Scientists Found 5.5 Million Bees Living Beneath a New York Cemetery

18 April 2026, By J. Cockerill

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-found-5-5-million-bees-living-beneath-a-new-york-cemetery

Millions of ground-nesting solitary bees of the Andrena regularis species call an Ithaca cemetery home. 

(Adapted from Hoge et al., Apidologie, 2026)

Millions of buried creatures burst forth each spring from beneath the soil of a cemetery in Ithaca, New York.

It's not the return of the living dead; it's one of the world's largest aggregations of ground-nesting bees, ravenous for pollen.

Entomologists at Cornell University estimate that East Lawn Cemetery is home to around 5.5 million individual regular miner bees (Andrena regularis), a species that does not live in a colonial hive, as honeybees do, but instead spends most of its life in solitude in underground burrows.

And though A. regularis was already a known inhabitant of the cemetery, with records of the species' presence dating back to 1935, it wasn't until 2021 that the full scale of this nearby bee aggregation became apparent.

Rachel Fordyce, a technician at a Cornell entomology lab, discovered the massive nesting aggregation after finding a sneaky free parking spot a few blocks from campus.

While crossing the cemetery grounds on her way to work one spring day, she was able to capture a jarful of bees to show her colleagues that this site might be worth checking out.

a) An area of high nest density at East Lawn Cemetery, b) female A. regularis in flight, c) male A. regularis emerging from nest for the first time, d) female A. regularis at nest entrance, e) female A. regularis on apple flower at Cornell Orchards, and f) female Nomada imbricata inspecting nest entrance of A. regularis. 

(Hoge et al., Apidologie, 2026)

In New York, A. regularis emerges from the ground around April each year to eat pollen, mate, and, for females, to dig brood burrows in which their larvae, well-stocked with pollen and nectar, can spend the winter growing in preparation for next spring's flight.

"This species overwinters as adults, which is relatively rare, and that's part of the reason why they come up out of the ground so early in the spring, timed to the apple bloom," says biologist and the paper's first author Steve Hoge, a Cornell undergraduate student at the time of the research.

The research team began fieldwork in the spring of 2023, setting up 10 emergence traps: tents measuring 36 square centimeters (5.6 square inches), open at the bottom, placed over the bees' nests, which funnel insects into a plastic collection jar, trapping them in 70 percent ethanol.

Each collection jar provided a small snapshot of the ecosystem, from which the entomologists could extrapolate. They collected these emergence samples over 48 days, yielding a total of 3,251 insects from 16 species.

Bee density varied widely between traps, and extrapolations from small datasets are always an imperfect way of gauging population size.

Nonetheless, this field survey suggests the East Lawn Cemetery has an average of 853 A. regularis bees nesting in every square meter (10.8 square feet) of its sandy loam soil.

Which means that as many as 5.56 million bees could have emerged from the site in the spring of 2023.

"I'm sure there are other large bee aggregations that exist around the world that we just haven't identified, but in terms of what is in the literature, this is one of the largest," says Hoge.

A. regularis was, by far, the most abundant species at the site, but these bees don't have full run of the plot; they have plenty of neighbors. One of them is the 'cuckoo' bee Nomada imbricata, a species that happens to be A. regularis's most common brood parasite.

"The research elevates the value of solitary ground-nesting bees and shows just how abundant these bees are, how important they are as crop pollinators, and that we need to be aware of these nest sites and preserve them," says Cornell entomologist Bryan Danforth.

These bees' contribution to the local economy is nothing to scoff at. A. regularis is a known pollinator of apples and blueberries. Previous research has shown these bees contribute greatly to the pollination of New York's iconic apples.

A cemetery may seem a grim place for these harbingers of springtime, but it's actually a pretty ideal location for ground-nesting species like A. regularis.

"The peacefulness, the lack of pesticides, and the fact that, overall, the ground is rarely disturbed, all make cemeteries good habitat for bees," Danforth says.

The majority of bee species are ground-nesting – 75 percent – but relatively little is known about them, no doubt in part due to their reclusive lifestyles.

Danforth and the team are concerned that many more aggregations of bees, like the East Lawn Cemetery population, could be overlooked and at risk.

"These populations are huge, and they need protection," Danforth says. "If we don't preserve nest sites, and someone paves over them, we could lose in an instant 5.5 million bees that are important pollinators."

Out of this research, Danforth and team have established a global community science project to encourage people around the world to take notice of, and record, their local ground-dwelling bees.

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It's Official: Antarctica's Iconic Emperor Penguins Are Endangered

18 April 2026, By M-A. Lea et al., The Conversation

https://www.sciencealert.com/its-official-antarcticas-iconic-emperor-penguins-are-endangered

(David Merron Photography/Moment/Getty Images)

In 1902, British explorer Robert Falcon Scott spotted a large group of large black and white birds at Ross Island, Antarctica. This was among the many milestones of Scott's famous Discovery expedition: the first breeding colony of emperor penguins.

Now, only 124 years since this penguin colony was discovered, emperor penguins have officially been listed as endangered, along with the Antarctic fur seal.

As the world warms, Antarctic krill are shifting southwards and sea ice is shrinking at record levels. And these unprecedented changes are having a domino effect on these species.

These are the first penguin and pinniped – marine mammals that have front and rear flippers – to be given this conservation status in the Southern Ocean. Their perilous situation is a critical turning point, and shows how rapidly the Antarctic environment is changing.

At the same time, the spread of highly contagious avian influenza, or bird flu, adds a new and immediate threat to Southern Ocean wildlife, compounding the pressures of climate change on stressed species.

An Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) with its pup. The number of fur seals has dropped by over 50% since 1999. 

