Scientists Rediscover Rare Island Fox Not Seen for More Than 20 Years

By Pensoft Publishers, June 22, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-rediscover-rare-island-fox-not-seen-for-more-than-20-years/

Close-up of the Cozumel dwarf fox. Credit: Rafael Chacón

A confirmed sighting of the critically endangered Cozumel dwarf fox has renewed calls for urgent research and conservation to prevent the disappearance of this unique island species.

For more than two decades, the Cozumel dwarf fox existed almost as a biological ghost. Known primarily from ancient subfossil remains and a handful of unconfirmed reports, the tiny island canid had largely vanished from scientific view, leaving researchers uncertain whether it still survived in the wild.

Now, a recently published short communication in Neotropical Biology and Conservation has provided rare evidence that the species persists. Researchers Travis D. Bayer, Maggie A. McGreal, and A. Rafael Chacón D. describe the rescue of an adult male Cozumel dwarf fox after residents reported a disoriented animal near kilometer 29 (18 miles) along Cozumel’s coastal highway on September 14, 2023. Staff from the Fundación de Parques y Museos de Cozumel located the fox and safely captured it.

The fox underwent several days of observation and a complete health evaluation before being released on September 17, 2023. It was returned to the wild in the Laguna Colombia State Reserve, a protected area selected because it provides suitable habitat and is far from major roadway dangers.

The Cozumel dwarf fox (Urocyon sp.) is among the rarest members of the dog family worldwide. This unique population has lived on the Caribbean island of Cozumel for thousands of years, and subfossil evidence suggests it may have been present even before the arrival of the early Maya. Long-term isolation on the island drove rapid evolutionary changes, resulting in a phenomenon known as “insular dwarfism.”

Full-body photograph of adult male Cozumel fox following release in Laguna Colombia State Reserve. The photograph was taken at approximately 0530h on 17 September 2023 following a health assessment and release within the Reserve.

 Credit: Rafael Chacón

Researchers estimate the fox is only 60-80% the size of its mainland relative, the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). Before this recent documentation, the only physical evidence of the animal came from subfossil remains, while the most recent unconfirmed sighting dated back to 2001.

Why the Cozumel Fox Faces Extinction Risk

Although it has inhabited the island for centuries, the Cozumel fox has never been formally described as a distinct taxonomic entity. Scientists consider the population critically endangered because the remaining habitat in southern Cozumel is increasingly threatened by land-use changes, development, invasive species, and natural disasters. As a result, researchers warn that the fox could be nearing extinction.

Travis Bayer of Pathos Wildlife highlighted how easily rare species can disappear without attracting attention. “One of the most important takeaways from this research is that species can quietly disappear without the world even realizing they are gone. We often think extinction is something dramatic and obvious, but in reality, it can happen gradually and silently, especially for rare species living in remote or understudied habitats.”

“The rediscovery of the fox is not a conservation success story yet, but it represents a second chance,” Bayer added.

Conservation Priorities for Saving the Cozumel Fox

The researchers say the newly documented photographic evidence underscores the need for immediate conservation efforts. “The biggest challenge facing the Cozumel fox is that we still know almost nothing about it, including its remaining population size, distribution, or ecology,” noted Bayer. “That uncertainty alone is dangerous, because it makes effective conservation extremely difficult.”

Image of a dwarf gray fox (Urocyon sp.) captured on the island of Cozumel, Mexico. An adult male Cozumel fox (Urocyon sp.) is shown partially concealed behind foliage before capture by the Fundación de Parques y Museos de Cozumel (FPMC) on 14 September 2023. This represents the first photograph ever taken of the species on the island and the first reported sighting since 2001. 

(Photo Credit: Rafael Chacón). Credit: Rafael Chacón

The team outlined several priority actions, including targeted field surveys to estimate the fox’s population size and range, genetic research to better understand its evolutionary history, and measures to protect the remaining suitable habitat while reducing conflicts between people and wildlife.

“Ultimately, we hope this work helps move the Cozumel fox from a little-known, uncertain presence on the island to a better-understood key part of Cozumel’s ecosystems. We also hope it demonstrates that conservation is often most urgent when certainty is lowest and that uncertainty itself can be a call to action,” concluded Bayer.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

The Amazon’s Mysterious “Ghost Dog” Has Been Hiding a Big Secret

By Pensoft Publishers, June 22, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/the-amazons-mysterious-ghost-dog-has-been-hiding-a-big-secret/

Photo of the short-eared dog caught on a camera trap from Bolivia. 

Credit: G. Ayala & M.E Viscarra

Camera traps are revealing that the Amazon’s “ghost dog” is less rare than feared but still depends on protected forests.

For decades, the short-eared dog (Atelocynus microtis) has ranked among the least understood carnivores in Latin America, and perhaps among the least understood canids anywhere. Its secretive behavior, sharp hearing, and powerful sense of smell have helped it avoid people, leaving biologists with only rare direct observations in the wild.

