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How Wisconsin Used Foxes And Deer To Revamp Science Education
Public input identifying over 100 million trail cameras photos of Wisconsin’s animals has transformed science education and state wildlife management.
Turtles Are Really Weird Animals. Where Did They Come From?
The origin of turtles has puzzled scientists. A new study provides more evidence that these shelled reptiles share a common ancestor with crocodiles and birds.
Rabid bat confirmed in Shawano County, health officials urge caution
Wausau Pilot & Review SHAWANO — Health officials are urging residents to use caution around bats and other wild animals after a bat in Shawano County
Are ghosts real? What top scientists secretly found will shock you - Futura-Sciences
The Enigma of Cryptozoology Cryptozoology is the study of animals whose existence hasn’t been scientifically proven. Think about it: creatures like the Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster, or the giant squid. Sometimes these beings seem straight out of outlandish legends—a touch of myth, a dash of curiosity, and a sprinkle...
Why Do Deadly Viruses Spare Mosquitoes? Science Has an Answer
Mosquitoes carry some of the world's deadliest viruses, biting victim after victim for their entire lives without ever getting sick themselves. Scientists have long suspected a biological explanation,...
Sports quiz of the week: heat, animals, money and a big week at the World Cup
Have you followed the news in football, cricket, tennis, rugby, golf, athletics and cycling?
Making Our Own Luck
We are cross-posting a piece that former NIH official Kris Willis wrote for Macroscience. Kris is now the President and Founder of the Woodley Park Institute, for which I’m a board member. Picking winners or hedging bets? Federal science agencies have long wrestled with the question of how to ensure their billions of dollars of grants and contracts result in maximum benefits for Americans. On the surface, it might seem that a goal-oriented, interventionist style of management would be the best policy: prioritize our most pressing problems and distribute funding accordingly.This top-down strategy creates a unique hazard, though: bad choices can send resources in the wrong direction, resulting in slow progress that impedes the delivery of tangible benefits to citizens. Moreover, if decision makers pursue an applied advance when the underlying scientific principles remain poorly understood, they risk costly failures and a loss of support for the research enterprise at large. Examples include Nixon’s 1971 War on Cancer, undertaken on the premise that a cure could be achieved in less than a decade, the drive to build an operational commercial fusion plant by the mid-1990s, and the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease, which failed to produce the effective treatments and prevention strategies promised by 2025. The contrasting laissez-faire approach is to hedge your bets. If the path to an advance is impossible to predict, then the wisest choice might be to distribute funding to as widely as possible. The main risk of this strategy is that spreading funding thinly may limit the resources available to the most promising research, resulting in the same negative outcomes as the interventionist approach: limited support for the most promising topics, slow progress, and delayed returns. In reality, at science agencies like the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, program managers navigate between these two extremes, setting some funds aside to target high-priority areas and using the rest to cover the widest possible range of meritorious proposals. This middle path seems like the most rational way to proceed, but it still requires making choices. How much should be set aside for high priority topics? What should those topics be? How should we define merit? Expert opinion can provide a helpful guide, but leading experts can have remarkably different opinions about what matters and what should be prioritized. Moreover, experts and administrators alike can be risk averse, giving an edge to high-profile, well-established concepts. What’s really needed is a data-driven framework to help guide decision-making, one that doesn’t simply repackage prestige or incumbency. Recognizing breakthroughs years in advance Many breakthroughs fail to attract funding or recognition at the earliest stages of development. Katalin Karikó, for example, spent years struggling to win grants for work on mRNA that would eventually win her and Drew Weissman a Nobel Prize. Similar stories can be told about Jim Allison’s groundbreaking studies leading to the development of cancer immunotherapy, Stan Pruisner’s demonstration that prions can self-replicate without DNA, or Robin Warren and Barry Marshall’s proof that Helicobacter pylori, not stress, causes ulcers. Yet at some point, the scientific community recognizes and responds to transformative breakthroughs like these. How does that change happen? And what if science funders could identify the areas that are on the cusp of a breakthrough? Those questions led my collaborators and me to study how scientists responded to past breakthroughs. Based on patterns in that data, we developed a means of predicting future breakthroughs, using biomedicine as a proof of concept. It’s worth taking a moment to describe how our approach works. Briefly, our prediction process begins by grouping the 18 million or so peer-reviewed papers in PubMed, the authoritative database of biomedical research, into roughly 50,000 unique topics. A small subset of these topics are so widely acclaimed as breakthroughs that they have been recognized with a major prize like a Nobel or a Lasker Award. We theorized that studying the development of these outliers over time, especially before they gained acclaim, was the key to identifying future instances of them. After defining topics, we chose 21 