(Johnny Johnson/The Image Bank/Getty Images)

Dramatic declines linked to climate change

The first emperor penguin breeding colony was discovered at Cape Crozier, on Ross Island, during Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery expedition in 1902.

A decade later, Scott's Terra Nova expedition returned, in part to collect emperor penguin eggs. It was an ill-fated expedition, immortalised in Apsley Cherry-Garrard's famous book, The Worst Journey in the World.

In the 1960s, Scott's son, Sir Peter Scott, one of the founders of modern conservation, helped establish the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List.

Just 124 years after those early discoveries at Cape Crozier, that same framework has now been used to classify emperor penguins as endangered.

The swift arc from discovery to extinction risk is a striking reminder of how quickly the species' fortunes have changed.

Over nine years, between 2009 and 2018, emperor penguin numbers fell by 10%. Their numbers are expected to halve by 2073.

A Southern elephant seal pup. The species (Mirounga leonina) is now officially listed as vulnerable. 

(elnavegante/Getty Images)



The decline is more pronounced for Antarctic fur seals. Hunted to the brink of extinction in the early 1880s, by 1999 their numbers had rebounded to an estimated 2.1 million mature seals. But since then, the global population has decreased by more than 50%, to about 944,000 mature individuals.

In just a decade, they have been reclassified on the IUCN's Red List, going from of "least concern" – those species that are widespread and at low risk of extinction – to "endangered".

The IUCN's red list is the comprehensive information source on the extinction risk status of species. This shows the remarkable speed at which these seals are declining.

Climate change and bird flu

Both of these dramatic declines are linked to climate change. Warming ocean temperatures and a reduction in sea ice affect the availability of the Antarctic fur seal's key prey, Antarctic krill.

Krill are shifting southwards and moving deeper, potentially making them less accessible to some predators. Competition with a growing population of whales has also increased.

Emperor penguins, by contrast, are completely dependent on sea ice. They use it as a stable platform for courtship, incubating their eggs and rearing chicks.

But as sea ice declines and becomes less reliable, their breeding success is increasingly threatened. If the ice breaks up before chicks are fully developed, many are unable to survive.

At the same time, the spread of highly contagious bird flu adds a new and immediate threat to Southern Ocean wildlife. High mortality associated with avian influenza has also caused the uplisting of the southern elephant seal to "vulnerable" this week.

Some elephant seal populations have experienced more than 90% of pups dying, alongside sharp declines in breeding adults. These represent tens of thousands of animals lost, with many Antarctic fur seals also dying as a result of bird flu outbreaks.

We need to know more

Emperor penguins, Antarctic fur seals and southern elephant seals are three of the more widely researched Southern Ocean predators.

But there is still a lot we don't know, because of the remote location and the difficulty of sustaining research over time. And there are many species we know far less about.

Antarctic ice seals, including Weddell seals, crabeater seals, leopard seals, and Ross seals, have "unknown" population trends on the IUCN red list, meaning there is not enough data to know if numbers are declining.

These recent listings make clear the urgent and ongoing need for improved, real-time monitoring. We need to know much more about wildlife health and population trends, the Antarctic environment and sea ice quality.

Human-driven threats facing Antarctic wildlife are many, and cumulative. To respond, we need to better protect Antarctic habitat and the species that live there.

We need to reduce the interaction of marine species with industrial fishing. And we must improve how we assess current and suspected threats in Antarctica, when there is growing evidence of impacts.

Defining these animals as endangered is a stark reminder of how quickly Antarctica is changing before our eyes.

Without a rapid reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and sustained conservation action, these species may be lost forever.

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Nature Might Pulse to a Universal Rhythm – 2 Beats Per Second

18 April 2026, By M. STARR

https://www.sciencealert.com/nature-might-pulse-to-a-universal-rhythm-2-beats-per-second

(Photography by Jessie Reeder/Moment/Getty Images)

A surprising number of creatures across a wide swath of sizes, species, and communication methods all seem to time their signals to the same basic beat.

According to an analysis of communication signals across the animal kingdom, from bird mating dances to frog songs to human music to firefly flashes, the tempo of these signals clusters around 2 beats per second.

Given how long all these species have been evolving independently of one another, this common signature could tell us something about the origins of communication.

"There seems to be an abundance of organisms signaling or communicating at a relatively narrow band of tempos. They all seem to stay around 2 or maybe 3 hertz. In principle, they could communicate at other rhythms," says mathematician Guy Amichay of Northwestern University in the US.

"Physically, there is nothing preventing them from communicating at, say, 10 hertz, yet they do not. To explain this phenomenon, we propose that this tempo of 2 hertz might be easier to understand because it resonates with your brain. It resonates with the human brain, firefly brain, sea lion brain, frog brain, and so on."

The work started in Thailand. Amichay has been studying how animals use synchrony in communication, and one animal known for its breathtaking, synchronized mating displays is the firefly. While in the field, he and his colleagues noticed that the chirping of crickets seemed to sync up with the fireflies' pulsing light.

"At some point, I thought that the flashing of the fireflies and the chirping of the nearby crickets were in sync with each other," Amichay says.

It wasn't until they were reanalyzing the recordings that the researchers realized that the animals weren't synchronizing with each other at all. Each species was blithely engaged in its own mating ritual. It just so happened that they had similar tempos.

That seemed like a wacky coincidence, so the scientists did what scientists do: They got busy investigating. They turned to published studies on faunal communication, sampling two dozen species across six groups – insects, amphibians, birds, fish, crustaceans, and mammals.

They also randomly selected 50 signals from the xeno-canto database, 10 from each of the five animal groups into which the database is divided – birds, bats, frogs, grasshoppers, and land mammals.

The range of the signal types included firefly flashes, cricket chirps, frog calls, birds' mating displays, sound and light pulses from fish, and vocals and gestures from mammals.

