Researchers studied wild Northern cardinals to see how everyday challenges shape the gut microbiome. Even brief disruptions, like short handling or rival interactions, triggered microbial changes linked to stress hormones, body condition and beak coloration. Birds with the largest microbial shifts also showed pronounced physiological and visual stress responses, highlighting the gut microbiome as a sensitive indicator of health. The study reveals how subtle, routine stressors influence internal biology, offering new insights into how wild animals maintain resilience and cope with environmental pressures.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Professor & HHMI Investigator Zachary Lippman and colleagues have identified more than 2.3 million conserved non-coding sequences across 314 genomes from 284 plant species—some more than 400 million years old. Their research provides an invaluable tool for plant breeders and a new understanding of plant evolution.

Scientists have identified ~2.3 million conserved non-coding DNA sequences across 284 plant species from 72 plant families using a new gene-centric alignment approach, revealing ancient regulatory elements that control gene activity across plant evolution.

Parasites may do more than weaken animals – they can reshape the signals used to choose mates. Studying male green treefrogs in the wild, researchers found that tongueworm infections subtly alter mating calls, changing their frequency and duration. Females avoided the most heavily infected males but sometimes favored moderately infected ones, suggesting they weigh multiple cues at once. The findings reveal how parasites can influence sexual selection by reshaping the acoustic signals females use to evaluate potential mates.

Researchers led by the University of Iowa have described and named a new crocodile species that roamed a region in Africa more than 3 million years ago. The species is named Lucy’s hunter, because it overlapped with the famed Lucy and her hominin kin and would have hunted them. Results published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.