representative breakthroughs and asked what they looked like before they won prestigious prizes. To answer that question, we re-ran our topic-mapping algorithm repeatedly, winding back the clock one year each time, stringing together the years to follow the progress of each field as it grew and advanced. We found that in each case, the years leading up to a discovery followed a pattern: a burst of papers on a new, rapidly evolving topic, many of which quickly became influential. These characteristics—the percent of papers that are new, the percentage of papers that are brought in from other topics, and the influence of each individual paper—can all be measured separately for any given topic. Together, they act as a predictive signal that is detectable an average of five years before a transformative discovery is made, and up to thirty years before the discovery receives a major prize. Scanning the current research landscape for topics that display this signal allows us to predict what work will likely produce a future breakthrough. Each year we analyzed includes four or five signals, a number that appears to have remained constant across a twenty year time frame. In their classic work on the sociology of science, Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar established that the desire to participate in a major discovery is an important motivator for scientists as they consider whether they should take up (or abandon) a research problem. Although further work is needed, the simplest explanation for our results is that this behavior is widespread enough to detect at scale. A foundational advance, or something like it, draws the attention of scientists and causes them to change the direction of their research. They vote with their feet, staking their own reputation and careers by publishing on and citing the new idea. That upswell of interest is the foundation of our breakthrough signal. What kind of research does our model identify as a breakthrough? After building a model based on the patterns in our 21 preselected breakthroughs, we tested it by identifying all early signals of discovery from 1994 through 1997. Of the 18 signals we found in that time period, 17 can be traced forward in time to a breakthrough. Examples include super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (see the image above), the directed evolution of proteins and enzymes (Chemistry Nobel, 2018), and sequencing the human genome (National Medal of Science, 2008). The discovery of the role of leptin signaling in obesity is a particularly interesting case study. Around 1950, scientists noticed the existence of a type of lab mouse that suffered from a unique inherited form of obesity. When given the freedom to choose their own diet, these mice ate more than normal and preferred food that was high in fat. Researchers had few clues as to why the animals overate; early experiments pointed to the existence of a soluble ob factor found circulating in the bloodstream that regulated appetite, but its identity was unknown. In 1994, Jeffrey Friedman and colleagues identified and sequenced the ob gene, noting that the protein it encoded appeared to fit the profile of a circulating factor. A year later, a trio of high-profile publications demonstrated that ob was a hormone that regulated body weight and fat deposition by regulating appetite. One of these was co-authored by Friedman, who christened it leptin from the ancient Greek word for thin. Using our model, the data from 1996 make it clear this advance would become a breakthrough. Scientists had flocked to study the biology of the new hormone, generating the flurry of new papers and citations required to produce a signal. One of these demonstrated that serum leptin concentrations reflected the amount of adipose tissue in the human body, providing clinical validation of the earlier mouse studies. Before the identification of leptin, scientists were unable to point to a specific molecule that controlled appetite and adiposity, so that it was impossible to rule out non-physiological causes of obesity; its characterization fundamentally changed our concept of weight gain. In 2010, Friedman and fellow pioneer Douglas Coleman were awarded a Lasker for the discovery. Our work also identifies breakthroughs in clinical practice and behavioral and social sciences, even though these areas are less likely to draw the attention of major prize committees. One example that falls into this category is the introduction of endovascular aneurysm repair, a minimally invasive surgical procedure for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm, a leading cause of death among Americans over the age of 65. Relative to the previous standard of care, it reduces in-hospital mortality by almost four-fold. In 2017, Timothy Chuter received the American College of Surgeons’ prestigious Jacobsen Innovation award for his multiple refinements to the technique. Another under-recognized breakthrough identified by our model is the development of standardized survey instruments to assess the quality of life for HIV+ patients. The antiretroviral cocktails introduced in the mid-1990s reduced AIDS mortality, but treatment came with serious side effects. The new evaluations showed that patients whose disease progressed had worse physical functioning than Americans with other chronic diseases, while those who were asymptomatic maintained a health-related quality of life on par with the overall US population. This evidence made it possible for patients and activists to argue that even in the absence of a total cure, and in spite of the side effects, alleviation of symptoms was a worthwhile priority for clinicians. My colleagues and I have failed to identify any significant recognition for the physicians and health policy experts who pioneered this advance, although in 2016, researchers called for the World Health Organization to set targets for good health-related quality of life as