From there, it was a matter of determining the tempo of each communication signal, then plotting them all into a graph. And this is where the research transitioned from "Huh, that's interesting" to "This is really something".

Across eight orders of magnitude in body weight, and across land, air, and sea, most species tend to communicate at a basic "carrier frequency" of 0.5 to 4 hertz – 0.5 to 4 beats a second. And yes, that includes humans; as the researchers note, a great many rock and pop songs are written at 120 beats per minute – which is two beats per second.

"That rhythm fits our body; it fits our limbs," Amichay explains.

"We walk roughly at 2 hertz, so it's easy for us to dance to music that's 2 hertz. Of course, more experimental music can have drastically different beats. But if you turn on the radio and hear Taylor Swift – that's often 2 hertz."

We know that humans and other animals are capable of signaling outside that range. Biophysicist Vijay Balasubramanian of the University of Pennsylvania supplied the clue. Neurons need time to process information before firing again – and the optimal timing for that seems to be about, you guessed it, half a second.

So the team conducted an exploratory experiment to determine if this could be the reason for the clustering. They built a computer model of a neural circuit and observed how it responded to pulsed signals with different periods.

The circuit had the strongest response to the 2-hertz signal.

"We suspect that getting the 'carrier' signal in the right tempo range is key to communicating efficiently," says engineer Daniel Abrams of Northwestern University.

"It might not be that the tempo itself conveys any information, but it just serves as a baseline for getting attention, with actual content sent on top of it like musical notes following along with the beat in a song."

There are some limitations to the study. Our planet contains millions of animal species; 74 communication types constitute just a drop in the ocean, and there may be a selection bias at play due to our tendency to pay more attention to signals at that frequency.

Nevertheless, the discovery is a surprising one that warrants further study.

"It's tempting to think there's a deeper connection here – that maybe we're all on the same shared wavelength," Amichay says.

"But we're still exploring what this might mean."\

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Humans Returned to Britain 500 Years Earlier Than Scientists Thought

By A. Palmer, U. of London, April 17, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/humans-returned-to-britain-500-years-earlier-than-scientists-thought/

New research suggests humans returned to the British Isles earlier than once believed, arriving during a subtle but crucial shift in summer temperatures. 

Credit: Shutterstock

A modest rise in summer temperatures may have been enough to bring humans back to post-ice-age Britain centuries earlier than expected.

The return of humans to the British Isles following the retreat of the last ice sheet, which once covered much of the northern hemisphere, occurred around 15,200 years ago, roughly 500 years earlier than earlier estimates suggested.

This migration took place alongside a rapid increase in summer temperatures in southern Britain, according to our research.

These shifting environmental conditions made it possible for people to move north into Britain, which at the time remained connected to the European mainland. They followed migrating herds of reindeer and horses that were moving into newly suitable grazing landscapes.

After the last ice age, north-west Europe experienced at least two major transitions from colder to warmer climates, with these temperature changes likely unfolding over relatively short timescales measured in decades.

Our latest research addresses the first of these transitions in the Late Upper Paleolithic period (14,000 to 11,000 years ago). In areas such as north-west Europe, including where the British Isles are today, humans successively abandoned and then returned to areas at the abrupt transitions between cold and warm periods.

Broadly, evidence of humans from fossil records showed them migrating to where the environmental conditions supported their survival.

Old timelines left a mismatch

The repopulation of the British Isles after the last ice age is an excellent period to explore the relationships between climate and environment, and the reappearance of humans in this region.

In previous studies, the evidence has been somewhat difficult to read due to uncertainty of the dating methods and incomplete records of environmental and climate conditions. The traditional view had been that the north-west European climate warmed from ice-age temperatures around 14,700 years ago, and humans reoccupied Britain at that time.

Graph shows the timing of returns to British Isles of reindeer and humans after the last ice age, and related temperatures in Llangrose Lake. 

Credit: Adrian Palmer

However, revised preparation techniques in the early 2000s for the dating of human remains and associated artifacts showed the earliest appearance of humans occurred prior to the warming of 14,700 years ago.

This finding was difficult to understand, as it coincided with what were then considered cold glacial climates that would have been unlikely to support the resources people needed to survive in Britain.
Lake sediments changed the climate picture

Our study used new calibrations of radiocarbon ages that confirmed the age of those human remains to between 15,200 and 15,000 years ago. So, if humans really were present in the British Isles, could they have survived in cold climates – or was our picture of past environments at this time incorrect?

Clearer insight came from Llangorse Lake (Lake Syffadan) in south Wales, where the lake sediments spanning the last 19,000 years record the abrupt climate change in detail. In addition, the lake’s location lies close to the cave in the Wye Valley where the earliest British evidence for human remains after the ice age were found.

By extracting fossil pollen, chironomids (non-biting midges), and chemical analysis of the lake sediments, an unexpected picture of the climate emerged – one that showed previous climate reconstructions for the region were incorrect.

The chironomids were used to reconstruct summer temperature, and this showed the climate warmed in a different pattern than has been identified in other parts of north-west Europe and Greenland. An abrupt temperature shift from 5–7°C to 10–14°C occurred at 15,200 years in Britain – 500 years earlier than previous evidence had suggested.

Just prior to this climate warming, the presence of human prey, such as reindeer and horses, is more consistently detected in southern Britain around 15,500 years ago. These animals were exploiting the newly available grazing grounds, with people tracking the herds northwards and enduring the moderately warmer summer climatic conditions.

A small climate shift changed human movement

Examining archaeological records along with environmental and climatic archives allows more precise reconstructions of when humans were able to repopulate previously inhospitable regions. This is helped by re-evaluating old radiocarbon dates of human evidence in the landscape, and by generating more precise environmental records from the time – including more precise timings of the transitions from cold to warm periods.

