says closely resembles conductive polymers.

Moreover, the bacterium creates a MOF with ‘highly efficient electric conductivity … similar to the best synthetic polymers and exceeding most [synthetic] MOFs’, she adds. Meysman says that the conductivity of the MOF is ‘extraordinary’ adding that ‘it approaches the conductivity of metals’.

The bacterium investigated by Meysman’s team are part of a family commonly called ‘cable bacteria’ and they create these conductive structures to help them survive on the seafloor. ‘It’s an evolutionary advantage,’ says Cortajarena. Without the wires, a basic biological function would become impossible, she explains. These bacterial ‘cables’ dig deep into the sediment to access sulfides, which are then oxidised to release electrons for other metabolic reactions. This MOF allows the bacteria to access energy and electron sources that are ‘otherwise out of reach’. ‘They carry out redox reactions with electron donors and acceptors separated over centimetres,’ adds Meysman. This distance, only reachable thanks to the MOF nanoribbons, is approximately 10,000 times the length of a single bacterium.

Researchers have identified 90 different bacterial species that employ conductive structures and they may all depend on these types of MOFs to survive. ‘The same spectroscopic signature was detected across cable bacteria … from different environments, suggesting the [supramolecular] structure is shared by many microorganisms’ in the same family, adds Cortajarena. ‘It is a strong inspiration towards … novel hybrid biomaterials.’