Many male hoverflies have bigger eyes than females, giving them the advantage of better optics and faster photoreceptors in high-speed pursuits to find a preferred partner to breed.

New research led by Flinders University – aimed at understanding the deft flying skills of these fast and dexterous native flies – compared different flight speeds between the sexes as key attributes for their survival success.

Physicists discover a new type of phase separation driven by a proliferating medium that rewrites the physics of particles inside it

Male strepsipterans develop inside a host insect during their larval stage and, upon reaching the adult stage, emerge from the host body to begin a free-living phase. In this study, researchers at University of Tsukuba directly observed the emergence behavior of male strepsipterans parasitizing stink bugs, where emergence sites are concealed beneath the host's wings, and found that, during emergence, the host exhibits a characteristic wing-raising behavior.

We revealed that the proton channel Hv1/VSOP, previously thought to function at the cell surface in microglia (brain immune cells), also functions on endosomes inside cells and precisely controls the actin cytoskeleton. Using advanced microscopy and electrophysiology (endosome patch-clamp), we found Hv1 acts as a brake on actin elongation. This discovery presents a novel cellular control mechanism where endosomal ion channels manipulate the cell skeleton itself, with implications for understanding neurodegenerative diseases.

Professor Chi Ming Che, Zhou Guangzhao Professor in Natural Sciences and Chair Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), and the Laboratory for Synthetic Chemistry and Chemical Biology Limited (LSCCB), and Dr Wei Liu, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, HKU, and LSCCB, have developed an innovative portable AI-enabled optical sensing device that enables rapid, non-invasive cancer risk detection using just a saliva sample. This innovative technology integrates advanced chemical sensing with artificial intelligence and was awarded a Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury at the 51st International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva (2026), recognising its scientific excellence and strong potential for practical application.   

For the first time, scientists have documented rice plants actively trapping and killing fall armyworm caterpillars. 

Researchers with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station found that roughly half of young caterpillars on rice plants become ensnared by microscopic hairs, or trichomes, on an open rice spikelet—where the grain develops—and die when the spikelet later closes.

The researchers hypothesize the insects are drawn to the spikelet by floral scents released from the floret. Published in the journal Ecological Processes, the study opens the door to new research on alternative pest‑control strategies against fall armyworm, an insect that has developed resistance to many chemical controls.

Breeding programs could alter heritable dog characteristics to reduce the rates of brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS), a breathing disorder common in dogs such as Bulldogs, French Bulldogs and Pugs – according to a new study led by Dr. Joanna Jadwiga Ilska of the Royal Kennel Club, published May 13, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS One.

The life story of the critically endangered Rice's whale, estimated to have just 50 remaining adults, is evidenced in new analysis of the hormones it stores in its baleen throughout its life