This provided us with a fuller picture of human responses to changes in temperature (and their impact on the environment) in the Late Upper Palaeolithic period. Human survival was the driver of these movements, and following prey into new areas was important. But only a relatively small change in summer temperatures was required to enable this migration.

Our research provides better understanding of human behavior and resilience to climate change after the last ice age around 15,000 years ago. But understanding these environmental triggers from the past helps create new perspectives on human responses to them even now.

These basic factors have not gone away. The response observed in this study might provide clues on future human behavior as our polar regions warm and glaciers melt, showing how the potential for human migration could be increased.

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A Medieval Japanese Diary Just Helped Scientists Detect a Dangerous Solar Event

By A. Skov, Okinawa Inst. of Sci. and Tech. (OIST) Graduate U., April 17, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/a-medieval-japanese-diary-just-helped-scientists-detect-a-dangerous-solar-event/

Until recently, Apollo 17 was the last time humans left low-earth orbit to visit the Moon. Several solar proton events occurred in the same year as Apollo 16 and 17; had these coincided, the astronauts would have been exposed to deadly radiation without protection. 

Credit: NASA

A new technique using tree-ring carbon data and historical records uncovered a solar event from 1200–1201 CE, offering insights into past solar activity and improving space weather predictions.

On Earth, intense solar activity often shows up as colorful auroras that appear harmless. Beyond the protection of our planet’s magnetic field, however, the Sun can become far more dangerous, releasing powerful flares and massive bursts of charged particles.

These eruptions can lead to solar proton events, or SPEs, where high-energy particles race toward Earth at speeds reaching 90% of the speed of light. In 1972, a series of SPEs occurred between the Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 missions.

If astronauts had been in space at the time, they would have faced potentially fatal radiation exposure. As future missions aim to return humans to the Moon, understanding these unpredictable events is increasingly important.

The asunaro cypress tree samples, unearthed at Shimokita Peninsula in northern Aomori Prefecture. The sample is provided by Tohoku University. 

Credit: Hiroko Miyahara/OIST



Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have developed a new way to detect past SPEs. Their approach uses medieval records to guide highly precise carbon-14 analysis of buried asunaro trees in northern Japan.

By combining these methods, the team identified an SPE that took place between the winter of 1200 and the spring of 1201 CE, a period of intense solar activity. The results were published in the Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B.

A hand-copied version of Fujiwara no Teika’s diary, Meigetsuki, from the Edo period. The page shown includes references to “red lights in the northern sky” on the right-hand side. 

Credit: National Archives of Japan



Detecting Sub-Extreme Solar Proton Events

Professor Hiroko Miyahara from the OIST Solar-Terrestrial Environment and Climate Unit explains, “Previous studies on historical SPEs have focused on rare, extremely powerful events. Our paper provides a basis for detecting sub-extreme SPEs—events that occur more frequently and are around 10-30% of the size of the most extreme cases, but still hazardous. Sub-extreme SPEs are more challenging to detect, but our method now allows us to efficiently identify them and better understand the conditions under which they are more likely to occur.”

Most of the high-energy protons produced during SPEs are blocked by Earth’s magnetic field. Near the poles, where magnetic field lines open into space, or during especially strong events, some particles can penetrate the atmosphere. When they collide with atmospheric gases, they create carbon-14, which spreads through the atmosphere and becomes part of living organisms.

Red aurora over Engaru, Hokkaido, Japan. 

Credit: Tomohiro M. Nakayama

Scientists can track past solar activity by measuring carbon-14 levels in preserved organic material such as buried trees. This method can reveal changes over the past 10,000 years. Thanks to highly precise techniques developed over more than a decade, researchers can now detect smaller variations that were previously invisible, making it possible to identify sub-extreme SPEs.

Combining Historical Records and Scientific Analysis

Because this high-precision method takes significant time and effort, the team first needed clues about when to search. They found one in Meigetsuki, the diary of Japanese courtier and poet Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241), who recorded seeing “red lights in the northern sky over Kyoto” in February 1204 CE.

Although SPEs do not directly cause auroras, they often occur alongside solar activity that does. This helped researchers narrow their focus. They analyzed carbon-14 levels in asunaro wood recovered from Aomori Prefecture and discovered spikes that point to a sub-extreme SPE.

An Edo-period illustration of Fujiwara no Teika. 

Credit: Kikuchi Yosai



Using dendroclimatology, a method that compares tree ring growth patterns linked to climate, the team dated the event to between the winter of 1200 and the spring of 1201 CE. This timeframe aligns with reports from China describing a rare low-latitude red aurora.

Reconstructing Solar Cycles and Space Weather Risks

“The high-precision data not only allowed us to accurately date sub-extreme solar proton events, but it also lets us clearly reconstruct the solar cycles of the period,” adds Miyahara. “Today, the Sun’s activity fluctuates over eleven-year-long cycles, but we’ve found that the cycle was just seven to eight years long back then, indicating a very active Sun. The SPE we have dated occurred at the peak of one of these cycles.”

The findings help fill important gaps in the historical record of solar activity and improve understanding of hazardous space weather. Miyahara notes that carbon-14 analysis alone is not enough.

“Historical literature provides a candidate time window, and dendroclimatology enables direct intercomparison between detected SPE and reports of sunspots and auroras recorded in literature. Integrated approaches like these are necessary to accurately reconstruct past solar activity, helping us better understand the characteristics of extreme space weather,” concludes Miyahara. “For example, while the SPE we found occurred near the peak of the solar cycle, some of the prolonged low-latitude aurora recorded in the literature seems to fall near the minimum of our reconstructed solar cycle. This is unexpected, and we’re excited to look further into what solar conditions could cause this.”