part of its framework to end the AIDS pandemic. From forecasting to funding How should science funders use our predictions? Any serious discussion of what we should do with this new capability needs to begin with an understanding of its limitations. We can’t (and shouldn’t) invest all of our resources in the small number of topics predicted to produce breakthroughs. Innovative new fields are born from existing ones; they rarely arise de novo. If funders don’t maintain a diverse portfolio, the breakthroughs of tomorrow will have no antecedents. Think of this as eating the seed corn, or killing the goose that lays the golden egg. There are also multiple goals of funding beyond basic scientific discovery, including translating discoveries into clinical practice, developing new technologies, supporting economic development, and training new scientists. The investments needed to accomplish these goals are likely different from those required to support emerging breakthroughs. Finally, we must be aware that we may not capture every instance of a breakthrough. The concept is fuzzy, and not every significant discovery is recognized with a major award. Further, breakthroughs are rare, meaning that our dataset is, by necessity, small. This makes formal estimates of accuracy challenging. Although our overall success rate appears to be high, any one signal may turn out to be a false positive. We found one apparent example: the development of the third generation COX-2 inhibitors, Vioxx and Celebrex, which were much celebrated in the early 2000s as effective but non-addictive pain relievers, meets all the algorithmic criteria of a breakthrough. Five years after it received FDA approval, researchers demonstrated that Vioxx was associated with serious cardiovascular complications, and the manufacturer voluntarily pulled the drug from the market. Celebrex remains available, although like other NSAIDs, it carries an FDA warning for increased cardiovascular risk. Decision makers who were overly focused on the breakthrough potential of this research might have wasted substantial resources nurturing an area that ultimately proved to be a failure—but so would those who relied on expert opinion at the time. That said, the potential benefits of funding the next mRNA vaccine or cancer immunotherapy years earlier than we might have are large. When we can’t assume the outcome of an action, it’s worth conducting an experiment. Can targeted support for areas that are poised to produce a breakthrough increase the return on scientific investment without cannibalizing future advances? With the necessary administrative infrastructure in place, conducting this experiment would be straightforward. First, identify all the breakthrough signals between 2018 and 2023, select half at random, and commit to a decade of investment. For biomedicine, a six year window should yield about 30 topics with the potential to produce a breakthrough. Providing strong support to half of these might be accomplished for $300 million a year. That’s roughly half of the recent annual budget of the NIH Common Fund or around 20% of the fiscal year 2025 budget for ARPA-H. After five years, then again at ten, compare to see which group — the one that was actively managed, or the control — produced more breakthroughs, and on what timescale. Although we used biomedicine as an example, the same experiment could just as well be run for physics, materials science, or any other discipline. Any attempt to undertake such an experiment should keep three points top of mind. First, we can predict the topic of future breakthroughs, but the people and vision for how to move the work forward are still important. In practice, this means success requires active program managers with the expertise to develop the science and the authority to do so, including by recruiting investigators. Second, we would be wise to learn from the failures of past attempts to fund transformative research. High among these are funding modestly repackaged work, confusing the genuinely novel with the merely unfamiliar, and relying too much on incumbent investigators. All of these risks can be mitigated by thoroughly and intelligently integrating high quality data into portfolio management. Finally, we need to have patience. Even with strong funding support, producing a breakthrough takes time. If supporting breakthroughs is the best way to nurture the birth of new fields, we also need to accurately describe and properly manage the other two stages, so that we invest wisely throughout the productive lifetime of ideas and divest once they reach the point of diminishing returns. We would benefit from more study of all of these phases, especially the transition from one to another. More research could answer questions like: When does a breakthrough become an established field? How do the availability of funding, the size and characteristics of the available workforce, and the accumulation of evidence that disagrees with prevailing models affect a field’s decline? Exactly how do old ideas give birth to new ones, and can we speed up the process? The more we understand about the dynamics of scientific progress, the better we can maximize the odds that our curiosity leads to results. I’d call that finding a way to make our own luck.
The 'pet effect' and how animals may boost your health
Whether you’re the proud pet parent to an animal with paws, claws, hooves or fins, it’s no secret how much joy and companionship they bring us.
Scientists discover ancient brain cells that help block distractions
Scientists have discovered a tiny group of neurons in an ancient brain region that acts like a built-in focus filter, helping the brain ignore distractions and zero in on what matters most. When researchers temporarily switched off these neurons in mice, the animals became unusually distractible—similar to what is seen in ADHD—but regained normal focus as soon as the neurons were reactivated.
