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Evolutionary biology: Sponges can economize on oxygen use

Sponges lack a signaling pathway that responds to low intracellular oxygen levels in more complex animals. Do they use a different mechanism for this purpose or did their earliest ancestors evolve at a time when less oxygen was available?

Gert Wörheide holds the Chair of Paleontology and Geobiology at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences...

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There are more mammal species than we thought

A recent study published in the Journal of Mammalogy, at Oxford University Press, highlights that over 1000 new species of mammals have been described globally during the last dozen years, a finding that contradicts the notion that our mammalian relatives are well known. This rate of species discovery parallels that seen in global amphibians, and...

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Duck faeces shed light on plant seed dispersal

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Mallards are among the most abundant and widespread duck species in the world, yet little attention has been paid to date to their role in spreading plant seeds. A new study in the Journal of Ecology reveals a number of plants that were not previously known to be part of the...
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Dye kills malaria parasites at speed not seen before

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Research shows that the dye methylene blue is a safe antimalarial that kills malaria parasites at an unprecedented rate. Within two days, patients are cured of the disease and no longer transmit the parasite if they are bitten again by a mosquito....
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Lactation hormone cues birds to be good parents

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Toppling a widespread assumption that a “lactation” hormone only cues animals to produce food for their babies, researchers have shown the hormone also prompts zebra finches to be good parents....
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