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Ancient “Rock” Microbes May Reveal How Complex Life Began

By U. of New South Wales, April 16, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/ancient-rock-microbes-may-reveal-how-complex-life-began/

A composite image of the Asgard archaeon (inset) found within the microbial mats of Shark Bay, Western Australia. 

Credit: Iain Duggin, Debnath Ghosal, Brendan Burns

Hidden within ancient microbial structures, scientists have uncovered a partnership that may mirror one of life’s most transformative moments, the emergence of complex cells.

Stromatolites may look like unremarkable, dark rock formations, but they are anything but lifeless. These structures, along with similar microbial mats, are built by layers of microorganisms that have been shaping Earth’s surface for billions of years.

Long before forests, animals, or even simple multicellular organisms appeared, these microbial communities were already transforming the planet. By producing oxygen through photosynthesis, stromatolites helped turn Earth’s atmosphere into one capable of supporting complex life. Now, new research suggests they may also preserve clues about how that complexity first arose.

Associate Professor Brendan Burns, an evolutionary microbiologist at UNSW Sydney, is part of a research team that discovered a previously unknown microbe living in close association with another organism inside these so-called “living fossils.”

The study, conducted with scientists from the University of Technology Sydney and The University of Melbourne, could shed light on one of biology’s biggest questions: how simple cells joined together to form more complex life.

“Stromatolites could be more than ‘just’ a cradle of life where early microbial life flourished,” says A/Prof. Burns. “They could also tell us how complex life first emerged.”

The ‘microbial village that helped raise a eukaryote’

Although stromatolites first appeared billions of years ago, they are still forming today in Shark Bay, a World Heritage-listed site in Western Australia.

At this location, A/Prof. Burns and his team collected samples and eventually isolated a member of the Asgard archaea, a group of unusual microbes believed to be closely related to the ancestors of eukaryotes. Eukaryotes are the cells that make up all plants, animals, and humans.

One long-standing theory suggests that the first eukaryotic cell formed when an ancient archaeon and a bacterium entered into a close partnership, with one eventually engulfing the other. This process led to the development of mitochondria, the structures that generate energy inside cells.

Until now, scientists have lacked direct evidence showing how such partnerships might have functioned. This study provides the first visual confirmation of an Asgard archaeon physically interacting with a bacterium through tiny tube-like connections called nanotubes.

“This could be a little model for how these kinds of partnerships started and ultimately formed eukaryotes,” says A/Prof. Burns.
The long road of discovery

Genetic sequencing revealed the presence of these organisms in the samples, but growing them in the lab proved challenging.

“It took four or five years in the lab,” A/Prof. Burns says. “A lot of time, optimizing and chasing different shadows.”

Asgard archaea are extremely difficult to grow outside their natural environment, and the team could not culture them on their own. According to A/Prof. Burns, this may be an important clue.

“The fact that we could never get these organisms into pure culture is probably because they always depend on other organisms to survive,” he says.

A key breakthrough came with electron cryotomography, an advanced 3D imaging method that can reveal structures at the scale of a millionth of a millimeter (about 0.00004 inches).

The images showed the two microbes physically connected by nanotubes. The archaeon also produced chains of small vesicles and complex tube-like extensions. Each organism created compounds that the other could use, including vitamins, nutrients, and hydrogen.

Coauthor Associate Professor Debnath Ghosal from The University of Melbourne says capturing this direct interaction is a major step forward. “This discovery brings us a few steps closer towards understanding how complex cells evolved from relatively simpler microbial life forms,” A/Prof Ghosal says.

Coauthor Associate Professor Kate Mitchie from UNSW explains that the study also used deep learning, a type of machine learning.

“We used this to predict the structures of proteins in these microbes,” A/Prof. Mitchie says. “And that’s exciting because we can start to see ancient versions of the cellular machinery that later became central to complex life.”

A/Prof. Burns compares archaea to “companions.” In the harsh conditions found in microbial mats, even microscopic cooperation can be essential for survival.

An ancient but living story

Coauthor Associate Professor Iain Duggin from the University of Technology Sydney says it is remarkable to consider that these microbes may have formed partnerships in such environments for millions of years, eventually contributing to the emergence of complex life, including humans.

“It’s if we have slowly arisen from the bottom of the sea,” A/Prof. Duggin says.

The newly discovered archaeon was named Nerearchaeum marumarumayae, after the ancient Greek sea god Nereus and the Malgana word marumarumayae, meaning “ancient home.”

Malgana is one of the traditional languages of the people of central Shark Bay, whose connection to the land is recognized by Native Title. Malgana elders, rangers, and community members actively care for the region, protecting wildlife and restoring the environment.

Shark Bay also has a deep Indigenous history, with people first inhabiting the area around 30,000 years ago.

The naming process involved consultation with Kymberly Oakley, a leading expert in the Malgana language. Elders were also consulted to ensure respectful and appropriate use of language. They granted permission to include terms that recognize and celebrate Malgana culture.

For researchers, these microbial systems provide a rare glimpse into early Earth. For Traditional Owners, they remain an important part of a living cultural heritage that continues to be protected.

A/Prof. Burns hopes to identify more microbial partnerships, expanding what he calls a “little primordial Asgard soup,” to help reconstruct the earliest stages of complex life.

“But it’s not just about the organisms,” he says. “It’s about people as well. A huge collaborative effort across disciplines with many graduate students being instrumental in building this story. Part of what makes this exciting is that it’s not just discovery, but connection. Not just across many years, but at a time when these fragile ecosystems face mounting threats from climate change and human activity.”

These microbes highlight how cooperation has been essential for survival throughout Earth’s history, a principle that A/Prof. Burns says remains just as important today.

