EurekAlert! News by Subject: Biology - News by Subject: Biology

Biology

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 23-Dec-2025 13:11 ET (23-Dec-2025 18:11 GMT/UTC)

The underwater Caprera Canyon, off the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, is a hotspot of whale and dolphin diversity

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The underwater Caprera Canyon, off the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, is a hotspot of whale and dolphin diversity

Journal: PLOS One

Four newly-discovered species of cave-dwelling pseudoscorpions have jaws like dragons and are completely blind

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Four newly-discovered species of cave-dwelling pseudoscorpions have jaws like dragons and are completely blind

Journal: PLOS One

USU scientist receives national award for undergrad research mentorship excellence

Utah State University
Grant and Award Announcement

A behavioral neuroscientist and faculty member in Utah State University's Department of Biology, Sara Freeman is the Council on Undergraduate Research's 2025 Biology Mentor Early-Career Award recipient. The honor recognizes long-term commitment to, and excellence in, student research mentorship.

Koalas spend only 1% of their life on the ground – but it’s killing them

Society for Experimental Biology
Reports and Proceedings

Koalas are a nationally endangered and iconic species in Australia, yet their populations are rapidly declining due to habitat loss, fragmentation, and disease, and very little is known about the fine-scale movements of koalas – especially when they’re on the ground. New research reveals that koalas only spend around 10 minutes per day on the ground, but this ground-time is associated with two-thirds of recorded koala deaths.

Meeting: SEB Conference 2025

Moon-Rice: Developing the perfect crop for space-bases

Society for Experimental Biology
Reports and Proceedings

The future of sustained space habitation depends on our ability to grow fresh food away from Earth. The revolutionary new collaborative Moon-Rice project is using cutting-edge experimental biology to create an ideal future food crop that can be grown in future deep-space outposts, as well as in extreme environments back on Earth.

Meeting: SEB Conference 2025

The evolution of cancer cells decoded

German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Cancer does not develop overnight. It can take decades for cancer-promoting changes in the genome to eventually lead to the formation of a malignant tumor. Researchers at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have now developed a method that allows for the first time to reconstruct the temporal development—the evolution—of cancerous cells from a single tissue sample. This special type of evolutionary research is still in its infancy. The researchers' vision is to use the new method to detect cancer at an early stage, with the ultimate goal of possibly even intercepting the process.

Journal: Nature Genetics

Ancient Rhino tooth helps push the boundaries of evolutionary research

University of York
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists have shed new light on the rhino family tree after recovering a protein sequence from a fossilised tooth from more than 20 million years ago.

Journal: Nature