Original post on mastodon.social

Insect navigation: Lunar lunacy tamed by an ant
Eric J. Warrant
Unlike the sun, the #moon is a notoriously fickle visual cue for #navigation. However, a nocturnal ant has now been found to use the moon for navigation during night-long foraging trips, compensating for its movement across the sky […]

moving backwards and breaking things I've been trying to distil the events unfolding in the US since January 20 into a reasonable narrative that remains valid during the 2.5 week production period and beyond, so I focused on the public health implications of dismantling both international cooperation and federal agencies meant to protect people. Whereas there is no telling which changes will remain and which ones won't, one thing is for sure that many people will suffer and die as a result of certain oligarchs moving backwards and breaking things, and the climate catastrophe will accelerate further, which, again, will cause more suffering and death among humans and wildlife alike. In retrospect, why didn't the assaults on global public health and on the survival of a habitable biosphere in the early weeks of the Deatheaters takeover get a similarly energetic response from Europe to what we're now witnessing in the context of Ukraine policy? I happen to think that on a dead planet, there won't be a free Ukraine either, so protecting the planet should have been be a bit more important. Anyhow, my trumpocalypse 2 feature is out now: **Rolling back public health** Current Biology Volume 35, Issue 5, 10 March 2025, Pages R159-R161 FREE access to full text and PDF download See also my Mastodon thread where I highlighted all CB features of 2025. The thread for 2024 is here . Healthcare for women is particularly threatened after the US administration announced the departure from the WHO. The photo shows a Shakila midwife listening to the heartbeat of a pregnant woman at the mobile clinic organised by the WHO at the Garm Abak of Waras district in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. (Photo: © World Health Organization/Rada Akbar, 2015.)

Last year's feature on the impact of the trump regime on global #publicHealth is now in the open archives: proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/03/moving-backwards... #science #currentBiology #WHO #health #policy

¿Puede un pez cebra abrir una vía contra el insomnio? Un estudio del CSIC en pez cebra detecta un interruptor cerebral del sueño y abre pistas médicas firmes para aliviar el insomnio persistente. Un equipo internacional con participación del Consejo Supe...

¿Puede un pez cebra abrir una vía contra el insomnio? #4deMarzo #FelizMiércoles #Insomnio #Sueño #PezCebra #CSIC #Ciencia #Salud #Neurociencia #Biomedicina #Investigación #TrastornosDelSueño #CurrentBiology #Descanso #Medicina donporque.com/pez-cebra-co...

Humans shape medicinal plant diversity 🌿
New research shows time of human occupancy predicts medicinal plant richness beyond just biodiversity alone. Culture and nature co-evolve.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.09.050

#MedicinalPlants #Ethnopharmacology #Biodiversity #CurrentBiology

Original post on mastodon.social

For some reason the posts in my slow thread don't bridge to bluesky, although the post at the top did. So I just have to toot today's #CurrentBiology feature again: proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2026/02/plants-recycling... #science #ecology #metals #recycling #phytomining […]

¿Por qué el Alzheimer desordena el ‘play’ de la memoria? El Alzheimer no apaga la memoria: la reproduce mal mientras dormimos. Estudio de UCL explica el “VHS” cerebral y sugiere diagnóstico precoz. Con el Alzheimer, el cerebro no deja de intentar guardar re...

¿Por qué el Alzheimer desordena el ‘play’ de la memoria? #Alzheimer #Neurociencia #Memoria #Cerebro #Demencia #Ciencia #Salud #Investigacion #Medicina #UCL #CurrentBiology #30deenero #felizviernes donporque.com/alzheimer-de...

Veronika the Cow Teaches Herself to Use a Tool — Manuela Hoelterhoff Veronika is a 13-year-old Swiss brown cow living with the Wiegele family in the mountain village of Nötsch in southern Austria. When she was about two years old, her owners noticed she would sometimes...