Health Beat: Parasitic fly outbreak prompts Pa. to restrict animal movement
New World Screwworm is a parasitic fly that feeds on the flesh of warm-blooded animals and people and then can lay eggs in the wounds.
A cloud-based miniscope for neurosurveillance of brain health and disease in freely behaving animals
Nature Methods - A miniscope with cloud-based operation and multicontrast capabilities enables continuous recording of neuronal activity, hemodynamics or cellular dynamics over multiple days. This...
Earth’s early life was terrible at sex, say scientists
Sexual reproduction only began to improve when early animals began facing more stress and competition, a study suggests.
The secret language behind animal cooperation
Animals from different species often rely on surprisingly sophisticated communication to work together, whether finding food, cleaning parasites, or gaining protection. New research suggests these interspecies “conversations” are flexible, evolved, and far more important to life in nature than scientists once realized.
Faecal transplant makes the brains of old mice act young again
Older mice that received a faecal microbiome transplant from younger animals went on to have improved brain plasticity, which meant their brains could overcome a neurological condition that is typically successfully treated only in childhood
Fossils challenge assumptions on how animals adapted to land
Scientists have long posited the earliest water animals to transition to land had amphibious tadpole features, going through a metamorphosis akin to that of today's frogs.That's not what we would expe...
Baby crocodile-like fossils just blew up a long-held evolution theory
Turns out, the first animals to walk on land weren't amphibians.
Earth Might Have Been Sprinkling Europa With Life Since Before Animals Existed
Hundreds of sextillions of dust grains may have escaped Earth and reached Europa, raising intriguing questions about the possible transfer of life through space.
Goats can find food by following a human voice, study finds
Experiments show 29 animals moved towards a treat-filled bucket 60% of the time when guided by a researcher
Designing The Future 3: Inside The Ocean Expedition That Used Lasers To Discover 31 New Species
The Designing the Future 3 expedition used 3D laser scanning to study gelatinous deep-sea animals in their natural habitat, building a new blueprint for how we document ocean life.
Scientists discover parrots may actually use names
Parrots may be doing more than just repeating words—they may actually use names. By analyzing hundreds of recordings from pet parrots, researchers found evidence that many birds use specific names to identify particular people, animals, and even individual companions. Some parrots appeared to refer to someone who wasn’t present, while others used names in creative ways, such as saying their own name to grab attention.
The deadly tapeworm spreading across America has reached the Pacific Northwest
A potentially dangerous tapeworm linked to severe, cancer-like disease has now been found in the Pacific Northwest, marking its first detection in wild animals along the U.S. West Coast. Researchers discovered the parasite, Echinococcus multilocularis, in 37% of coyotes tested around Puget Sound—a surprisingly high rate for a region where it had never been reported until recently.
Ecosystems have an afterlife, where dead help shape the living, research finds
New study reveals the physical remains of plants and animals that shape entire ecosystems continue to influence the environment long after death.
Middle School Students Take Turn Teaching, Showing Off Science Experiments
Swampscott Middle School student Gavin Campbell had always wanted to incorporate animals into a school project. He finally got his chance this spring as the school held their first science...
Earth's first animals barely evolved until sex changed everything
Earth’s earliest animals may have held evolution back because they reproduced asexually, creating low-competition communities that changed very little over time. When environmental pressures pushed them toward sexual reproduction, biodiversity exploded and evolution accelerated dramatically.
Scientists Say All Life on Earth May Follow the Same Temperature Rule
Despite its incredible diversity, there is a universal tie between all life on Earth, regardless of species. This unifying trend is found throughout different species and even across kingdoms, whether...
She started a dog treat business while serving in Air Force
An Air Force member has launched a dog treat business connecting her military service with her love of animals.
She started a dog treat business while serving in Air Force
An Air Force member has launched a dog treat business connecting her military service with her love of animals.
She started a dog treat business while serving in Air Force
An Air Force member has launched a dog treat business connecting her military service with her love of animals.
Why Banning Shark Fishing Isn’t Enough to Save Them, According to Science
As of 2021, Caribbean reef sharks are categorized as Endangered by the IUCN Red List. To protect them, we need to stop exploiting them by introducing shark fishing bans. A new Florida International Un...
Our evolutionary path to parenting—and sharing the load
"The Creatures' Guide to Caring" explores how communal child-rearing allowed animals from wasps to humans to evolve and thrive.
Scientists confirm more than two dozen new marine species off Brazilian coast within days
"The largest habitat on Earth, the midwater, is filled with incredible animals we are only just starting to understand."