Now, a new study published in the open-access journal Neotropical Biology and Conservation is offering a clearer look at this elusive Amazon predator.
The Power of Remote Sensing

According to the study’s lead author, Robert Wallace, remote sensing changed what scientists could learn about the ghost dog. Researchers began capturing images of the species with camera traps in 2001, and those first photos made it clear that a broader study could reveal something important.

Across nearly 25 years, scientists organized 500 distribution records from Bolivia and carried out 34 intensive camera trap surveys. The surveys covered lowland areas of Bolivia and Peru, with a focus on the Greater Madidi Tambopata and Llanos de Moxos Biocultural Landscapes.

Photo of the short-eared dog caught on a camera trap from Bolivia. 

Credit: G. Ayala & M.E Viscarra



The work produced 594 independent photographic events, creating the largest set of confirmed short-eared dog records anywhere in the species’ known range. The lead author highlighted that this research is a “wonderful example of how conservation technology and remote sensing – in this case, the intensive use of camera traps – can provide substantial data on one of the least known species of the Amazonian rainforests”.

Unveiling the Ghost

So what does the ghost dog actually look like? Camera traps documented a distinctive animal with a dense dark coat that ranges from blackish gray to reddish brown, a large head, very small, rounded ears, short legs, and a long bushy tail. The species also has partially webbed paws, a feature not found in other Amazonian canids.

Its appearance, however, was not the most unexpected result.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyaEP99JkOc

Short-eared dog on a video. 

Credit: Wallace et al., 2026

“The most surprising aspect of the results was that despite being an almost mythical beast, short-eared dogs are much more abundant than we had imagined,” noted the researchers.

The species is still not common, but the camera trap capture rates and an estimated density of 15 individuals per 100 square kilometers suggest it is less rare than scientists once thought. The results indicate that short-eared dogs are more abundant than larger carnivores such as jaguars, though less abundant than medium-sized carnivores such as ocelots. The study also revealed part of their behavioral ecology: they are mainly diurnal, meaning they are most active during daylight hours, with activity peaking between 6:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.

A Forest Specialist in Need of Protection

The data show that ghost dogs are closely tied to intact forests. The short-eared dog is a forest specialist with a strong preference for terra firme, the upland forests found away from rivers. This reliance on dense, specialized habitat helps explain why people so rarely see the species.

Because the animal depends on continuous intact forest, its conservation relies heavily on protected areas that are created and managed effectively. The study found that short-eared dogs were relatively more abundant in national protected areas and in Indigenous territories that overlap with those protected zones than in unprotected areas.

“The most important management strategy is the protection of Amazonian forest canopy for which the creation and effective management of protected areas is the most important element, in combination with the sustainable management of Indigenous territories”, the researchers explained.

The study shows that this elusive canid is quietly persisting in the deep forests of Bolivia and Peru, but its future depends on keeping those forests intact.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Scientists Discover a Spider That Catapults Prey Into Its Web at a Brutal 140 G

23 June 2026, By A. Narendra, The Conversation

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-discover-a-spider-that-catapults-prey-into-its-web-at-a-brutal-140-g

The ballista spider has a new hunting strategy. 

(Narendra et al., Curr. Biol., 2026)

There's more than one way a spider can spin its web.

Some construct large vertical orb webs, while others build horizontal sheet webs or tangled cobwebs that ensnare crawling insects.

There's also more than one way a spider can catch its dinner.

Net-casting spiders throw small silk nets over unsuspecting prey, while slingshot spiders use their conical webs like catapults, launching both themselves and the web toward nearby prey.

In the tropical rainforests of the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, we discovered a spider with a new hunting strategy: a small nocturnal animal of the genus Propostira which we call the ballista spider.

As we describe in a paper published today in Current Biology, it constructs a unique spring-loaded snare triggered only by a single kind of prey: the highly territorial and aggressive green tree ant (Oecophylla smaragdina).

How the ballista spider catches ants

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTbGETmRh9M

During the day, this spider rests within a silken retreat on the underside of leaves.

As the night unfolds, the spider slowly descends on a silk line until it finds a suitable structure on which to lay an anchor point.

Next, it returns to the core web, leaving a "tension line" behind it, and repeats the process with incredible precision to build a fan-shaped web of silk tension lines.

This gradually leads to the formation of a small conical scaffold which the spider then wraps in a thinner kind of silk before retreating to the core web.

The ballista spider patiently constructs its conical snare.

 (Ajay Narendra, Pranav Joshi, Daniele Liprandi, Gregory J Anderson, Jonas Wolff, CC BY)

The thinner silk seems to attract ants and provoke an attack response, possibly by means of pheromones.

After the thinner silk is laid, worker green tree ants appear in moments.

The ants react aggressively, biting the cone.

The bite detaches the cone from the surface, and the ant is pulled up and propelled into the core web in a fraction of a second.

An unsuspecting ant attacks the ballista spider's snare.