Veronika is a 13-year-old Swiss brown cow living in the mountain village of Nötsch in southern Austria. When she was about two years old, her owners noticed she would sometimes grab a stick in her mouth and use it to scratch her body. #animalintelligence #tooluse #cows #CurrentBiology #Smartcow

the urban ecology of feeding birds and squirrels Back in December, I spotted a research paper about the ecological impact of human-provided food on squirrel populations, and I started to wonder whether similar work exists for the various species of "garden birds" that many of us like to feed in winter. Incidentally, I installed an inherited bird feeder outside my window around the same time, to get some first hand observations in. (It may be an age thing, too.) It's always fun writing about squirrels, but the most spectacular results I discovered were those of the hummingbirds in California. Due to the widespread use of feeding stations with fake nectar, these birds have extended their range dramatically and also undergone measurable anatomical evolution. Read all about it in my latest feature which is out today: **Feeding change in urban wildlife** Current Biology Volume 36, Issue 2, 19 January 2026, Pages R31-R33 Restricted access to full text and PDF download (Unfortunately, this year's features will no longer become open access one year after publication - do contact me if you would like a PDF. Last year's features will still move to the open archives as this year advances.) Magic link for free access (first seven weeks only) See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features. My mastodon posts are also mirrored on Bluesky. Last year's thread is here . Squirrels like this Eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) thrive in urban parks and benefit from food supplied by humans. A study on the Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) in Japan has shown that the urban populations also have improved reproduction chances compared with the rural ones. (Photo: Jules Verne Times Two/julesvernex2.com/CC-BY-SA-4.0.) The same issue of CB also contains story of Veronika, the back-scratching bovine that probably wins the internet today (open access). I already saw a Guardian headline about it.

yesterday's feature in #CurrentBiology is on the #urbanEcology of feeding #birds and #squirrels; blog entry contains magic link for free access: proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-urban-ecolog... #science #ecology

the urban ecology of feeding birds and squirrels Back in December, I spotted a research paper about the ecological impact of human-provided food on squirrel populations, and I started to wonder whether similar work exists for the various species of "garden birds" that many of us like to feed in winter. Incidentally, I installed an inherited bird feeder outside my window around the same time, to get some first hand observations in. (It may be an age thing, too.) It's always fun writing about squirrels, but the most spectacular results I discovered were those of the hummingbirds in California. Due to the widespread use of feeding stations with fake nectar, these birds have extended their range dramatically and also undergone measurable anatomical evolution. Read all about it in my latest feature which is out today: **Feeding change in urban wildlife** Current Biology Volume 36, Issue 2, 19 January 2026, Pages R31-R33 Restricted access to full text and PDF download (Unfortunately, this year's features will no longer become open access one year after publication - do contact me if you would like a PDF. Last year's features will still move to the open archives as this year advances.) Magic link for free access (first seven weeks only) See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features. My mastodon posts are also mirrored on Bluesky. Last year's thread is here . Squirrels like this Eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) thrive in urban parks and benefit from food supplied by humans. A study on the Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) in Japan has shown that the urban populations also have improved reproduction chances compared with the rural ones. (Photo: Jules Verne Times Two/julesvernex2.com/CC-BY-SA-4.0.) The same issue of CB also contains story of Veronika, the back-scratching bovine that probably wins the internet today (open access). I already saw a Guardian headline about it.

yesterday's feature in #CurrentBiology is on the #urbanEcology of feeding #birds and #squirrels; blog entry contains magic link for free access: proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-urban-ecolog... #science #ecology

stopping the shark trade A rare bit of good news for marine biodiversity arrived last December from the unlikely location of landlocked Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The 20th conference of the signatories to CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) significantly enhanced the protection of sharks and rays. Time for another feature about cartilaginous fish, or as I now like to call them: chondrichthyans: **Chondrichthyans at the crossroads** Current Biology Volume 36, Issue 1, 5 January 2026, Pages R1-R3 Restricted access to full text and PDF download (Unfortunately, this year's features will no longer become open access one year after publication - do contact me if you would like a PDF. Last year's features will still move to the open archives as this year advances.) Magic link for free access (first seven weeks only) See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features. My mastodon posts are also mirrored on Bluesky. Last year's thread is here . An oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus, Critically Endangered) observed at Elphinstone Reef, Egypt. The species has now been added to the Appendix I of CITES, meaning that all trade is banned. (Photo: Polygonia c-album/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).)

my features published in #CurrentBiology this year, issue 1: Revisiting the #conservation of #sharks and #rays pegged to the recent #CITES meeting that ramped up their protection. proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2026/01/stopping-shark-t... #science #marineBiology

The (slow) thread collecting all my features published in #CurrentBiology in 2026 starts here. #ProseAndPassion #Science #ScienceWriter #ScienceJournalism #biology #ecology The old thread for 2025 is here: mastodon.social/@proseandpassion/1137824...

