Celebrity dolphin of Venice doesn’t need special protection – except from humans
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 11-Jun-2026 12:16 ET (11-Jun-2026 16:16 GMT/UTC)
Just a few decades ago, nobody would have been surprised to see a bottlenose dolphin showing up in the lagoon of Venice, where historically some dolphins have dwelt. However, when ‘Mimmo’, a solitary bottlenose dolphin, was first spotted in the lagoon in the summer of 2025, the event was perceived as nothing short of sensational. Soon, managing the behavior of people became more important than managing the dolphin itself, a new study suggests. Researchers monitoring the dolphin said its stay in the lagoon does not put it at particular risk, but that inappropriate and illegal human action does. Cases like these highlight the importance of broader education on how to interact with wildlife, the team said.
A UC Berkeley study concluded last year that the fruits chimps eat in the wild contain enough ethanol to deliver about 14 milligrams daily. But only analysis of chimp urine could prove they actually consume substantial ethanol. After collecting chimp urine last year, the researchers found that most tested positive (>500 ng/ml) on immunoassays commonly given to humans required to abstain from alcohol. In humans, this level indicates light drinking within the previous 24 hours.
New research from Ben-Shahar lab illuminates courtship of Drosophila melanogaster males
Depending on others for something you need may feel like a risky proposition—and perhaps a human one. It is actually a survival strategy found in the microbial world, and far more frequently than one might expect. Discovering why is key to understanding how microbes form stable communities across medical, industrial, and ecological settings. A new study by bioengineering professor Sergei Maslov, computational scientist Ashish George, and biology professor Tong Wang explores why interdependence can be such a winning move for microbial communities.
The peer review process in scientific publishing has reached a critical point where there are too many manuscript submissions and not enough peer reviewers. UW News asked Carl Bergstrom, University of Washington professor of biology, and Kevin Gross, North Carolina State University professor of statistics, to describe this self-perpetuating cycle and potential interventions.
What if people could stay healthier, stronger, and mentally sharper as they grow older—not by treating diseases one by one but by slowing a biological process that drives aging itself? A new University of Rochester–led research effort will test whether a drug originally developed to treat HIV can quiet a chronic immune response triggered by the body’s own DNA, to help preserve overall health and function later in life. The project is supported by a contract of up to $22 million over five years from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) and includes collaborators from Brown University, University of Connecticut, The University of Texas Medical Branch, University of Texas Health Houston, University of Nebraska, and Transposon Therapeutics.