Animals have personalities. Here’s what shapes them.
From shelter dogs to stickleback fish, the forces that shape animal personality are surprisingly familiar.
Windsor nonprofit working with various animals for mental health support
A woman in Windsor began a nonprofit in 2023 in hopes of relieving stress and improving mental health among her peers. She did it in a way that might not come to mind immediately, and that's animals.
Bumblebees have tiny brains but they can solve problems like chimps and elephants
New research suggests the fuzzy insects may be capable of spontaneously solving problems the way animals with much larger brains do.
Milwaukee 'loudest' crowd in Banana Ball history, and other highlights
So that was fun. And, a lot of it. Here's what happened when the Party Animals played the Loco Beach Coconuts at American Family Field on June 6.
Stupid hot: Heat waves cause cognitive changes in animals, making them more aggressive and unable to complete basic tasks
As temperatures rise, some creatures pick fights while others struggle to learn. The consequences of these behavioral changes may ripple through ecosystems.
Octopuses use mirrors to find food they cannot see
Octopuses may be even smarter than we thought. Researchers at Dartmouth found that octopuses can learn to use mirrors to locate food hidden behind them—a skill previously seen only in vertebrates like mammals and birds. After training, the animals correctly identified the food’s location about 73% of the time, showing they could use a mirror as a tool rather than simply reacting to a reflection.
Texas health officials warn of New World Screwworm after confirmed case in Zavala County
Texas health officials urge precautions after confirming a New World Screwworm case in a South Texas calf, warning of risks to animals and rare human infections.
Building a One Health workforce to protect people from zoonotic disease and foodborne illness
From zoonotic pathogens that move between animals, humans and their shared environment to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), driven by antimicrobial use across sectors, to chemical contaminants, food safety is at the centre of the One Health approach. On World Food Safety Day, we highlight those using the approach to address risks to human, animal and environmental health. WHO, together with partners, is committed to strengthening the One Health workforce, including professions such as veterinarians, epidemiologists and food safety officers. However, the approach is only as strong as the systems behind it and the people who implement it – across sectors, services and borders.
Rabies Makes Its Return to Wyoming - Wyoming Department of Health
As summer approaches and temperatures rise, the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) is warning residents about wild animals that may carry rabies. The most common carriers of rabies in our state are bats and skunks, but any mammal can be infected with rabies, including humans. The first confirmed case of rabies for 2026 occurred […]
Your brain starts making social decisions before you do
Researchers found that social behavior begins in the brain before it becomes visible as movement. In zebrafish, a coordinated pattern of activity spread across the brain several seconds before the animals approached another fish. A higher brain region called the pallium played a key role, and fish with stronger neural signals were generally more social.
Toxic caterpillar outbreaks prompt health warnings
Skin or eye irritation from the caterpillar's hairs can affect both people and animals.
Science Museum of Virginia's 'Survival of the Slowest' shows being slow can be survival advantage
Featuring live animals including a two-toed sloth, a lesser hedgehog tenrec and snakes, the exhibition encourages guests to take their time to discover how biology concepts apply in the real world and how animal survival is all about trade-offs.
Humans have weirdly white eyes. Here’s why.
No other animals have eyes like ours.
Zoo Mom Science Is Back At Minneola City Hall With More Cool Critters. Crikey!
Submitted by Josie Dix, Minneola Library Leaping lizards! This summer let our insects, arachnids, reptiles, and amphibians teach and entertain you on Friday, June 5 at 11 am at the Minneola City Hall Gym at 800 US-Hwy 27. Zoo Mom Science is a true Florida family business with a passion for animals. Laura Roberts is […]
Explore the weird and wonderful ways animals sense the world
Discover the young readers edition of "An Immense World."
Princeton scientists identify first experimental evidence of a 'co-extinction' connection: Without elephants, dung beetles disappear
A new study from Princeton University, the Smithsonian Institute, the Mpala Research Centre and many partner institutions has now documented the interconnection between the largest animals in the savanna and some of the smallest.
Homing pigeons may use a surprising navigation mechanism
How animals navigate by Earth's magnetic field is hotly debated. New research in pigeons points to iron-laden liver immune cells as the compass.
Planet Zoo 2 Coming This Year, Featuring Flying and Aquatic Animals
Frontier Developments has announced Planet Zoo 2, which will include the ability to add flying and aquatic animals in aviaries and aquariums for the first time.
Hamsters run on wheels for a surprisingly joyful reason
Even wild animals enjoy a good wheel.