nature in recovery I needed cheering up after covering 30 years of climate failure in the penultimate feature of the year, so I followed a suggestion from the editorial team and chose species recovery as the topic for the last one. From the global moratorium on whaling to the European ban on neonics, if we just stop destroying nature, it actually helps the planet to heal, so we should really do more of that. The feature is out now, completing my set of 24 features in this calendar year: **Roads to recovery** Current Biology Volume 35, Issue 24, 15 December 2025, Pages R1165-R1167 Restricted access to full text and PDF download (will become open access one year after publication) Magic link for free access (first seven weeks only) See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features. My mastodon posts are also mirrored on Bluesky (starting 22.2.2025), but for this purpose I have to post them again, outside of the thread. (I think threads only transfer if the first post was transferred, so once I start a new thread it should work.) Last year's thread is here . Global populations of humpback whales have made a remarkable recovery since the whaling moratorium, offering opportunities for scientific studies as well as for recreational whale watching. (Photo: NPS Photo/Kaitlin Thoresen.)

the last #CurrentBiology feature of the year is on #recovery of species after #extinction threat. proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/12/i-needed-cheerin... #science #ecology #conservation

30 years of climate failure I get a bit of an anger management problem around the time of year when another COP climate summit confirms that humanity has spent another year not doing anything to stop the climate catastrophe. Even worse when it's a round number, like this year's COP30 marking three decades of failure to even stop emissions from rising, never mind reducing them. I think my first COP-related article was this one on the preparations for COP15 in Copenhagen (2009). We still had hope back then. By way of therapy, I channel that anger into a vaguely climate-related feature. This year's climate-rage writeup is about the Lancet climate report on the health impacts of the climate catastrophe. Obviously depressing, but then again it is also refreshing that the Lancet authors name the acute dangers we're facing loud and clear whereas the normal media coverage has all but given up on this emergency. So, well, I've calmed down and my feature is out now: **An unhealthy climate** Current Biology Volume 35, Issue 23, 1 December 2025, Pages R1127-R1129 Restricted access to full text and PDF download (will become open access one year after publication) Magic link for free access (first seven weeks only) See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features. My mastodon posts are also mirrored on Bluesky (starting 22.2.2025), but for this purpose I have to post them again, outside of the thread. (I think threads only transfer if the first post was transferred, so once I start a new thread it should work.) Last year's thread is here . The city of Belém, shown in this satellite view, is surrounded by Amazonian rainforest. (Photo: Coordenação-Geral de Observação da Terra/INPE (CC BY-SA 2.0).)

this week's feature in #CurrentBiology is about the recent #Lancet report on the #health impact of the #climateCatastrophe: proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/12/30-years-of-clim...

#science #environment #publicHealth

Global footprint of wildlife trade highlights biodiversity threats New research has shed light on the vast and largely unmonitored trade of wildlife around the world, revealing alarming threats to biosecurity and the survival of many species.

New research in #CurrentBiology reveals alarming truths about #GlobalWildlifeTrade 🌍

Despite misconceptions, the legal trade accounts for 10x the value of illegal trade (~$360 billion annually), posing massive #biosecurity and survival threats🧵

Link: www.unimelb.edu.au/newsroom/new...

Microbial population structure: Forced proximity is shaped by capillary interactions - PubMed A recent study shows that the spatial organization of bacteria in thin films or near air-water interfaces is strongly impacted by a purely physical mechanism - capillary interactions. This mechanism likely plays an important role in bacterial assortment in environments like soil, which undergo wet a …

Spatial organization of bacteria in thin films, like soil, is largely determined by a purely physical mechanism: capillary interactions (water tension). 🦠💧 #Microbiology #Biophysics #CurrentBiology pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41118734/