 (Ajay Narendra, Pranav Joshi, Daniele Liprandi, Gregory J Anderson, Jonas Wolff, CC BY)



The ant is hauled off at accelerations of up to 1,367 meters per second squared – that's roughly 140 times the acceleration due to gravity, or 15 times the most extreme g-forces experienced by jet pilots.

The spider waits for the ant to be fully entangled in its web.

When it's safe to approach, the spider wraps the ant in silk until it is ready to eat.

The ant is hauled off at accelerations of up to 15 times the most extreme g-forces experienced by jet pilots.

 (Ajay Narendra, Pranav Joshi, Daniele Liprandi, Gregory J Anderson, Jonas Wolff, CC BY)

A superior system

The ballista spider's snare exhibits superior energy performance compared with other silk-based catapult systems.

Gram for gram, the webs store more energy and exert more power than any known biological catapult.

A kilogram of the web would store 78.17 kilojoules of kinetic energy and very briefly exert 11.73 megawatts of power.

The exceptionally high power of the ballista spider's snare has likely evolved to rapidly yank ants away from the vicinity of their nests and trail, where fellow ants might come to their defense.

Extreme specialisation

There are two more unusual things about the ballista spider.

First is its extreme specialization to a single prey species. This suggests the spiders may add specific pheromones to the thin wrapping silk on their snares to attract green tree ants.

Second is that the snare is triggered by the prey itself, rather than the more common situation in which the predator senses the prey and triggers the snare.

The ballista spider demonstrates how extreme prey specialization can drive the evolution of exceptional biomechanical performance.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Human Evolution May Be Undergoing a Major Shift Right in Front of Our Eyes

21 June 2026, By M. Starr

https://www.sciencealert.com/human-evolution-may-be-undergoing-a-major-shift-right-in-front-of-our-eyes

(Volodymyr Yakimchuk/Creatas Video+/Getty Images Plus)

A seismic shift in the selection pressures acting on humans may have brought us to a major turning point in our evolutionary journey.

According to multiple teams of scientists, human culture – technology, medicine, and our remarkable collaborative problem-solving skills – may now be shaping human evolution more than environmental pressures and the limitations of our bodies.

This is because the solutions we invent to make our lives easier, from central heating to contact lenses, can solve biological challenges far faster than evolution can, reducing the pressure for genetic adaptation.

"Human evolution seems to be changing gears," said cultural evolution researcher Tim Waring of the University of Maine, who co-authored a study on the subject published in September 2025.

Evolution – the process by which living organisms gradually change through inherited genetic variation – is usually slow, unfolding over many generations.

It's typically shaped by environmental pressures that select which genes are more likely to get passed down to future generations.

A well-known example in humans involves malaria.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw6jnFqZ-Hk

In tropical regions where malaria is common, sickle cell genes are also more frequent.

That's because people who carry one copy of the sickle cell gene gain protection against malaria, making them more likely to survive and pass the gene to their children.

Throughout known human history, culture has also exerted selection pressures. The ability to digest lactose into adulthood likely arose in early pastoralist cultures.

"When we learn useful skills, institutions, or technologies from each other, we are inheriting adaptive cultural practices," Waring said.

"On reviewing the evidence, we find that culture solves problems much more rapidly than genetic evolution. This suggests our species is in the middle of a great evolutionary transition."

Traditional buffalo herders of South Asia have unusually high lactose tolerance. 

(uniquely india/photosindia/Getty Images Plus)



In the isolated French-Canadian population of Île aux Coudres, the age at which women first have babies has decreased over 140 years – an evolutionary shift reflected at the genetic level.

Humans are still evolving, and environmental pressures still shape much of that evolution.

But Waring and his co-author, evolutionary ecologist Zachary Wood of the University of Maine, have argued that culture has now become the dominant influence on those selection pressures.

"Cultural evolution eats genetic evolution for breakfast," Wood said. "It's not even close."

That doesn't necessarily mean culture is producing new genetic adaptations. In many cases, it simply removes pressures that might once have shortened an individual's lifespan.

In ages past, mothers may have died in childbirth in cases where the baby was too large for the birth canal; now, cesarean sections allow such mothers to survive and perhaps even go on to have additional large babies in future.

There are now cures for diseases such as plague, but the pandemic that ravaged 14th-century Europe has left a mark still discernible in the genomes of survivors' descendants.

Waring and Wood developed a testable theory proposing that because culture evolves far faster than genes, it could be driving a gradual shift in how human traits are shaped. They then developed quantitative ways to measure how quickly this shift might be unfolding.

Their results suggest that this transition may already be underway, and could even be accelerating.

"Ask yourself this: What matters more for your personal life outcomes, the genes you are born with, or the country where you live?" Waring said.

"Today, your wellbeing is determined less and less by your personal biology and more and more by the cultural systems that surround you – your community, your nation, your technologies. And the importance of culture tends to grow over the long term because culture accumulates adaptive solutions more rapidly."

Some researchers argue that this shift could have deeper consequences. If technology continues to shield humans from natural selection, it may also alter how evolution operates over the long term.

