Even humans love a good mating call

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.popsci.com/environment/mating-call-humans-animals/

🐳💧 #Whales and #seals live in a #saltwater #environment where drinking the #ocean would be dangerous. These marine #mammals stay hydrated through a mix of high-efficiency kidneys and a biological process that turns the fat in their food into fresh #water.

👉 https://www.popsci.com/environment/how-do-sea-mammals-stay-hydrated/

#biology #science #nature #physiology #wildlife #ecology

Spring is in the air, it is on the ground, and it is showing up on winter deciduous trees.

This cluster shows a still leafless Himalayan Birch (Betula alnoides) full of yellow catkins, the other taller trees are Himalayan Alder (Alnus nepalensis) which have new leaves & leaf buds. The dark evergreen trees are Tree Rhododendron (Rhododendron arboreum).

#trees #nature #spring #Hinalayas #IndiasNature #HimalayaSpeaks #HimalayanBirch #Alder #Rhododendron #Phenology #catkins #biology #ecology

Thunderstorms Make Trees Glow

Scientists have long hypothesized that the high electrical charge of thunderstorms could produce an opposite charge in the ground that would discharge from the forest canopy. But this phenomenon, known as a corona, had never been observed on actual trees. A new study, however, has observed this ghostly ultraviolet (UV) glow from the tips of sweetgum leaves and loblolly pine needles during thunderstorms.

Catching these coronae in action required a new kind of UV detector that was ultra-sensitive to the particular band of UV-light emitted by coronas, hot fires, or mercury lamps. Since the latter two weren’t present during the team’s field observations, they were able to conclude that the light they detected came from coronae.

The group observed that corona discharges were transient, jumping from leaf to leaf and branch to branch across the forest canopy. For any creature capable of detecting that glow by eye, it must be incredible to watch the treetops lit by their own ever-shifting auroras during every thunderstorm. (Image credit: W. Brune; research credit: P. McFarland et al.; via SciAm)

Coyote pupping season is here. You can help keep them safe.

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.popsci.com/environment/coyote-pup-season-spring/

Neanderthals had antiseptic birch tar

https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/never-mind-band-aids-neanderthals-had-antiseptic-birch-tar/

#Botany #Biology #Archeology #AncientHistory #Medicine

Oh wow! Potentially crucial technical breakthrough for #cryopreservation! Individuals were frozen, placed in liquid nitrogen and then successfully revived 12 months later!

Obviously, that was done in #drosophila - what did you think? 😆

Benjamin de Bivort @debivort from Harvard is the senior author of this important work:

"Permeabilization with fenchone enhances cryopreservation of Drosophila embryos"

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article/22/3/20250808/480954/Permeabilization-with-fenchone-enhances

#science #biology

🧠🗺️ We navigate our world using a complex internal map powered by specialized cells that act like a biological coordinate system.

Research on #London taxi drivers proves that as we memorize new routes and #landmarks, the navigation center of our #brain actually expands.

👉 https://discoverwildscience.com/the-brains-hidden-maps-how-we-navigate-our-complex-world-1-393468/

#neuroscience #biology #science #learning #maps #psychology #education #nature