prehistoric women ruled While reporting on the revolutionary findings coming out of the sequencing of ancient DNA in the last two decades, I have occasionally come across the cases of buried bodies assumed to be male because they were associated with insignia of a warrior or a ruler, but then proven to be female by their DNA analysis. Which is always heartwarming but doesn't necessarily provide enough material to base a feature on. Now the field progresses from individual genomes to systematically sequencing entire cemeteries and compiling family trees of humans who lived many millennia ago. Therefore we can now move beyond the stage of identifying single ancient women in apparent positions of power to looking at networks, such as matrilinear families, where the association with land and property appears to have been passed on in the female line. Recent research into ancient genalogies has revealed several examples of such matrilinear groups (which may or may not have been matriarchies too), enough to base a feature on, which also highlights some of the unique women in roles previously assumed to be reserved to males. My feature is out now: **Recognition for prehistoric women** Current Biology Volume 35, Issue 22, 17 November 2025, Pages R1065-R1067 Restricted access to full text and PDF download (will become open access one year after publication) Magic link for free access (first seven weeks only) See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features. My mastodon posts are also mirrored on Bluesky (starting 22.2.2025), but for this purpose I have to post them again, outside of the thread. (I think threads only transfer if the first post was transferred, so once I start a new thread it should work.) Last year's thread is here . If I have crunched my numbers correctly, this is the 350th feature in this format, since I accepted the challenge to provide a feature for every issue, back in February 2011. I missed a couple of issues in the first few months, then one in 2014 and one in 2017. The widespread use of ancient DNA sequencing to archaeological finds is now showing that women may have been more influential in some societies than hitherto appreciated. The photo shows excavation work at a burial site attributed to the Durotriges, a Celtic tribe in southern Britain. (Photo courtesy of The Durotriges Project and © Bournemouth University.)

this week's feature in #CurrentBiology is about how #ancientDNA revealed the power of #prehistoric #women proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/11/prehistoric-wome...

#science #archaeology #matriarchy #matrilinear #genome

This is a close-up image taken from under a microscope which shows the algae's disc-shaped clusters. It shows algae Coleochaete which is green and very sharply in focus. Photo thanks to Tatyana Darienko.

What can algae tell us about plant evolution? Researchers looked at DNA and data from fossil evidence to figure out when and how a group of freshwater algae developed structures like the building blocks of land plants: www.uni-goettingen.de/en/3240.html...

#CurrentBiology: doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

ants in the anthropocene We know that various groups of insects are declining, and we tend to worry about them if they are beautiful butterflies or busy bees, but we wouldn't normally think of ants as being at risk. A recent paper has shown, however, that the diversity of ant species in island habitats is declining, which may be a warning sign for ant biodiversity everywhere. A big part of the problem is that those ant species that are best adapted to cope with human-made disruptions are spreading everywhere and displacing the ones that are less robust to the impacts of the anthropocene. So this has been a good reason to look at those disappearing ants and the kind of ecosystem functions that we may lose when they go. My feature is out now: **Ant diversity at risk** Current Biology Volume 35, Issue 21, 3 November 2025, Pages R1029-R1031 Restricted access to full text and PDF download (will become open access one year after publication) Magic link for free access (first seven weeks only) See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features. My mastodon posts are also mirrored on Bluesky (starting 22.2.2025), but for this purpose I have to post them again, outside of the thread. (I think threads only transfer if the first post was transferred, so once I start a new thread it should work.) Last year's thread is here . The study of ant biodiversity and population declines in Fiji made use of museum specimens like these. (Photo: Peter Ginter (CC BY).)

today's feature in #CurrentBiology is all about #ants. proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/11/ants-in-anthropo...

#science #ecology #insects #conservation #Fiji

DNA from Napoleon’s 1812 army identifies the pathogens likely responsible for the army’s demise during their retreat from Russia In the summer of 1812, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte led about half a million soldiers to invade the Russian Empire. But by December, only a fraction of the army remained alive. Historical records suggest that starvation, cold, and typhus led to their demise. In a new study publishing October 24 in the Cell Press journal Current Biology, a team of microbial paleogenomicists extracted DNA from the soldiers’ teeth and found no trace of typhus. Instead, they identified two pathogens known to cause enteric fever and relapsing fever—ailments which likely contributed to the army’s downfall.