According to a paper published in June 2025 by an international team led by microbiologist Arthur Saniotis of Cihan University-Erbil in Iraq, humans have been so successful at reducing external selection pressures that we may have weakened our own evolutionary trajectory.

He and his colleagues suggest that humanity may need various medical and technological enhancements to offset what they call the "deleterious effects to human phenotypes due to relaxed natural selection."

In other words, by using culture and technology to improve our lives, we may have created a feedback loop in which we must continue to use them to survive.

It's a controversial idea, touching on concepts that echo the troubling history of eugenics, and raising difficult questions about how far humans should go in using technology to shape our own biology. However, the solution may not lie in technology at all.

"Cultural organization makes groups more cooperative and effective," Waring explained.

"If cultural inheritance continues to dominate, our fates as individuals, and the future of our species, may increasingly hinge on the strength and adaptability of our societies."

Waring and Wood's paper was published in Bioscience.

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Ancient Ruins Found in Mexico Have 'Never Before Seen' Features

22 June 2026, By AFP

https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-ruins-found-in-mexico-have-never-before-seen-features

An anthropomorphic whistle face handled by archaeologists working at an ancient site in Coatepec, Veracruz, Mexico. 

(Marco Antonio Martinez/AFP)

Mexican archaeologists unearthed ancient ruins with signs of Maya culture as well as "never before seen" characteristics in the eastern state of Veracruz.

President Claudia Sheinbaum called the discovery "very relevant" during her morning press conference on Friday, saying her government would allocate resources for the investigation and restoration of the site.

The site includes a circular stone platform unlike any other unearthed in that part of Mexico.

Researchers also discovered a monolith depicting a figure with potential Maya features, the National Institute of Archaeology and History (INAH) said.

The archaeological site in Coatepec, Veracruz, Mexico.

 (Marco Antonio Martinez/AFP)

"It's a unique, unprecedented finding," said Lino Espinoza Garcia, an archaeologist for the INAH and one of the coordinators for the Campo Viejo site near the town of Coatepec.

Dating back to the Early Classic period between 200 and 600 CE, the pre-Hispanic ruins include a flagstone and limestone platform adorned with almost squared lines or figures, as well as the circular stones.

These attributes have never been recorded in this region of Mexico, the INAH said in a statement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIs84J1LKZ4 (in Spanish)

It's "a very particular structure," said Alberto Vazquez, the other archaeologist responsible for the site.

"We don't have any records so far of a correlation with other (ancient) sites."

The monolith stands 1.88 meters (6.16 feet) high, 1.47 meters (4.82 feet) wide at its broadest point and 68 centimeters (2.23 feet) at the narrowest.

The stone depicts a scene of a symbolic character, according to experts.

"They are two characters who are requesting something, they have a bowl and are receiving something, we think it's a liquid.

"Obviously, in that context, it's a divine liquid, we think it would be water," Espinoza detailed.

The archaeologist believes the image could reflect the era of a great drought in the region, which could explain why two members of the elite, one of them with Maya traits, are depicted receiving the fluid from a divine entity.

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

The Most Powerful Drug of All Isn’t Found in a Pill Bottle

By U. of Witwatersrand, June 21, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/the-most-powerful-drug-of-all-isnt-found-in-a-pill-bottle/

Researchers say movement may be one of the most powerful and underused tools in medicine, with benefits ranging from improved recovery after illness to reduced risks associated with chronic diseases and cancer.

 Credit: Shutterstock

New research highlights the far-reaching health effects of movement, showing that even modest physical activity can influence well-being and disease outcomes.

Exercise is often treated as a lifestyle choice, but growing evidence suggests it may be one of the most powerful forms of medicine available.

Researchers at Wits University have found that movement can help prevent disease, improve recovery, protect mental health, and even influence cancer outcomes. Their work also reveals how quickly the body responds to inactivity, with measurable changes appearing after just a single day of reduced movement.

“Human beings are hardwired for movement,” says Demitri Constantinou, Professor and Specialist Sports and Exercise Physician in the Wits Department of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine. “When we stop moving, our bodies start to deteriorate … and it happens rapidly.”

Constantinou’s team has found that even one day without activity can cause measurable changes in the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems. “On the other hand, physical activity releases signaling molecules that influence cell metabolism, regeneration, and immunity. The effects are profound, and they start with something as simple as standing up.”

Sitting is the new smoking

“Any movement is better than none, so even standing instead of sitting makes a measurable difference to your health,” says Constantinou.

Research in the department looked at movement across a range of adults, including blue-collar workers, office employees, students, and people recovering from illness.

The findings showed that prehabilitation (preparing a patient for surgery by optimizing their physical and mental health beforehand) and exercise-based rehabilitation improved recovery, reduced complications, and raised quality of life. “Exercise before, during, and after illness is one of the most powerful interventions we have, and yet it is under-prescribed,” says Constantinou.

The opposite is also true. A sedentary lifestyle can be deadly.

Standing up for movement

Professor Philippe Gradidge’s research is enough to make a person stand up while reading. He has spent years studying physical activity, obesity, and sedentary behavior, including the effects of standing desks.