Scientists Discovered Remains of the Earliest Animals on Earth. They May Have Made a Big Mistake.
They looked like traces left behind by tiny creatures, but were most likely microbes.
Scientists Discovered Remains of the Earliest Animals on Earth. They May Have Made a Big Mistake.
They looked like traces left behind by tiny creatures, but were most likely microbes.
Budget conference: Central Florida Zoo could get $750,000 as it cares for Sloth World survivors
The zoo has stepped up to care for the surviving animals from Sloth World.
This prehistoric fish may explain how animals first walked on Earth
Scientists have peered inside the skull of a 380-million-year-old Antarctic fish that was closely related to the first animals to walk on land, revealing surprising clues about how life began its move out of the water. Using advanced neutron imaging, researchers discovered that Koharalepis jarviki had features suited for living near the water’s surface, including openings in its skull that may have helped it gulp air and a light-sensitive organ linked to day-night rhythms.
The World Health Assembly adopts updated Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (2026–2036)
Geneva, 23 May 2026 – Member States at the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly (WHA79) adopted the updated Global action plan on antimicrobial resistance (GAP-AMR) 2026–2036, marking a major milestone in the global response to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and delivering on a key commitment contained in the 2024 United Nations General Assembly Political Declaration on AMR. The updated plan was developed through a consultative process led by the Quadripartite organizations – FAO, UNEP, WHO and WOAH – with extensive engagement of Member States and stakeholders across sectors. AMR remains one of the most significant global health and development challenges, affecting humans, animals, plants, food systems and the environment. The updated GAP-AMR provides a comprehensive One Health framework to guide coordinated global, regional and national action over the next decade. It builds on the foundation established by the original GAP-AMR adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2015 while reflecting evolving evidence, lessons learned, and the commitments made at the 2024 UN High-Level Meeting on AMR. During the Assembly, Member States expressed broad support for the updated plan and its strengthened multisectoral and One Health approach. Delegates highlighted the importance of prevention-first interventions, including infection prevention and control, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), vaccination, biosecurity, and environmental measures. They also highlighted the need for responsible, equitable and sustainable use of antimicrobials, strengthened surveillance, innovation, and sustainable agrifood systems. The updated GAP-AMR is intended to serve as the global framework for coordinated action against AMR through 2036. It aims to accelerate global progress towards the commitments and targets agreed by Member States and support countries in developing, implementing and financing ambitious multisectoral national action plans. The plan also reinforces the importance of accountability, monitoring and reporting, sustainable financing, and international cooperation to address AMR through a One Health approach. The adoption of the updated GAP-AMR reflects renewed global commitment to preserving the effectiveness of antimicrobials and safeguarding advances in human, animal and plant health, food security, economic development and environmental sustainability. As implementation begins, continued collaboration among governments, international organizations, civil society, academia and the private sector will be critical to translating commitments into measurable impact. The Quadripartite organizations will continue supporting Member States and partners in operationalizing the updated GAP-AMR and advancing coordinated One Health action against AMR at country, regional and global levels.
Two new ‘doctors of the reef’ cleaner wrasses identified by museum scientists
Discovery of Goldenrod Cleaner and the Cinnabar Cleaner Wrasses demonstrate that the most watched animals on coral reefs can still surprise researchers.
The science of connection
Anybody who loves animals would likely agree that they feel “better” around them.
Dallas Zoo uses animals to teach kids mental health habits
The Dallas Zoo and Momentous Institute are teaching children simple mental health habits through nature-based activities in May.
Frozen Microbes From The Distant Past Threaten To Wake Up, Ready To Infect People, Plants, And Animals
Despite lying idle for millennia, the pathogens can still be infectious.
When Humans Went Away, the Wildlife Strayed
When people disappeared from the landscape, as they did during the pandemic, wild animals changed how they used space and resources, scientists found.
Complex animals evolved up to 10 million years earlier than previously thought, fossil discovery shows
Trove of fossils discovered in Canada sheds light on "when life first became large, complex and unmistakenly animal."
When Did Crabs Evolve Their Iconic Sideways Scuttle? Scientists Traced It to a 200-Million-Year-Old Common Ancestor
The findings suggest that their famous lateral movement evolved just once. It may have helped the animals rapidly spread and diversify because traveling in two directions meant they could easily escape predators
Scientists use DNA from poop to save the world’s rarest marsupial
Scientists in Australia are using cutting-edge DNA techniques to help save one of the world’s rarest marsupials — the critically endangered Gilbert’s potoroo, with fewer than 150 left in the wild. By analyzing tiny traces of DNA in the animals’ scat, researchers uncovered clues about the elusive fungi the potoroos depend on for survival. The findings could help conservationists identify safer new habitats and establish backup populations before disasters like bushfires wipe them out.
