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Tag: Animal

  • Scientists Discover the First Animal Able to Survive without Oxygen

    Scientists Discover the First Animal Able to Survive without Oxygen

    Scientists have discovered the first animal that can survive without oxygen in its surroundings. The finding surprised researchers, revealing that life can adapt to endure conditions once thought impossible, including those found in space.
    Image Credits::Henneguya salminicola foi encontrado dentro dos músculos de salmões  • Natalia Blauth/Unsplash

    Scientists have discovered the first animal that can survive without oxygen in its surroundings. The finding surprised researchers, revealing that life can adapt to endure conditions once thought impossible, including those found in space.

    Henneguya salminicola is a member of the phylum Cnidaria, which also includes jellyfish and sea anemones, and it was discovered within the muscle tissue of salmon in the North Pacific. Over time, it evolved to lose the mitochondrial DNA that normally enables cells to produce energy through respiration.

    Discovery Through Advanced Analysis

    Researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel identified the animal by using fluorescence microscopy and genetic sequencing, which revealed that it lacks mitochondrial DNA.

    This finding changed the scientists’ perspective, demonstrating that anaerobic organisms—once thought impossible according to biology textbooks—can indeed exist.

    In addition, the discovery opens up new lines of inquiry into the potential for life and complex organisms within our Solar System and in other regions of space.

    Although its presence in salmon poses no risk to humans, it can create issues for the fishing industry. As a result, identifying H. salminicola may prompt the introduction of new guidelines for monitoring and regulating fish sales.

    Read the original article on: Cnn Brasil

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  • This Animal can Extend its Life by a Third — and We Might Too

    This Animal can Extend its Life by a Third — and We Might Too

    A well-known wasp species, favored by scientists, has revealed another secret — it can pause its development based on environmental cues, which slows aging in adulthood. This discovery suggests that aging isn't a fixed process and could lead to new directions in aging research and epigenetic treatments.
    Image Credits: New Atlas

    A well-known wasp species, favored by scientists, has revealed another secret — it can pause its development based on environmental cues, which slows aging in adulthood. This discovery suggests that aging isn’t a fixed process and could lead to new directions in aging research and epigenetic treatments.

    In a groundbreaking study, University of Leicester researchers discovered that early-life environmental factors—not just time—can shape an insect’s epigenetic clock. They discovered that the jewel wasp (Nasonia vitripennis) can enter a pause during its larval stage, called diapause. Wasps that took this developmental “time out” aged at a molecular level 29% more slowly and lived significantly longer than those that didn’t.

    Mapping the Wasp’s Epigenetic Clock Through DNA Methylation Analysis

    To gauge how quickly the wasps were aging biologically, the researchers analyzed DNA methylation — chemical tags (methyl groups) that attach to specific DNA sites and change in consistent ways with age. Using whole-genome bisulfite sequencing, they mapped these tags across the entire genome at the single-letter level. From over 700,000 methylated regions (CpG sites), they identified those that changed most with age, eventually narrowing it down to 27 key sites that formed the wasp’s epigenetic clock.

    To test this, the team used an environmental trigger — exposing mother wasps to cold and darkness — which induced diapause in their offspring. This dormant state lasted three months, after which the young resumed development and reached adulthood.

    Something remarkable occurred: the wasps that underwent diapause lived 36% longer — averaging 30 days compared to 22 — and aged about a third more slowly at the molecular level than those that didn’t pause development.

    “It’s as if the wasps who took an early-life break came back with time in reserve,” said senior author Eamonn Mallon, professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Leicester. “It shows that aging isn’t set in stone — environmental factors can shape it even before adulthood.”

    Diapause Alters the Pace of Aging, Slowing the Epigenetic Clock

    Interestingly, the wasps appeared epigenetically older just after diapause (day six), likely due to methylation shifts during reactivation. But by day 30, they were biologically 2.7 days younger than their non-diapause peers — a meaningful delay in aging when translated to human terms.

    An epigenetic clock is like a biological timer that gauges how old your body—or a specific part of it—appears on a molecular level. It does this by tracking changes in DNA methylation. Think of DNA as your body’s blueprint, and methylation as the wear it accumulates over time. Epigenetic clocks monitor these changes to estimate an organism’s biological age, which may differ from its actual chronological age.

    This concept has become a hot topic in gerontology, as scientists explore ways to extend healthy aging.