24-Oct-2025
#ancientDNA from #Napoleon’s 1812 army identifies the #pathogens likely responsible for the army’s demise during their retreat from #Russia

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1102129

#science #genome #medicine #history #CurrentBiology

sequencing all species I reported about the Earth BioGenome Project, which aims to obtain genome sequences for all eukaryotic species known to science, when it launched back in 2018. Since then, continuing progress in technology has enabled the project to keep on its somewhat ambitious course, so it now is approaching the finish of phase I (out of three) and beginning to make detailed plans for phase II. Which means it's a good time for a new feature about the project. The focus of attention this time lies on the fact that much of the biodiversity yet to be sequenced resides in the countries of the Global South, so the project needs to build capacity where the species are found. My feature is out now: **All eukaryotes great and small** Current Biology Volume 35, Issue 20, 20 October 2025, Pages R937-R939 Restricted access to full text and PDF download (will become open access one year after publication) Magic link for free access (first seven weeks only) See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features. My mastodon posts are also mirrored on Bluesky (starting 22.2.2025), but for this purpose I have to post them again, outside of the thread. (I think threads only transfer if the first post was transferred, so once I start a new thread it should work.) Last year's thread is here . The African BioGenome Project aims to contribute genome sequences for more than 100,000 species. (Photo: Antonius Smal/Unsplash.)

this week's feature in #CurrentBiology is about the second phase of the #EarthBiogenomeProject and how it needs to build capacity in the #GlobalSouth where most of the #biodiversity is. proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/10/sequencing-all-s... #science #ecology #conservation #genome

I do have a feature in today's issue of #CurrentBiology but the magic link hasn't shown up yet. Suspect it may have been hit by the AWS outage, although the issue as such is online https://www.cell.com/current-biology/current (special on brain-body interaction but my feature is unrelated to that).

Original post on mastodon.social

Yesterday's feature in #CurrentBiology is about #Denisovans. Exciting stuff is happening in that field as several #ossils including the #Harbin skull have been identified as Denisovan with molecular methods. proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-denisovan-skul...
#science […]

fake news in nature Living organisms communicate on many different channels, from chemical signalling to ultrasound, and wherever researchers look they find that these means of communication can also be used to deceive and spread fake news. A recent paper on deceptive pheromone signals in mantises luring the hopeful male partners to their death inspired me to have a deeper look at various kinds of natural deception that were discovered recently. My feature is out now: **Deception on all channels** Current Biology Volume 35, Issue 18, 22 September 2025, Pages R865-R867 Restricted access to full text and PDF download (will become open access one year after publication) Magic link for free access (first seven weeks only) See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features. My mastodon posts are also mirrored on Bluesky (starting 22.2.2025), but for this purpose I have to post them again, outside of the thread. (I think threads only transfer if the first post was transferred, so once I start a new thread it should work.) Last year's thread is here . In the springbok mantis _Miomantis caffra_ , hungry females use dishonest pheromone signalling to attract males, which they then consume. (Photo: Bernard Dupont/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).)

my latest feature in #CurrentBiology is about #FakeNews and #deception in nature:

proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/09/fake-news-in-nat... #science #ecology #mimicry #pheromones #ultrasound #insects

With no prior training, dogs can infer how similar types of toys work, even when they don’t look alike As infants, humans naturally learn new words and their associations—like the fact that forks are related to bowls because both are used to consume food. In a study publishing in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on September 18, a team of animal behavior experts demonstrate that dogs can categorize objects by function, too. In a series of playful interactions with their owners, a group of Gifted Word Learner (GWL) dogs were able to distinguish between toys used for tugging versus fetching, even when the toys in question didn’t share any obvious physical similarities—and then could remember those categorizations for long periods of time, all with no prior training.

18-Sep-2025
With no prior training, #dogs can infer how similar types of toys work, even when they don’t look alike

paper in #CurrentBiology

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1097925

#science #animals #behaviour #ethology

on the origins of alcohol consumption A recent news release about researchers recycling an ancient word, namely scrumping, drew my attention to the issue of apes and other animals seeking out fermenting fruit that likely contain alcohol. Historically, alcohol appreciation in animals has been dismissed as accidental or anecdotal, but recent investigations seem to suggest there are good reasons for animals to seek fermenting fruit, and thus consumption of some amounts of alcohol may be more widespread than previously thought. It turns out in fact that we share our remarkable ability to digest alcohol with the African great apes, so it is older than our species. My feature is out now: **Apes appreciate alcohol** Current Biology Volume 35, Issue 17, 8 September 2025, Pages R819-R821 Restricted access to full text and PDF download (will become open access one year after publication) Magic link for free access (first seven weeks only) See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features. My mastodon posts are also mirrored on Bluesky (starting 22.2.2025), but for this purpose I have to post them again, outside of the thread. (I think threads only transfer if the first post was transferred, so once I start a new thread it should work.) Last year's thread is here . Fruit flies of the Drosophila genus are well adapted to the presence of ethanol in decaying fruit and can even tolerate a limited amount of methanol. (Photo: Martin Cooper/Flickr (CC BY 2.0).)

