Bats can find motionless insects on leaves in the dark. This was thought to be impossible, because the acoustic camouflage provided by the leaves should confuse their echolocation system. Inga Geipel and colleagues discovered how bats overcome this problem.

The Biodiversity Indicators Partnership fficially adopted in July a new indicator to track progress on the conservation of thousands of economically and culturally important plants. Developed by CIAT and the Crop Trust, the indicator helps rate progress toward the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Aichi Biodiversity Target 13, which includes maintaining the genetic diversity of cultivated plants, their wild relatives, and other socioeconomically and culturally valuable flora.

A study of individuals over 65 years old showed that all-cause mortality risk increased nearly 63-fold in women with low appendicular muscle mass. The risk of dying increased 11.4-fold in men (patient undergoing DXA body composition and bone density scan.

An analysis of white-tailed deer remains at an archaeological site in Panama revealed signs of 'feasting behavior' associated with this animal among pre-Columbian populations.

Through a participatory forest-carbon monitoring project in the Darien forest of Panama, scientists and a team of trained indigenous technicians found that, even in disturbed areas, it maintained the same tree species richness and a disproportionately high capacity to sequester carbon.