    Youthful Hibernation Slows Aging in Wasps, Offering Clues for Human Longevity

    In wasps that experienced a kind of youthful hibernation, their biological clocks ticked more slowly throughout life. This offers the first clear evidence that biological aging can be influenced in an invertebrate. Although this type of dormancy isn’t applicable to humans, studying the underlying molecular changes that help preserve wasp DNA may provide valuable insights into the science of aging.

    Interestingly, this wasp species also follows a gruesome reproductive strategy: females paralyze fly pupae by injecting venom, then lay their eggs inside. As the larvae hatch, they feed on the still-living host, carefully avoiding vital organs to keep it alive until they’re ready to emerge.

    Despite their macabre life cycle, these wasps are a promising model for aging research. Unlike many other invertebrates, they have an active DNA methylation system similar to humans. Their short lifespan and this molecular similarity make them ideal for studying the aging process. They’ve also been studied in neurobiology, especially after their brain was mapped in detail in 2019.

    What Wasps Can Teach Us About Slowing Time at the Molecular Level

    “Aging is one of science’s biggest puzzles,” said Mallon. “This study doesn’t just tell us more about wasps—it raises exciting possibilities about future molecular-level strategies to slow aging.”

    This research is the first to demonstrate the lasting impact of a dormant state that some animals can enter. Scientists found that specific biological pathways drive this molecular slowing of aging — including ones linked to insulin and nutrient sensing that also exist in humans. These shared pathways are now a focus of aging research.

    Surprisingly, this tiny parasitic wasp shares more biological similarities with us than one might expect. Its epigenetic clock and the way it ticks are drawing significant attention from scientists.

    “With its genetic toolkit, measurable signs of aging, and a clear connection between development and lifespan, Nasonia vitripennis is emerging as a key model in aging studies,” Mallon said. “In essence, this small wasp might offer major insights into how we could slow the aging process.”

    Read the original article on: New Atlas

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  • The Camera Precisely Captures the Animal Perspective with 99% Accuracy

    The Camera Precisely Captures the Animal Perspective with 99% Accuracy

    It's simple to overlook that the majority of animals perceive the world differently from humans. In reality, due to their ability to see infrared and ultraviolet light, many animals encounter a world that remains entirely hidden from our sight.
    Now you see it: Like most animals, owl vision has evolved for survival and they perceive the world around them very differently to how humans do. Credit: Pixaobay

    It’s simple to overlook that the majority of animals perceive the world differently from humans. In reality, due to their ability to see infrared and ultraviolet light, many animals encounter a world that remains entirely hidden from our sight.

    Presently, researchers have created both hardware and software enabling the recording of footage as though it were captured through the vision of animals like honeybees and birds.

    It presents a captivating and revealing perspective on nature and animal behavior, with researchers from the University of Sussex and the Hanley Color Lab at George Mason University anticipating a broad range of applications. Recognizing its potential, they have released the software as open-source, inviting everyone from nature documentary producers and ecologists to outdoor enthusiasts and bird-watchers to explore the unique visual realities of these animals.

    Unveiling the Dynamic World of Animal Vision

    Senior author Daniel Hanley expressed the team’s enduring fascination with how animals perceive the world. While modern techniques in sensory ecology enable insights into how static scenes might appear to animals, crucial decisions often revolve around dynamic elements, such as detecting food or assessing a potential mate. The introduced hardware and software tools are designed to capture and display animal-perceived colors in motion, benefiting both ecologists and filmmakers.

    The camera system is sensitive to (1) UV and (2) visible light, plus (3) the modular cage, and (4) the enlarging lens within a recessed (see arrow) custom mount. Here, it’s mounted on the commercially available (5) Novoflex BALPRO bellows system Vasas et al/PLOS Biology/(CC0 1.0)

    The composition of our eyes’ photoreceptors, along with biological components like cones and rods, dictates our vision capabilities, including color and depth perception. Some animals, like vampire bats and mosquitoes, can detect infrared (IR) light, while butterflies and certain birds can see ultraviolet (UV) light—both outside the visible spectrum for humans.

    This variance in vision poses challenges for understanding animal behavior and assessing our inadvertent impact on their ability to communicate, find food, shelter, or a mate. Current methods, such as spectrophotometry, have limitations—they are time-consuming, dependent on specific lighting conditions, and unable to capture moving images, hindering our ability to comprehend their perspective fully.

