#biology

A fascinating documentary from 2019, Sir David Attenborough goes back in time to investigate the origins of life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12kQH-itxPw #Nature #Life #Science #Biology

Temperate Rainforest Ecosystem featuring bryophytes (mosses) colonizing a mature vascular host tree (conifer) and its exposed root flares.The moss-covered root system provides a complex habitat (microniche) for soil microfauna, invertebrates, tardigrades, and beneficial mycorrhizal. #ecology #science #biology #nature #moss

We have had a decent crop of Venus Flytraps this year. #plants #carnivorousplants #SavageGarden #botany #nature #naturephotography #biodiversity #photography #biology #ecology #venusflytrap

I did not have this find on my bingo card for the year... ...Deep in a cave in Tennessee, thousands of feet underground, as I rounded a bend of the river passage leading a group of biology students and recent graduates in a bioinventory of the cave....I stopped suddenly and definitely swore a little "WTF is that?! GAR!?" Yes my friends, a friggin' Gar, about four feet long, just swimming in one of the pools. Not a single person I know of has ever seen this in a cave before. Critters from the surface do get washed in at times, and this cave has connection to surface water. However, the creeks above it are not really Gar habitat, so even us biologists are at a bit of a loss. Well, not the property manager, who promptly said "wow, he was only this big *mimes a few inches with his fingers* when I put him in there!" (sarcasm, in case you cannot tell!) So...enjoy a big gar, with a human for scale. Fun fact: it would follow the light from our headlamps around, like a little kitten following a feather toy, but it declined to follow out of the pool it is comfy in Boost if this made you smile today! (ETA: Please don't at me to yell at me about not "saving" it, or ignoring that fish have feelings, or anything along those lines. Floods wash things into caves. Critters explore where maybe they shouldn't. There's a song in the Lion King about it. Sometimes we can rescue things out of caves that belong on the surface, but often we cannot, and for millions of years these accidentals feed the ecosystem, and support many of the other creatures that call this cave home. If you struggle with this concept: Think of it as colonization gone array so the locals win in the end.) #fish #gar #monster #cave #caves #caving #biology #nature #shock #river #ecosystem #Mesozoic #ancient #history

🦟 A mosquito bite may vanish in moments, yet its story unfolds beneath the skin. Why can a turning point arrive as the fever fades? ✍️ Follow the science beyond the bite: https://www.theperpetuallycurious.org/dengue/ A small encounter can reveal a hidden world. #Dengue #Biology #Health #Mosquito #ThePerpetuallyCurious

10/ 2. The "Olive Oil" Cell Membranes

At 5 kilometers deep, the ocean is not only heavy but freezing cold. Under those conditions, the fats in normal animal cell membranes would pack tightly together and turn solid, like a stick of butter left in the fridge. To prevent their cells from turning into stiff, brittle walls that would easily rupture, deep-sea creatures build their cell membranes with massive amounts of unsaturated fatty acids.

#oceans #biology #MarineLife

11/ This keeps their cellular boundaries fluid and flexible—acting more like liquid olive oil than solid butter.

1. Chemical Scaffolding (Piezolytes)

Even if your body doesn't crush, extreme hydrostatic pressure can literally force water molecules into the folds of your enzymes and proteins, warping their shape so they stop working.

#science #biology

12/ Deep-sea animals combat this by packing their tissues with specialized molecules called piezolytes (the most common being TMAO, or trimethylamine oxide). These molecules act like microscopic scaffolding. They bind to water molecules and hold proteins in their proper three-dimensional shape, preventing the sheer weight of the ocean from squashing the animal's biochemistry. #science#biology#marine

From radiation-eating fungi to tanned frogs, my latest article for @sciencefocus.bsky.social explores some of the extraordinary discoveries scientists have made in the ruins of Chernobyl. https://www.sciencefocus.com/planet-earth/strangest-discoveries-inside-chernobyl #Biology #Chemistry #Physics #Evolution

Sunlight is not the plant’s food, rather it is the energy source the plant uses for manufacturing sugars from smaller molecules… Perhaps one could say that sunlight is the fire the plant cooks with! #plants #biology #botany

“Memory is fragile at first, more like wet cement than carved stone.” Psychologist Michael Craig explores evidence that we retain information better when we take a moment of rest, compared with jumping straight into an absorbing task. https://theconversation.com/your-brain-may-be-doing-its-most-important-work-when-you-think-youre-doing-nothing-291190 #Thinking #Psychology #Biology #Science #Nature #Brain

Short Walks. Sunbird . #birds #nature #photography #socialmedia #biology #biodiversity

🐟 NEW: Recent long-term tracking #research indicates that lake #sturgeon in the #GreatLakes may reach ages exceeding 400 years. By using capture-mark-recapture #data across decades, fishery biologists updated growth rate models for these #ancient cartilaginous #fish, showing lifespans nearly three times longer than previous estimates and rivaling some of the longest-living #vertebrates on Earth. 👉 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/some-fish-in-the-great-lakes-might-be-more-than-400-years-old-a-study-suggests-outliving-around-15-generations-of-humans-180989500/ #lakesturgeon #freshwater #biology #science #ecology #nature #animals #wildlife #conservation #history

Comb jellies are biological wonders: ctenophores are illuminating how the first nervous systems evolved and how bioluminescence works https://www.quantamagazine.org/ctenophores-arent-just-beautiful-theyre-biological-wonders-20260916/ Quanta Magazine examines ctenophores - the iridescent comb jellies often overlooked in favour of jellyfish - and explains why they are transforming scientific understanding of nervous system origins a #science #biology #evolution

Autism linked to early exposure to a common plastic additive https://newatlas.com/brain/autism-linked-exposure-plastic-additive/ #neuroscience #chemistry #biology #autism

Learning without a brain – how bacteria store memories and remember the past like artificial neural networks https://theconversation.com/learning-without-a-brain-how-bacteria-store-memories-and-remember-the-past-like-artificial-neural-networks-288782 #neuroscience #biology #ai

Fish in murky water rely on teamwork to find food — a finding with implications for ecosystem resilience https://www.popsci.com/environment/fish-teamwork-find-food-murky-water/ ‘It is good to know that the fish can respond to these big changes.’ The post These fish rely on teamwork to find food in murky water appeared first on Popular Science . #science #biology #fish

“A new study led by Flinders University has flipped the historical narrative about #Australia's #thylacine, finding the native apex predator known as the ‘ #TasmanianTiger ’ was significantly different from the wolves and wild dogs it was likened to before being hunted to #extinction.” https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiger-wolf-australian-thylacine-skull.html #science #biology #anatomy #genetics #marsupial #tasmania

This is a great (and short) explanation of why biologists usually roll our eyes when we hear nonsense like "there are exactly 2 human sexes" or "all humans are either male or female", or especially "it's easy to tell if someone's male or female - just measure [some trait]". People are complicated and biology is messy. Evolution doesn't care about our biases or preferences; it just muddles along with whatever works well enough. https://theconversation.com/biological-sex-is-neither-binary-nor-a-spectrum-a-biologist-explains-how-its-multidimensional-289786 #biology #SexDetermination

Hermit crabs spread the seeds of a parasitic plant through their droppings — an unexpected ecological partnership https://phys.org/news/2026-08-secret-gardeners-parasitic.html In the coastal forests of a tropical Japanese island near Okinawa grows an inconspicuous plant that is easy to mistake for a mushroom. It is a non-green parasite that feeds on the roots of other… #science #biology #ecology