SAN DIEGO (April 30, 2025) — Many are aware of the dire challenges with plastic waste polluting the ocean, but new research shows it may harm wildlife in ways not previously understood. In a new study just published in the journal Environmental Pollution, researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance found that plastic swallowed by northern fulmars— seabirds found in the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans—can leak chemicals that interfere with the birds’ hormone systems.

A good wildlife management plan must include information on their migratory processes if the conservation of a species, particularly an endangered species, is to be improved. In the marine environment, for example, regulating fishing activity in certain wintering areas could improve and complement conservation and protection measures carried out on the breeding grounds. These are some of the conclusions of the study featured on the cover of the journal Diversity and Distributions and led by experts from the Seabird Ecology Lab of the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) of the University of Barcelona.

A new book by Dr. Robert Spengler tackles one of the biggest questions in biology and the social sciences: domestication – what it is, how it occurred, and the role that humans really played in developing the first crops and livestock.

Herpesviruses, which cause skin and genital infections, neonatal diseases, and meningitis, can successfully persist over a lifetime and transmit from one host to another. One key strategy that enables them to coexist within host cells is mimicry of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs)—proteins that regulate crucial cellular processes. A new study by researchers from Japan reveals novel insights into mechanisms underlying CDK mimicry by viral kinases, driven by phosphorylation of conserved amino acid residues.

Parasitoid wasps sometimes lay eggs in unsuitable host insects, a behavior that has traditionally been considered accidental. However, researchers at University of Tsukuba have discovered that parasitism can still be successful in these cases—if another species of wasp lays eggs in the same host simultaneously. They have named this newly discovered parasitic strategy "pirate parasitism."

SIAT's researchers develop a miniaturized, portable bio-battery, which enables the precise control over bioelectrical stimulation and physiological blood pressure signals.