    Capturing the World Through Animal Eyes

    Herein lies the distinction in the researchers’ innovative approach. They have meticulously designed a tool utilizing multispectral photography, capable of capturing light across various wavelengths, including those in the infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) ranges. The camera records videos in four color channels – blue, green, red, and UV – and subsequently processes them to produce footage that simulates the visual experience through the eyes of a specific animal, taking into account our understanding of their eye receptors.

    Video recordings can produce accurate estimates of animal quantum catches specific to their vision spectrum range. In this case, for the honeybee (left) and average ultraviolet-sensitive bird (right)
    Vasas et al/PLOS Biology/(CC0 1.0)

    Separating UV and Visible Light

    The team devised a portable 3D-printed device housing a beam splitter that separates ultraviolet (UV) from visible light, each captured by a dedicated camera. The UV-sensitive camera alone does not record perceptible data, but when combined with the other camera, they jointly capture high-quality video. Algorithms align the footage and present visuals from the perspective of various animals’ sight, demonstrating an average accuracy of 92%, with some tests yielding 99% positive results.

    However, the hardware is designed to be compatible with commercially available cameras, and the researchers have shared the software as open-source, hoping others will adapt it for their specific wildlife filming requirements.

    Despite limitations such as the inability to capture polarized light and a restricted frame rate, making it challenging for fast-moving subjects, the system provides unique insights to enhance our comprehension of animal behavior and guide us in mitigating our impact on the natural world.

    And regarding the footage?

    The team recorded a museum specimen of a Phoebis philea butterfly using avian receptor noise-limited (RNL) false colors. The researchers pointed out: “Another possible application of the system is the rapid digitization of museum specimens. This butterfly exhibits UV coloration through both pigments and structures. Vivid magenta hues emphasize the areas predominantly reflecting UV light, while purple regions reflect similar amounts of UV and long-wavelength light. The specimen is positioned on a stand and rotated slowly, illustrating the dynamic changes in iridescent colors based on the viewing angle.

    How birds see butterflies

    An anti-predator display by a caterpillar as seen in the vision of Apis (bee).

    Spectral Challenges and Aposematic Signals

    The researchers remarked, “Conceal and reveal displays can present challenges for spectroscopy and standard multispectral photography.” They presented a video featuring a black swallowtail Papilio polyxenes caterpillar exhibiting its osmeteria. The video was rendered in honeybee false colors, where UV, blue, and green quantum catches are represented as blue, green, and red, respectively. The human-perceived yellow osmeteria and yellow spots on the caterpillar’s back, both strongly reflecting in the UV, appear magenta in honeybee false colors (as the robust responses on the honeybee’s UV-sensitive and green-sensitive photoreceptors are depicted as blue and red, respectively). Given that many caterpillar predators perceive UV, this coloration may serve as an effective aposematic signal.

    How bees see caterpillars

    Bees engaging in foraging and interactions on flowers as observed in Apis vision. The researchers highlighted, “The camera system has the capability to document naturally occurring behaviors in their authentic settings. This is demonstrated through three brief clips showcasing bees foraging (first and second clips) and engaging in a fight (third clip) in their natural environment. The videos are presented in honeybee false colors, with the honeybee’s UV, blue, and green photoreceptor responses depicted as blue, green, and red, respectively.”

    How bees see flowers – and other bees

    Lastly, an iridescent peacock feather viewed through the eyes of four different animals: its own species (peafowl), humans, honeybees, and dogs.

    Varied Perceptions Across Species

    To conclude, the researchers clarified, “The camera system is capable of measuring angle-dependent structural colors, including iridescence. This is demonstrated in a video featuring a highly iridescent peacock (Pavo cristatus) feather. The colors in this video are represented as (A) peafowl Pavo cristatus false color, where blue, green, and red quantum catches are shown as blue, green, and red, respectively, and UV is superimposed as magenta. While resembling a standard color video in many aspects, the UV-iridescence (highlighted in the video at approximately five seconds) is observable on the blue-green barbs of the ocellus (“eyespot”). Additional UV iridescence is evident along the perimeter of the ocellus, situated between the outer two green stripes. Intriguingly, the peafowl perceives the iridescence more prominently than (B) humans (standard colors), (C) honeybees, or (D) dogs.”

    How different animals see peacock feathers

    Read the original article on: New atlas

    Read more: Scientists Aid in Uncovering the Neural Mechanisms of Vision