Nature – Kettinki

2025-09-05 @ 19.22.03 ∈ In English

Iberian harvester ant queens are cloning different species to produce hybrid workers

This new frontier in reproduction is referred to by the authors as "xenoparous," meaning the ant queens have a need to produce individuals of another species as an inherent part of their life cycle. The exact developmental mechanism of cross-species male cloning is still unknown, but the authors have some theories.

2025-07-19 @ 9.58.27 ∈ In English

Ancient DNA solves mystery of Hungarian, Finnish language family’s origins

The study finds the ancestors of present-day Uralic speakers living about 4,500 years ago in northeastern Siberia, within an area now known as Yakutia.

2024-09-26 @ 19.58.30 ∈ In English

Octopuses recorded hunting with fish — and punching those that don’t cooperate

The research […] even suggests that the famously intelligent animals organized the hunting groups’ decisions, including what they should prey upon. [The researchers witnessed the cephalopod species] punching companion fish, apparently to keep them on task and contributing to the collective effort.

2024-09-15 @ 15.54.07 ∈ In English

‘The data on extreme human ageing is rotten from the inside out’ – Ig Nobel winner Saul Justin Newman

In general, the claims about how long people are living mostly don’t stack up. I’ve tracked down 80% of the people aged over 110 in the [world]. Of those, almost none have a birth certificate. […] [A] Japanese government review in [2010 found] that 82% of the people aged over 100 in Japan turned out to be dead.

2024-09-05 @ 12.04.56 ∈ In English

Part of brain network much bigger in people with depression, scientists find

[In] people with depression, a larger part of the brain is involved in the network that controls attention to rewards and threats than in those without depression. [The] frontostriatal salience network was expanded by 73% on average in participants with depression compared with healthy controls.

2024-08-23 @ 11.15.44 ∈ In English

Mosquitoes sense infrared from body heat to help track humans down, study shows

Infrared radiation from a source roughly the temperature of human skin doubled the insects' overall host-seeking behavior when combined with CO2 and human odor. […] It's only in the context of other cues, such as elevated CO2 and human odor that IR makes a [difference;] infrared alone has no impact.

2024-06-27 @ 11.14.53 ∈ In English

Frog ‘saunas’ help endangered frogs survive the devastating impacts of a deadly fungal disease

The research team found artificial 'hotspot' shelters built from readily available materials, such as bricks and PVC greenhouses, can allow frogs to quickly 'bake off' infections with the chytrid fungus. When frogs shifted to hotspot shelters, chytrid infections were reduced significantly.

2024-06-21 @ 19.25.49 ∈ In English

World-First Experiment Reveals Why Some People Never Get COVID-19

Where most people mount a rapid immune response against the invading virus in their blood, these volunteers showed a subtle but much faster reaction in their nasal tissues that included the activation of mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells and a drop in inflammatory white blood cells, which cleared the virus before it set in.

2024-04-03 @ 16.14.06 ∈ In English

After 10 years of work, landmark study reveals new ‘tree of life’ for all birds living today

The largest-ever study of bird genomes has produced a remarkably clear picture of the bird family tree. Published in the journal Nature today, our study shows that most of the modern groups of birds first appeared within 5 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs.

2024-03-25 @ 18.21.54 ∈ In English

More people care about climate change than you think

The majority of people in every country support action on climate, but the public consistently underestimates this share.