“These microbes remind us that even the smallest partners can leave the deepest mark on our history.”

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20x Difference: Study Reveals True Source of Airborne Microplastics

By U. of Vienna, April 14, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/20x-difference-study-reveals-true-source-of-airborne-microplastics/

Microplastics are widespread in the atmosphere, traveling long distances and reaching even the most remote environments. New research challenges earlier assumptions about their primary sources, revealing a more complex balance between land and ocean contributions. 

Credit: Stock



Microplastics circulate globally through the atmosphere, but their sources may not be what scientists once thought.

The air around us is quietly carrying an unexpected form of pollution. Tiny plastic fragments, known as microplastics, are now circulating through the atmosphere and reaching places once thought untouched by human activity. From mountain peaks to remote oceans, these particles travel vast distances, enter the air we breathe, and eventually settle into ecosystems across the planet.

Scientists are increasingly concerned because airborne microplastics are not just an environmental issue. Their small size makes them easy to inhale, and early research suggests they may irritate lung tissue or carry harmful chemicals. Once deposited, they also contribute to long-term contamination of soils and waterways, adding to an already growing global plastic burden.

Researchers from the Department of Meteorology and Geophysics at the University of Vienna have taken a closer look at how microplastics enter the air. Using worldwide measurements alongside model simulations, they found that land-based sources release more than 20 times as many microplastic particles into the atmosphere as the ocean. Their findings were recently published in Nature.

Sources and Uncertainties in Microplastic Emissions

Scientists have already established that microplastics are present throughout the atmosphere, even in remote environments. These particles come from direct sources such as tire wear and textile fibers, as well as from previously polluted land and ocean surfaces that release particles back into the air.

Even so, the total scale of these emissions and the contribution from each source have remained unclear. Earlier research often pointed to the ocean as the dominant source, but this had not been firmly confirmed.

Modeling Microplastic Transport and Emissions

In this study, Ioanna Evangelou, Silvia Bucci, and Andreas Stohl compiled 2,782 atmospheric measurements of microplastics from around the world. They compared these observations with simulations from a transport model based on three previously published emission estimates.

The comparison revealed a major mismatch. The model predicted far higher concentrations of microplastics in the atmosphere and much greater deposition on Earth’s surface than what measurements showed, with differences reaching several orders of magnitude over both land and ocean.

By examining this gap, the researchers adjusted the emission estimates separately for land and ocean sources. This recalibration led to more realistic results.

Land vs. Ocean Emissions

The revised analysis showed that emissions from land had been significantly overestimated and needed to be reduced to match observations. Ocean emissions were also too high in earlier estimates, though the adjustment was less dramatic.

When asked where more microplastics enter the atmosphere, the study’s lead author, Andreas Stohl, says: “The now scaled emission estimates show that over 20 times more microplastic particles are emitted on land than from the ocean.”

“However, the emitted mass is actually higher over the ocean than over land, which is due to the larger average size of oceanic particles,” adds first author Ioanna Evangelou.

Ongoing Challenges and Future Research

This work marks an important step toward better understanding how microplastics pollute the atmosphere and move around the globe. Still, large gaps in knowledge remain.

“However, the data situation is still not satisfactory, and there are still major uncertainties. More measurements are needed so that we know how much microplastic comes from traffic and how much from other sources. The size distribution of the particles is also highly uncertain, and thus the total amount of plastic transported in the atmosphere,” summarizes Andreas Stohl, lead author of the study.

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Antibiotics Can 'Inflame' Bacteria, Making Infections Harder to Treat

16 April 2026, ByP. Torabian, The Conversation

https://www.sciencealert.com/antibiotics-can-inflame-bacteria-making-infections-harder-to-treat

Colorized low-temperature electron micrograph of a cluster of E. coli bacteria.

  (Eric Erbe, Colorization by Christopher Pooley/USDA ARS)



Antibiotics are designed to kill harmful bacteria and help the body recover from infection. But some antibiotics may also push bacteria to release tiny particles that can make inflammation worse.

While inflammation is part of the body's natural defense against infection, too much inflammation can damage healthy tissue and interfere with healing. In severe cases, excessive inflammation can become life-threatening.

These particles are called bacterial extracellular vesicles, or BEVs. These microscopic, bubble-like structures carry proteins, toxins, and other molecular signals that influence how the immune system of the host responds.

Bacteria naturally release BEVs into their surroundings as a way to communicate with their environment, remove damaged cellular material, and interact with host cells.

Although incredibly small, these structures can have powerful effects on the human body. When BEVs enter the bloodstream, they can interact with cells that line blood vessels and trigger an immune response.

Vesicles forming on the surface of Lactobacillus reuteri. 

(Grande et al., Front. Microbiol., 2017)



In some cases, this can increase inflammation and lead to sepsis, a condition where the body's response to infection becomes dangerously uncontrolled, damaging tissues and sometimes leading to organ failure.

I am a biomedical engineer studying how bacterial extracellular vesicles influence inflammation during infection.

In my recently published research, I found that certain types of antibiotic cause bacteria to release significantly more of these vesicles than others. This finding suggests that the way an antibiotic kills bacteria may also influence how much inflammatory material is released into the body.

When antibiotics stress bacteria

Antibiotics work in different ways. Some target the bacterial cell wall, weakening it until the cell breaks apart and dies. Others interfere with key cellular processes such as protein production or DNA replication, preventing bacteria from growing.

Whatever their mechanism, antibiotics control infection by killing the bacteria that are causing it.

But antibiotics also place bacteria under stress, and that stress can cause bacteria to release more extracellular vesicles carrying inflammatory molecules.

To explore this process, I exposed the bacteria E. coli to several commonly used antibiotics and measured how many vesicles they made.