Science Start-Up Colossal Is Creating an Artificial Womb
Science start-up Colossal is on a mission to make animals “productionized” — getting rid of the need for eggs or wombs. And it’s already worth billions
The Subnautica 2 fish self-defence debate rages on, as the game’s non-violent themes clash with player desire to fend off underwater threats
Unknown Worlds has stayed true to its oceanic pacifism themes, while the realities of living with dangerous animals has some players frustrated.
New study debunks the biggest fear about yo-yo dieting
For years, “yo-yo dieting” has been blamed for wrecking metabolism and causing lasting damage, but a major new review says the fear may be wildly overblown. After analyzing decades of studies in humans and animals, researchers found little convincing evidence that losing weight and regaining it actually causes long-term harm. While regaining weight can erase some health improvements, it doesn’t appear to make people worse off than before.
Watch adorable animals compete for best chewer in 2026 Crunch-a-Thon
The campaign spotlights an endangered marsupial.
The real reason exercise makes you stronger isn’t what you think
Exercise may be training your brain just as much as your body. Researchers discovered that certain brain cells stay highly active even after a workout ends, and those lingering signals appear to help the body build endurance over time. In experiments with mice, blocking these brain cells prevented improvements in stamina, even when the animals still exercised normally.
Scientists discover tiny gut particles that may drive aging and chronic disease
A new study suggests microscopic particles from the gut may actively drive inflammation and chronic diseases associated with aging. Remarkably, gut particles from young animals appeared to counter some aging-related damage in older animals, hinting at new possibilities for future treatments.
Can fossilized vomit tell you what prehistoric animals ate?
Learn how paleontologists study fossilized vomit to explore what prehistoric predators ate.
Scientists seek to understand effects of rain falling on snow in the Arctic
When rain falls on snow in the Arctic, ice layers can form on top of and within the snowpack. This increasingly common dynamic can influence the ability of animals, including caribou and muskoxen, to forage and move across the landscape. That, in turn, affects the people who rely on wildlife for subsistence, culture, wellbeing and income. Given the widespread impacts of rain-on-snow events, Colorado State University researchers are studying and modeling their effects in Arctic systems. The work is especially important considering the rapid rate of climate change across the region
WOAH Statement on Hantavirus - WOAH - World Organisation for Animal Health
Hantavirus is a zoonotic disease, meaning it originates in animals — primarily rodents — before crossing into human populations.
Rare Pink Katydid Slowly Transforms Green and Upends Camouflage Science
Camouflage is a widely studied antipredator technique that we thought we understood. A rainforest insect, however, is rewriting the textbooks on the subject as it reveals previously unseen behavior. O...
UFC 328 Embedded, Episode 3: 'I love my job'
On the third episode of UFC 328 Embedded, Tatsuro Taira packs his suitcase and heads to New Jersey; Joshua Van hits one last strength and conditioning session with his mother; Ateba Gautier takes his traditional fight week trip to see some animals; Waldo Cortes Acosta hits everything but the pads ...
Science: A novel gene-therapy approach to ‘functionally cure’ HIV succeeds in some monkeys
Six animals suppressed AIDS virus after one shot of treatment that makes cell-receptor antibody
Nuturing a Future in Animal Science
Driven by a love for animals and people, animal science major Alexia Alexander has stayed focused on reaching her goals at NC State while building momentum for a career in veterinary medicine.
Conserve Frontier Wildlife as a Naturalist in Red Dead Online
Harriet Davenport needs all the help she can get sampling and classifying the rare wild animals of the five states. Meanwhile, Gus Macmillan wants those animals’ heads (and hides) on his wall.
Humans And Animals Are Facing a Hidden Fertility Crisis, Scientists Warn
A potential disaster.
What’s Safe to Eat? Birds of a Feather Learn Together
In a study, Australian cockatoos figured out that a new food was OK to consume by observing one another, a vivid example of “social learning” in animals.
How a soft spot for animals took a councilman out of politics
At an early age, Chris Seelbach had a soft spot for animals. Now, he's the CEO of SPCA Cincinnati.
Sixth annual Brookgreen Gardens Spring Wine Festival deemed a success
Proceeds from the sold-out event benefit the mission and programs of Brookgreen Gardens, providing support for garden enhancement and renovation, educational offerings, preservation and conservation of sculpture and protection and care for native plants and endangered animals.