Gradidge says movement is not only about extreme sport. It is also about small movements that accumulate across a day, a week, and a lifetime. “In our studies, we have seen that small changes like walking, standing, or light stretching can meaningfully enhance both physical and mental well-being,” he says.

His team has shown that standing desks can improve posture, ease back pain, and sharpen focus among office workers. Structured walking programs have also improved heart health and mood among South African women. “Movement is medicine – and it works even in small doses,” says Gradidge.

He challenges common benchmarks often used by people following programs linked to medical aid behavior change schemes: “You don’t need 10,000 steps to start feeling better. In fact, emerging evidence suggests that as few as 2,000 to 4,000 steps daily can help reduce depressive symptoms.”

Gradidge adds, “In our studies, movement has helped people manage pain, regulate stress, improve health outcomes such as elevated blood pressure, and become more aware of their physical state and movement patterns. It’s not just about performance. Rather, it’s about participating in environments where people can move joyfully and safely, free from barriers.”

Most accessible prescription

Jon Patricios, Professor of Sports Science and Exercise Medicine in the Faculty of Health Sciences, believes that although small increases in movement matter, people should still aim to meet the World Health Organization’s guideline of 300 minutes per week of moderate intensity exercise because of its many well-described benefits.

Patricios has done extensive work in this area, including with companies seeking to strengthen the role of exercise as medicine. In partnership with Discovery Vitality, Patricios recently served as lead author of a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that examined the effect of regular exercise on cancer.

“Knowing that as little as 60 minutes of regular weekly exercise may reduce the likelihood of cancer progression by 27% and death by 47% should encourage all doctors to use exercise as medicine,” says Patricios. “Regular physical activity is the most powerful and accessible prescription that we can give our patients.”

New sports complex

Wits University will launch the Wits Brian and Dorothy Zylstra Sports Complex in 2026, an advanced integrated facility for training, research, and clinical practice. The Complex is expected to offer world-class research and therapeutic facilities, including an aquatics center and a residence for elite athletes. It will bring together a network of health care professionals and scientists, including researchers, biokineticists, physiotherapists, and other medical experts, under one roof, with access for students and members of the public.

Dr Georgia Torres, a researcher in exercise and mental well-being who serves as the Chief Operations Officer of the Complex, says movement should be part of everyday life, including in low-resource settings where formal exercise is often difficult to access. “Movement gives people agency,” she says.

Designing a society that promotes movement

The challenge is to create communities that make movement easier.

“Our built environment isn’t designed for active living,” says Gradidge. “Pavements, parks, public transport – they should all invite movement, not restrict it.”

Parkruns that are free to access, for example, can make active living easier and more convenient in a country where exercise levels are declining.

Torres says the Zylstra Complex, together with Wits’ commitment to the Global Alliance for the Promotion of Physical Activity, which brings together researchers, policy leaders, and communities to embed movement into daily life, reflects meaningful progress.

“Movement is prevention, connection, and empowerment,” says Torres. “It’s the simplest science of all but the hardest habit to build.”

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Chuck's picture corner the last week of spring 2026 🙋🎇🎊⚽⛈

The last week of spring has been cooler than average, with lots of rain. It's shrub pruning time as many plants have finished flowering. For Rachelle and I summer is socializing time, our calendar is full of visits here and there. We will be seeing folks we haven't socialized with for years, we look forward greatly for this.

stinging nettle, good for our herbal medicine, not so good for bare hands, lol

sedum covers the old front paved sidewalk

I should check to see if these guys are edible, there seems to be quite a few around this stump up to a meter plus away.

around a cut down silver maple

viburnum one of several types in the yard

mock orange opened up this week

mock orange.

Russian sage (blue) 

Potentilla

Salvia perennial, Victoria blue

blooms all summer, stays the same size, dry soil, perfect for this location.

old front walk

the rain this week has this last blooming peony now lying down.

Wow the light in this cloud was strong, the pic doesn't do it justice.

gardening helpers

Enjoy your day

The First of Summer 26

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Scientists Just Found Something Weird Inside Moss

By SciTechDaily, June 20, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-just-found-something-weird-inside-moss/

Mosses are famous for surviving conditions that would kill most plants, but new research suggests they may not be doing it alone. 

Credit: Shutterstock

A surprising discovery inside desert mosses could reshape scientists’ understanding of plant evolution.

In some of the driest places on Earth, the ground itself can be alive. What looks like a thin, dark crust on desert soil may actually be a miniature ecosystem, packed with mosses, fungi, bacteria, algae, and tiny animals. These biological soil crusts help hold fragile landscapes together, trapping dust, storing nutrients, and protecting the ground from erosion.

Mosses are among the toughest members of these communities. They can dry out until they appear nearly dead, then revive after a brief rain. Some species survive on bare rock, endure intense heat, and tolerate long stretches without water. Their durability has even led scientists to explore whether mosses could someday help support life in extreme environments beyond Earth.