Coloured scanning electron micrograph of Escherichia coli, a common rod-shaped bacterium. 

(Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library/Getty Images)



The goal was simple: Compare how different types of antibiotics influence vesicle release and determine whether the way an antibiotic kills bacteria affects vesicle production.

The results showed that not all antibiotics have the same effect on the vesicles bacteria produce.

Antibiotics that target the bacterial cell wall, including a widely used group of drugs known as beta-lactams, led to a noticeable increase in vesicle production. In contrast, antibiotics that act on protein or DNA processes showed a much smaller effect.

This difference likely reflects how bacteria respond to damage. When the bacteria's cell wall is disrupted, bacteria may release more vesicles as a way to shed damaged material or adapt to stress. The inflammatory molecules these vesicles carry can further activate the body's immune response.

This raises an important question: Could some antibiotics unintentionally amplify inflammation and make an infection worse?

My findings do not show that antibiotics directly contribute to infections, but they do suggest that antibiotic type could potentially influence not only how effectively bacteria are killed but also how the body responds to the infection.

More research is needed to understand how these bacterial responses affect patients during severe infections, such as sepsis.

Why this matters for treating infections

It is important to emphasize that antibiotics remain one of the most effective and lifesaving tools in modern medicine. This research does not suggest they should be avoided.

Instead, it highlights that bacteria are not passive targets. They actively respond to treatment, and those responses can have additional effects on the body.

Understanding how bacteria react to antibiotics could help researchers and clinicians better evaluate how different treatments influence both infection and inflammation. In situations where controlling inflammation is critical, such as severe infections, these differences may become especially important.

This work also reflects a broader shift in how scientists think about infection. Rather than focusing only on killing bacteria, researchers are increasingly studying how bacteria communicate, respond to stress, and interact with the human body.

As scientists continue to uncover how bacteria behave under antibiotic pressure, it becomes clear that treating infection is not only about stopping bacterial growth but also about understanding the signals bacteria leave behind.

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Scientists Discover 430,000-Year-Old Wooden Tools, Rewriting Human History

By U. of Tübingen, April 15, 2026
https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-discover-430000-year-old-wooden-tools-rewriting-human-history/

An artist’s reconstruction of a Marathousa 1 paleolithic woman producing a digging stick from a small alder tree trunk with a small stone tool. This kind of wood was used for the Marathousa 1 digging stick. Use-wear analysis of stone tools at Marathousa 1 shows evidence of woodworking. 

Credit: Original art by G. Prieto, copyright K. Harvati.

An international research team from Germany, the UK, and Greece has found evidence that wooden tools were used in Greece 430,000 years ago.

An international collaboration involving researchers from the Universities of Tübingen and Reading and the Senckenberg Nature Research Society has identified what are now considered the earliest known hand-held wooden tools used by humans.

The study, led by Professor Katerina Harvati from the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen and Dr. Annemieke Milks at the University of Reading, focuses on discoveries made at the Marathousa 1 site in the central Peloponnese region of Greece. The findings date back approximately 430,000 years.

A small wooden tool, which is a new wood tool type used by humans, documented here for the first time from the Marathousa 1 site in Greece, which dates back 430,000 years. Currently, the function of the tool is not known. 

Credit: Photograph by N. Thompson, copyright K. Harvati.
Discovery pushes back tool timeline



Reported in the journal PNAS, the discoveries include two wooden objects shaped and used by early humans. One is made from alder wood, while the other comes from willow or poplar. These items are now recognized as the oldest hand-held wooden tools ever identified, extending the known timeline of this type of technology by at least 40,000 years.

Additional evidence from the site, including stone tools and the remains of an elephant and other animals, suggests the location once served as a lakeside butchering area. Early humans occupied the site around 430,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene – the period from around 774,000 to 129,000 years ago.

“The Middle Pleistocene was a critical phase in human evolution, during which more complex behaviors developed. The earliest reliable evidence of the targeted technological use of plants also dates from this period,” says Professor Katerina Harva-ti, a paleoanthropologist and expert in human evolution, who leads the long-term research program at Marathousa 1.

Microscopic analysis reveals human craftsmanship

Finds of shaped stone and bone tools had already demonstrated the range of activities carried out by the people who lived at the site, prompting the research team to examine preserved wooden fragments in greater detail.

“Unlike stones, wooden objects need special conditions to survive over long periods of time,” says Dr Annemieke Milks, a leading expert in early wooden tools. “We examined all the wooden remains closely, looking at their surfaces under microscopes. We found marks from chopping and carving on two objects – clear signs that early humans had shaped them.”

Digging or multifunctional stick used by humans from the Marathousa 1 site in Greece which dates back 430,000 years. 

Credit: Photograph by D. Michailidis, copyright K. Harvati.

Through this analysis, the team confirmed that two wooden pieces had been modified and used by humans. One fragment, taken from an alder trunk, shows both shaping marks and signs of wear, suggesting it may have been used for digging near the lake or for stripping bark.

A second, much smaller fragment made from willow or poplar also displays signs of working and possible use. In contrast, a third piece of alder wood featuring a grooved pattern was determined to have been marked by a large carnivore, possibly a bear, rather than by human activity.

Evidence challenges global record of tools

“The oldest wooden tools come from places such as the United Kingdom, Zambia, Germany, and China and include weapons, digging sticks, and tool handles. However, they are all more recent than our finds from Marathousa 1m,” Annemieke Milks says. There is only one older piece of evidence of wood used by humans, from the Kalambo Falls site in Zambia, dating to around 476,000 years ago. Yet that wood was used not as a tool but as structural material.

