Strongest evidence yet of the anti-obesity effects of black cumin found using cell experiments and clinical trials.

A new scientific review has shed light on how emerging pollutants commonly found in wastewater are disrupting biological phosphorus removal processes, posing risks to water quality and ecological health. The study, published in the journal New Contaminants, examines how pharmaceuticals, microplastics, and industrial chemicals interfere with the key microorganisms responsible for phosphorus removal in wastewater treatment plants.

New research from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biolog revealed Indigenous aquaculture systems, such as fishponds, effectively shield fish populations from the negative impacts of climate change, demonstrating resilience and bolstering local food security.

The Ngogo chimpanzees of Uganda’s Kibale National Park have long been known for violent clashes with neighboring groups, often resulting in deaths — a phenomenon sometimes described as “chimpanzee warfare.”

 

Now, a new study led by UCLA anthropologist Brian Wood, in collaboration with John Mitani of the University of Michigan, provides the clearest evidence yet that territorial expansion after lethal conflict can directly boost reproductive success. Following a series of coordinated attacks that claimed at least 21 lives, the Ngogo group’s territory grew by 22%. In the years that followed, females gave birth more often, and their infants were far more likely to survive.

Researchers report on how two species of parasitic ants—Lasius orientalis and Lasius umbratus—invade and overtake a host ant colony. In both cases, the parasitic ant queen invades the nest and sprays the host colony queen with what is likely formic acid. This manipulates the host colony worker ants to attack and execute their own queen.

Scientists document a new form of host manipulation where an invading, parasitic ant queen “tricks” ant workers into killing their queen mother. The invading ant integrates herself into the nest by pretending to be a member of the colony, then sprays the host queen with fluid that causes her daughters to turn against her. The parasitic queen then usurps the throne, having the workers serve her instead as the new queen regent. This work appears in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on November 17.