Now, researchers at UC Riverside say desert mosses may have another survival tool: fungi living inside their tissues. The evidence, published in New Phytologist, points to a relationship that has not previously been documented in mosses.

If confirmed, the finding could reshape a basic assumption about moss biology. It may also offer a new window into one of the biggest turning points in Earth’s history, when plants first began spreading across land roughly 470 million years ago.

​Moss collected at the Anza-Borrego Research Station. Tiny features help researchers identify the species. 

Credit: Kian Kelly/UCR



Why Mosses Were Thought To Be Different

Most land plants do not face the world alone. More than 85% form relationships with fungi that help them obtain nutrients from soil. In return, the fungi receive sugars that plants make through photosynthesis.

One of the most important groups in these partnerships is arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, or AMF. These fungi are found with about three-quarters of plant species and are known for forming tiny branching structures inside plant roots, where nutrients can be exchanged.

Mosses have long been treated as an exception. Unlike flowering plants, trees, and many crops, mosses lack true roots. For decades, scientists generally believed that all 10,000 known moss species lived without this kind of fungal partnership.

“That’s been the model,” said Jason Stajich, a UCR professor of microbiology and plant pathology and co-author of the study. Mosses, he explained, simply didn’t need fungi.

Searching the Desert for Clues

To examine that assumption, UCR doctoral researcher Kian Kelly collected mosses from the Mojave and Sonoran deserts, where daytime temperatures can rise above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). These deserts are harsh field sites, but they are also ideal places to study survival strategies because water is scarce, heat is intense, and life is under constant pressure.

Kelly focused on mosses growing in biological soil crusts. These crusts are sometimes described as the living skin of deserts because they help stabilize loose soil and support dryland ecosystems. They are also extremely fragile. A single footprint, tire track, or other disturbance can damage them for decades.

Photos show moss’s ability to spring back to life with exposure to moisture. Same species on both sides. 

Credit: Kian Kelly/UCR

“Sometimes I couldn’t find the same species of moss,” Kelly explained, describing long searches in extreme heat to collect comparable moss species from both desert and less arid environments.

The researchers wanted to know whether mosses from different climates contained different fungal communities. That question matters because drylands are expanding in many parts of the world. If certain fungi help mosses tolerate hot, dry conditions, they could influence how desert ecosystems respond to climate change.

Fungal DNA Reveals a Surprise

In the lab, the team ground up moss samples and searched for fungal DNA. The results showed that fungi were present inside the mosses.

The most unexpected finding was the presence of mycorrhizal fungi, which are known to depend on plant partners. These fungi were not simply the same organisms found in the nearby soil. The fungal communities inside desert mosses also differed from those in mosses collected from less severe environments.

“We suspect that certain fungi are more helpful for surviving hotter, drier climates,” Kelly said.

That pattern made contamination less likely. If the fungi had merely come from dirt stuck to the mosses, the researchers would have expected the DNA inside the plants to look more like the DNA in surrounding soil. Instead, the results suggested a more selective relationship.

Microscopy Strengthens the Case

DNA alone cannot prove that fungi are actively living within plant tissues. To look for physical evidence, Kelly stained moss tissue with a blue dye that binds to fungi, then examined the samples under a microscope.

Inside moss cells, he saw branching fungal structures.

“As soon as I saw that, I knew we had something really interesting,” Kelly said.

The structures resembled arbuscules, the tree-like formations that mycorrhizal fungi typically build inside plant roots. But mosses do not have true roots, and these structures appeared in leaves instead.

For that reason, the researchers call them “arbuscule-like.” The structures look similar to known nutrient exchange sites in other plants, but scientists still need to show whether mosses and fungi are actually trading resources. Until that happens, the relationship cannot be formally described as a true symbiosis.

A Possible Link to the First Land Plants

The discovery could have implications far beyond desert ecology. Mosses belong to an ancient lineage of plants and are close relatives of some of the earliest plants that lived on land.

When plants first moved out of water, they faced major challenges. They needed ways to obtain nutrients, avoid drying out, and survive without the support of an aquatic environment. Fungal partners may have helped early plants overcome some of those barriers. Evidence of plant and fungal associations appears deep in the fossil record, and many scientists consider these partnerships central to the greening of Earth’s continents.

If mosses can host mycorrhizal fungi in a way that scientists previously missed, it could change how researchers think about the early evolution of plant-fungal relationships.

Why It Matters for Desert Recovery

The findings may also point toward new restoration strategies for damaged drylands. Biological soil crusts are increasingly threatened by warming temperatures, drought, grazing, off-road vehicles, and foot traffic. Because these communities grow slowly, recovery can take years or even decades.

For now, the study does not prove that fungi are helping mosses survive. It does, however, reveal a hidden association that scientists did not expect to find.

“The desert,” Kelly said, “is full of things people overlook. Sometimes, the biggest surprises are the ones growing quietly beneath our feet.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Why You Flinch When Someone Else Gets Hurt

By Netherlands Inst. for Neuroscience - KNAW, June 20, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/why-you-flinch-when-someone-else-gets-hurt/

The brain doesn’t simply watch other people. It appears to translate what we see into touch-like experiences using a network of hidden body maps in the visual cortex. That process may help explain empathy and why another person’s pain can feel surprisingly real. 

