Captive male Asian elephants can live together peacefully and with little stress, if introduced slowly and carefully, per Laos case study of 8 unrelated males

The Galapagos and other oceanic islands and Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) may be "critical" refuges for sharks in the Tropical Eastern Pacific, as predatory fish appear depleted in more coastal MPAs through fishing pressure Article URL: https://plos.io/3JOKoiY Article title: Relative abundance and diversity of sharks and predatory fishes across Marine Protected Areas of the Tropical Eastern Pacific Author countries: Ecuador, Colombia, U.S. Funding: We are grateful to the funding provided: To ...

Nature is brimming with colour in almost every season. While the majority of colours are matte, some are shiny. Evolutionary biologist Casper van der Kooi wondered why shiny colours are so rare. He researched how bees perceive glossy colours by using artificial flowers. The experiment showed that shiny objects can be easily seen from afar, but are more difficult to discern up close. ‘It’s a visual trade-off.’ Biologists do not merely admire the colours in nature, they also develop theories to explain them. Most colours, such as the feathers of a great tit, the petals of a daisy, or the skin of a frog, are matte. These colours look the same from every ...

Climate-vulnerable districts of India face significantly higher risks of adverse health outcomes, including 25% higher rates of underweight children, per large scale analysis highlighting the threat of climate change in undermining gains in Sustainable Development Goals Article URL: https://plos.io/3LCFo1n Article title: Health SDGs are at risk from climate change: Evidence from India Author countries: India Funding: This paper was written with support from the Wellcome Trust, UK [226740/Z/22/Z], for a research grant. PD is the principal investigator, WJ the co-principal investigator, while GS, MC and G are research staff on the study team. The authors are ...

A spatial analysis of crime in Chicago suggests that certain environmental and socioeconomic factors, such as building density, are linked with crime rates, but these relationships differ between neighborhoods. The study also reveals discrepancies between media coverage and actual crime patterns, with coverage disproportionately concentrated in certain areas. Yuxuan Cai of the University of Chicago, U.S., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on November 26, 2025. Numerous ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Providing year-round access to RSV immunization would minimize the risk of large seasonal outbreaks across the nation, including in both urban and rural areas. That’s according to a new study, published in Science Advances, which examined differences in viral spread in areas with different population density. The study showed that in urban areas, higher rates of interpersonal contact led to a higher proportion of hospitalizations in infants under age 1 and a more prolonged, lower-intensity RSV outbreak. Rural areas, on the other hand, saw shorter, spikier outbreaks. The ...

Located in the middle of the South Pacific, thousands of miles from the nearest continent, Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is one of the most remote inhabited places on Earth. To visit it and marvel at the quarries where its iconic moai statues were created is a luxury few get to experience – until now. You can now explore Rano Raraku, one of the major quarries on Easter Island, from the comfort of your home. A research team including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York has created the first-ever high-resolution 3D model of the quarry, providing people ...

Researchers at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University, led by Professor Kyu-Jin Cho—Director of the Human-Centered Soft Robotics Research Center and a founding member of the SNU Robotics Institute (SNU RI)—have applied the principle of interlacing to an origami-inspired structure and developed a “Foldable-and-Rollable corruGated Structure (FoRoGated-Structure)” that can be smoothly folded and rolled up for compact storage while maintaining very high strength when deployed. The study ...

Nerve damage is one of the most common and burdensome complications of diabetes. Millions of patients worldwide suffer from pain, numbness, and restricted movement, largely because damaged nerve fibres do not regenerate sufficiently. The reasons for this are unclear. A research team led by Professor Dr Dietmar Fischer, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Cologne’s Faculty of Medicine, and Director of the Center for Pharmacology at University Hospital Cologne, has now identified a central mechanism that explains limited regeneration ...

What if a robot could show us how the brain keeps us balanced? UBC scientists built one – and their discovery could help shape new ways to reduce fall risk for millions of people. A towering ‘body-swap’ robot built by University of British Columbia researchers is giving scientists an unprecedented look at how the brain keeps us standing—a skill we barely notice until affected by age or disease. Their findings, published today in Science Robotics with collaborators at Erasmus Medical Clinic, reveal that to stay balanced, the brain treats delays in sensory feedback almost the same way it handles changes in body mechanics. ...

Puerto Ayora, Galapagos | 26 November, 2025 – One of the most comprehensive surveys to date of shark and other large predator fish in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) ocean finds that  remote Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)—including the Galapagos, Malpelo, Clipperton, and Revillagigedo islands—support some of the largest numbers of sharks reported globally, including the critically endangered scalloped hammerhead, while coastal MPAs are showing signs of severe depletion.  “The oceanic islands of the Eastern Tropical ...