OpenAI Really Wants Codex to Shut Up About Goblins
“Never talk about goblins, gremlins, raccoons, trolls, ogres, pigeons, or other animals or creatures unless it is absolutely and unambiguously relevant,” reads OpenAI's coding agent instructions.
Global Health Experts Urge Urgent Action to Prevent Future Pandemics Where They Begin
BRONX, NY, April 27, 2026—A new paper published in The Lancet calls on governments to prioritize preventing zoonotic disease spillover—the transmission of pathogens from animals to humans—as a central pillar of global pandemic preparedness, The authors argue that w
Glocester petting zoo ordered to quarantine animals after reported infections
Health officials are investigating three confirmed and three probable cases of cryptosporidiosis reported after visits to Rusty Buckle Farm.
Health officials warn public after 6 rabid animals found in Providence County
The Rhode Island Department of Health is warning the public after at least six animals tested positive for rabies over the last six weeks
Help Support Science With The City Nature Challenge This Weekend
One of the favorite challenges of the year for outdoor lovers happens this weekend: the City Nature Challenge. This worldwide initiative aims to observe and identify as many wild organisms as possible—plants, animals, fungi, and more ...
What to know about citizen science and why public participation matters
Through community science programs, Bay Area residents can document plants and animals and contribute to scientific research just by using their phones.
What to know about citizen science and why public participation matters
Through community science programs, Bay Area residents can document plants and animals and contribute to scientific research just by using their phones.
What if humans could regrow tissue? New study moves science closer
For centuries, the inability to regrow lost body parts has been considered a defining limitation of humans and other mammals. While animals like salamanders can regenerate entire limbs, humans are left ...
Hofstra Guest Speaker Highlights Why Public Health Can No Longer Work in Silos
Public health challenges don’t exist in silos, and neither should their solutions. “The importance of the One Health approach – looking at humans, animals, plants, environments, and ecosystem health – we have to use a broad-based approach when we look at complex diseases,” said Dr. Laura Kahn, a
289-million-year-old mummified reptile reveals how breathing began on land
A remarkably preserved, mummified reptile from 289 million years ago is rewriting what we know about how animals first breathed on land. This tiny creature, Captorhinus aguti, reveals the earliest known version of the rib-powered breathing system used by modern reptiles, birds, and mammals — a crucial innovation that helped vertebrates thrive outside water.
Teacher Feature: Indian River Co. educator brings animals, adventure to science class
CBS12 News' next “Teacher Feature” from the School District of Indian River County creates a sense of wonder in her classroom.
How can scientists visualize cellular life with greater precision? - Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Highlights Salk researchers collaborated with scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine to develop a new class of probes for imaging living cells The probes, called visible-spectrum antigen-stabilizable fluorescent nanobodies (VIS-Fbs), generate high-contrast images with minimal disruption to normal cellular activity The technology enables more precise investigation of complex biological processes, including cell signaling, development, and disease progression LA JOLLA—Fluorescent proteins have revolutionized science, enabling researchers to tag and visualize individual molecules in living cells, tissues, and animals. Using these tools, researchers have watched viruses infect cells in real time, observed cellular trash collection, and tracked the signaling that spurs tumor growth.
Birdfy’s new 4K feeder wants to teach you about the birds it identifies
The Birdfy Feeder Metal 2 features a chew-proof design to protect its seed stockpile from squirrels and other animals.
This tool-using cow stunned scientists with her smarts
Veronika the cow scratches hard-to-reach body parts using a brush. This feat is forcing scientists to rethink which animals can use tools.
Sunweb ends sale of excursions involving wildlife entertainment
Sunweb Group will stop selling excursions with wild animals used for entertainment, following new animal welfare guidelines.
PETA Buys Madison Square Garden Entertainment Stock in Bid to Get Animals Out of Christmas Spectacular
PETA has just purchased stock in Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. (MSGE)—the parent company of Radio City Music Hall—and plans to use its
Top 10 most dangerous animals in the world | BBC Science Focus Magazine
Which animal kills the most humans in a year? From dogs to mosquitos, here are the top 10 most deadly creatures on Earth.
The real science of Pokémon
The Pokémon franchise, including its recent game Pokémon Pokopia, is inspired by real animals and their ecology. It’s no surprise that so many scientists love to try and “catch ’em all”
Pinckney-area pet store asking the community to support local
The store has been open for over 13 years and sells items for dogs, cats, horses, reptiles, indoor and outdoor birds and other small animals.