Credit: Shutterstock

Scientists discovered that the visual brain may secretly “feel” what it sees, turning sight into physical experience and helping make empathy possible.

Working with researchers from institutions around the world, Nicholas Hedger (University of Reading) and Tomas Knapen (Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience & Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) investigated one of neuroscience’s biggest questions: how humans experience the world around them.

Their research uncovered a remarkable process in which the brain converts visual information into touch-related representations, helping create the rich, physical reality we experience every day. According to Knapen, “This aspect of human experience is a fantastic area for AI development.”

Why Seeing Someone Get Hurt Makes You Flinch

Imagine preparing dinner with a friend when they accidentally cut themselves. Almost instantly, you may grimace, wince, or even jerk your own hand away.

Those reactions happen because the brain’s touch-processing region, known as the somatosensory cortex, becomes active even though nothing physically happened to you.

But how can simply watching another person trigger the brain’s sense of touch?

To investigate, researchers from the UK, USA, and VU, NIN (KNAW) in Amsterdam turned to an unexpected source of data: Hollywood movies.

Somatosensory cortex activity in the human brain.

 Credit: Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience



Using Hollywood Films to Study Human Experience

Tomas Knapen (last author) and Nicholas Hedger (first author) examined a dataset collected from volunteers who watched clips from movies such as The Social Network and Inception while undergoing brain scans.

Their goal was to identify the neural systems that transform visual information into meaningful experiences, allowing people to do more than simply see the world around them.

Hidden Body Maps in the Visual Brain

When neuroscientists refer to “maps” in the brain, they are describing organized patterns that represent information about the body and environment.

One well-known example is found in the somatosensory cortex, where different areas correspond to different body parts. One end of the map processes sensations from the feet, while the opposite end processes sensations from the head. These organized layouts help the brain determine where a sensation originates.

The researchers were surprised to find similar maps within the visual cortex. This suggests that the brain may organize what we see in ways that closely resemble how it processes physical touch.

“We found not one, or two, but eight remarkably similar maps in the visual cortex!” Knapen explains. “Finding so many shows how strongly the visual brain speaks the language of touch.”

These visual maps mirror the body’s arrangement within the somatosensory cortex from head to toe — suggesting that when we observe another person, the brain organizes that visual information using patterns similar to those involved in physical sensation.

Bodily maps discovered in the visual cortex. 

Credit: Netherlands Institute for
Neuroscience

Why the Brain Uses Multiple Body Maps

The discovery of eight separate maps raises an obvious question: Why does the brain need so many?

The researchers believe different maps serve different functions. Some appear to specialize in identifying body parts, while others focus more on where those body parts are located in space.

“I think that there are many more purposes, but we just haven’t been able to test them yet,” Knapen adds.

These maps may help people extract different types of information depending on what matters most in a given moment.

“Say you stand up and grab a cup of coffee. If I’m interested in what you’re doing, I will probably focus on your hand grabbing the cup. Now imagine that I’m more interested in your emotional state. In that case, I might focus more on your overall posture or your facial expressions. Every time you look at a person, there are many different bodily translations that need to be conducted visually. We think that these maps are a fundamental ingredient in that exact process.”

Although maintaining several overlapping maps might seem inefficient, Knapen argues that it actually makes the brain more flexible.

“This allows the brain to have many types of information in a single space, and make a translation in any way that is relevant in that moment,” he explains.

Implications for Autism Research and Neurotechnology

The findings open the door to a wide range of future studies.

Because these body maps appear to be involved in emotional processing, they could provide new insights into social psychology and eventually contribute to clinical applications.

“People with autism can struggle with this sort of processing. Having this information could help us better identify effective treatments,” Knapen explains.

The research could also have implications for brain-computer interfaces and other forms of neurotechnology.

“Training sets for brain implants often start off with instructions like ‘try to think of a movement’. If these bodily processes can be activated in much broader ways, then there might be much broader possibilities to train and develop those brain-computer interfaces.”

What This Discovery Could Mean for AI

Knapen believes the work may also help guide future advances in artificial intelligence.

“Our bodies are deeply intertwined with our experiences and understanding of the world. Current AI primarily relies on text and video, lacking this bodily dimension. This aspect of human experience is a fantastic area for AI development. Our work shows the potential for very large, precision brain imaging datasets to fuel this development: a beautiful synergy between neuroscience and AI.”

For Knapen, however, the biggest takeaway is not technological.

“I just want to understand the depths of the human experience, and it really feels like we just found this central ingredient for it.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Beyond DNA: Scientists Discover Inheritance That Breaks the Rules of Genetics

By Johns Hopkins Medicine, June 19, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/beyond-dna-scientists-discover-inheritance-that-breaks-the-rules-of-genetics/

Genetic information in the DNA and modifications, such as DNA methylation, define the epigenetic landscape and phenotype and show both Mendelian and non-Mendelian heredity. 