My latest feature in #CurrentBiology is on the #ecology and #evolution of #alcohol consumtion in #animals. Blog entry contains magic link for free access: proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/09/on-origins-of-al... #science

de-extinction deconstructed I have some sympathy for the idea of repopulating the Arctic tundra with big beasts to restore its natural ecosystem functions, although I'm not sure that elephants dressed up as mammoths are the most cost-efficient way to do this. By contrast, I was quite a bit annoyed by the recent hype over the claimed "de-extinction" of the dire wolf, which won the world's attention simply because there was footage of cute puppies. So I've tried to write up a reasonably balanced account of the recent news from the de-extinction people, and I found that they are doing some collateral good work eg in elephant conservation and in funding genome research, but the bottom line is that I'm not convinced. My feature is out now: **Can extinction be reversed?** Current Biology Volume 35, Issue 16, 18 August 2025, Pages R783-R785 Restricted access to full text and PDF download (will become open access one year after publication) Magic link for free access (first seven weeks only) See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features. My mastodon posts are also mirrored on Bluesky (starting 22.2.2025), but for this purpose I have to post them again, outside of the thread. (I think threads only transfer if the first post was transferred, so once I start a new thread it should work.) Last year's thread is here . The South Island giant moa (Dinornis robustus) is among the species that the company Colossal is planning to recreate. (Photo: York Museums Trust staff/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).)

my latest feature in #CurrentBiology: from #mammoth to #moa the hype and #science around #deExtinction

proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/08/de-extinction-de... #conservation #ecology #extinction #ecosystem #GMorganisms #genome

🔶Visual Omics Series 13🔶 Out Now #CurrentBiology Decipher the unique genomes of morels, truffles, and their toxic kin, styled with Gustav Klimt's artistry. @fmartin54.bsky.social @oistedu.bsky.social @mycocosm.bsky.social 👉 shorturl.at/CSZDP 🧪🧬🖥️ #Genomics #Fungi #DataViz

oceans acidified I've covered ocean acidification many years ago, when it was beginning to emerge as a threat to corals and other calcifying sea organisms, and I've written about the planetary boundary concept (most recently, when chemical pollution was found to have exceeded the boundary). Thus the new research suggesting that ocean adicification is also outside the planetary boundary (as the seventh of the nine parameters in the original planetary boundary paper) presented a good opportunity to visit both issues in one go. My feature is out now: **Oceans acidified beyond boundary** Current Biology Volume 35, Issue 15, 4 August 2025, Pages R739-R741 Restricted access to full text and PDF download (will become open access one year after publication) Magic link for free access (first seven weeks only) See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features. My mastodon posts are also mirrored on Bluesky (starting 22.2.2025), but for this purpose I have to post them again, outside of the thread. (I think threads only transfer if the first post was transferred, so once I start a new thread it should work.) Last year's thread is here . The cover image is not really related to my article, but to me it also symbolises the interaction between the oceans and the atmosphere, because: "Bluebottles or man-o'-war, cnidarians in the genus Physalia, use a gas-filled float and sail to catch the wind and sail the ocean surface." Cover of Current Biology, vol. 35, issue 15, 2025.

this week's feature in #CurrentBiology is about #oceanAcidification - the 7th #planetaryBoundary we've crossed. proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/08/oceans-acidified... #science #environment #ClimateCatastrophe #marineBiology #oceans

Original post on mastodon.social

this week's feature in #CurrentBiology is on #coastalSqueeze - how coastal #ecosystems are squeezed out of existence by #SeaLevelRise and encroaching #infrastructure. Blog entry contains magic link for #FreeAccess proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/07/coastal-squeeze.... #science […]

Experiment with contraction triggered by an optical stimulus of a cell (red) in tissues – results shown with force sensors (top) and then what happens when they are genetically turned off (bottom). The results showed that with force sensors, the surrounding cells contract more strongly than without. Scale bar: 0.001 Millimeter. Image thanks to: P. Richa, M. Häring et al. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.066

Complex organisms come from a single cell that multiplies by dividing. Researchers have discovered that embryonic cells coordinate their behaviour via molecular mechanisms only known previously in hearing processes: www.uni-goettingen.de/en/3240.html...

#CurrentBiology: doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...