Credit: Art design by Michael Koldobskiy and Andrew Feinberg, illustration by Kate Zvorykina

Scientists found that some inherited traits can bypass the traditional rules of genetics, revealing a surprising new layer of inheritance beyond DNA.

For more than a century, Gregor Mendel’s laws of inheritance have served as the foundation of genetics. But new research suggests that inheritance can be more complicated than the DNA sequences passed from parents to their children.

In a federally funded study involving mice, scientists found that certain inherited epigenetic marks, which are chemical modifications that influence gene activity without altering the underlying DNA code, can be transmitted across generations in ways that do not follow Mendel’s classic rules. The researchers estimate that about 7% of the epigenetic inheritance patterns they examined fell outside traditional Mendelian expectations.

The findings also revealed rare forms of inheritance that had not previously been documented in mammals, including a naturally occurring example of paramutation, a phenomenon previously observed in plants and fruit flies.

“Non-Mendelian patterns of inheriting epigenetics could be a faster way to acquire diverse or new traits than alterations in the genomic sequence itself, especially in response to environmental pressures,” says Andrew Feinberg, M.D., Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Whiting School of Engineering and Bloomberg School of Public Health, and co-leader of the research with colleagues at Texas A&M University.

The study was published in Nature Genetics and was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

Looking Beyond Mendel’s Laws

Mendel’s laws describe how different versions of genes, known as alleles, are inherited. These principles explain how dominant and recessive traits are passed from one generation to the next. In mammals, offspring inherit one allele from each parent, and dominant alleles generally determine which traits are expressed.

Scientists have long known that some inherited effects fall outside those rules. One example is genomic imprinting, in which chemical tags can silence a gene depending on whether it came from the mother or father. In these cases, gene activity is controlled by the parent of origin rather than by whether the allele is dominant or recessive.

The new study identified imprinting in five additional genes. More importantly, it suggested that non-Mendelian epigenetic inheritance may occur more often than previously recognized.

Researchers also observed inherited epigenetic patterns in offspring that were not detected in either parent, an unexpected result that challenges conventional assumptions about inheritance.

Tracking Epigenetic Changes Across Generations

The team focused on DNA methylation, a common epigenetic modification in which chemical groups containing carbon and hydrogen atoms attach to promoter regions of genes. These promoter regions help control whether a gene is switched on or off.

To investigate how methylation is inherited, scientists analyzed tissue samples from three generations of mice between 4 and 6 months of age. The study included 26 mice in the first generation, 34 offspring in the second generation, and 19 mice in the third generation.

Researchers examined large portions of the mouse genome and tracked both genetic variation and 12 known inheritance patterns involving DNA methylation.

Feinberg collaborated with co-corresponding authors David Threadgill, Ph.D., Regents professor at Texas A&M University, and Kasper Hansen, Ph.D., professor of biostatistics at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Together with Johns Hopkins graduate student Adam Davidovich, the team developed new laboratory and computational methods that allowed them to analyze genomic and methylation data simultaneously.
Surprising Cases of Inheritance

Across the study, the researchers identified 522 cases, representing approximately 7% of epigenetic inheritance patterns, in which methylation on non-sex chromosomes was inherited in ways that did not conform to Mendel’s laws.

Among those were 54 rare or “emergent” inheritance events that appeared in offspring even though neither parent showed the same methylation pattern.

For example, when two mice lacking methylation on a specific allele were bred, researchers sometimes observed offspring with methylation on both copies of that allele.

“The methylation seemingly appeared out of nowhere,” says Feinberg.

The team also identified a naturally occurring example of paramutation in a mammalian gene called Capn11, which plays a role in normal sperm development through calcium-dependent regulation. Mutations affecting the human version of the gene are linked to infertility and sperm abnormalities.

Paramutation occurs when methylation associated with one allele triggers methylation in another allele. The researchers found this effect in a region containing a repetitive genetic element known to be sensitive to environmental influences.

“It’s almost like the methylation is transferred to another allele,” says Feinberg.

Previous studies have linked epigenetic changes to environmental factors including stress, trauma, and diet.

Implications for Human Health and Disease

The findings suggest that scientists may need to consider both genetic and epigenetic information to fully understand how traits, diseases, and health outcomes are inherited.

“This work may convince scientists to integrate both genomics and epigenomics more often for a complete understanding of how traits that produce disease and healthy states are inherited,” says Hansen.

To carry out the study, researchers relied on long-read DNA sequencing technology, which can analyze DNA fragments ranging from about 10,000 base pairs to more than one million base pairs in length. Although more labor-intensive than short-read sequencing, the technique is better suited for identifying differences between alleles and detecting methylation sites located far from the main body of a gene.

The researchers plan to extend their work to human genomic data. Future studies could help scientists better understand unusual inheritance patterns in families affected by disease and provide new insight into how environmental factors such as diet may influence inheritance across generations.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/