“We have discovered the oldest wooden tools known to date, as well as the first evidence of this kind from southeastern Europe,” Harvati says. “This shows once again how exceptionally good the conditions at the Marathousa 1 site are for preservation. And the fact that large carnivores left their mark near the butchered elephant alongside human activity indicates fierce competition between the two.”

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Artificial Sweeteners May Harm Future Generations, Study Suggests

By Frontiers, April 12, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/artificial-sweeteners-may-harm-future-generations-study-suggests/

Research in mice reveals that common artificial sweeteners may leave lasting, inherited marks on gut bacteria and metabolic regulation.

 Credit: Stock



A new study suggests that widely used zero-calorie sweeteners may subtly reshape the gut microbiome and alter gene activity linked to metabolism and inflammation.

Opting for a diet soda may seem like a simple way to cut calories, but the trade-off is replacing sugar with non-nutritive sweeteners such as sucralose or stevia.

These compounds deliver sweetness without energy, yet scientists are increasingly questioning whether “zero-calorie” also means biologically neutral. Studies suggest these additives may influence how the body regulates energy, raising concerns about possible links to metabolic disorders over time.

A new mouse study adds another layer to that debate, pointing to subtle but lasting changes in the gut and at the genetic level. Researchers found that exposure to sucralose or stevia altered the gut microbiome and affected genes tied to metabolism and inflammation. In some cases, these changes appeared to persist into the next generation, hinting that diet could have biological effects that extend beyond a single lifetime.

“We found it intriguing that despite the growing consumption of these additives, the prevalence of obesity and metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance has not declined,” said Dr. Francisca Concha Celume of the Universidad de Chile, lead author of the article in Frontiers in Nutrition. “This does not mean that sweeteners are responsible for these trends, but it raises the question of whether they influence metabolism in ways we do not yet fully understand.”

Sugar by any other name?

The researchers divided 47 male and female mice into three groups. One group received plain water, while the others were given water containing sucralose or stevia at levels similar to typical human intake. These mice were then bred for two generations, and their offspring were given only plain water.

“Animal models allow us to control environmental conditions very precisely and to isolate the effect of a specific factor, such as a dietary compound, while also following several generations within a relatively short time,” explained Concha.

Each generation underwent an oral glucose tolerance test, which measures insulin resistance, a warning sign for diabetes. The team also collected fecal samples to examine changes in the gut microbiome and levels of short-chain fatty acids. These compounds can reflect epigenetic changes that may be passed from parents to offspring. Sweeteners are thought to influence these fatty acids by disrupting the gut microbiome, which can in turn affect gene expression.

In addition, the researchers analyzed the activity of five genes linked to inflammation, gut barrier function, and metabolism in the liver and intestines. This provided a snapshot of how non-nutritive sweeteners might influence biological pathways related to metabolic and inflammatory health.

A tale of two sweeteners

The results showed that the two sweeteners produced distinct and evolving effects. In the first generation, only male offspring of mice exposed to sucralose showed impaired glucose tolerance. By the second generation, higher fasting blood sugar levels appeared in male descendants of the sucralose group and female descendants of the stevia group.

Both sweetener groups showed increased diversity in their gut microbiomes but lower levels of short-chain fatty acids, suggesting reduced production of beneficial metabolites. These reductions persisted in later generations. The effects were more pronounced and longer lasting in mice exposed to sucralose, which showed a shift toward more harmful bacterial species and fewer beneficial ones.

Sucralose also appeared to increase the activity of genes associated with inflammation while reducing the activity of genes involved in metabolism, with effects lasting up to two generations. Stevia influenced gene expression as well, but its effects were milder and did not extend beyond one generation.

“When we compared generations, these effects were generally strongest in the first generation and tended to decrease in the second generation,” said Concha. “Overall, the effects linked to sucralose were more consistent and persistent across generations.”

“The changes we observed in glucose tolerance and gene expression could be interpreted as early biological signals related to metabolic or inflammatory processes,” said Concha. “For example, the animals did not develop diabetes. Instead, what we observed were subtle changes in how the body regulates glucose and in the activity of genes associated with inflammation and metabolic regulation. It is possible that such changes could increase susceptibility to metabolic disturbances under certain conditions, such as a high-fat diet.”

The researchers stress that these findings show associations rather than direct cause and effect. They also note that results from mice do not necessarily apply to humans.

“The goal of this research is not to create alarm, but to highlight the need for further investigation,” said Concha. “It may be reasonable to consider moderation in the consumption of these additives and to continue studying their long-term biological effects.”

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Scientists Found Human Speech-Like Patterns in Sperm Whale Clicks

15 April 2026, By M. Starr

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-found-human-speech-like-patterns-in-sperm-whale-clicks

The eye of a sperm whale.

 (Mike Korostelev/Moment/Getty Images)

The staccato clicks of sperm whales may sound like meaningless background noise to human ears, but a new analysis suggests they may be part of a communication system with a level of complexity approaching that of our own.

According to researchers with Project CETI, a US non-profit working to understand sperm whales, the clicks known as "codas" are more complex than a 2024 study indicated. That earlier work found the sounds had an acoustic resemblance to human vowels.

Now, a new paper investigating five properties of the codas shows that these sounds are used in patterns that follow structured rules similar to those seen in human speech.

"All five properties have close parallels in the phonetics and phonology of human languages, suggesting independent evolution," writes a team led by linguist Gašper Beguš of Project CETI and the University of California, Berkeley.

"Sperm whale coda vocalizations are thus highly complex and represent one of the closest parallels to human phonology of any analyzed animal communication system."

Sperm whales live in tight-knit, matrilineal family-oriented groups. (by wildestanimal/Moment/Getty Images)



Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are large marine mammals that live in closely-knit, matrilineal clans, with strong bonds and cooperative relationships that give them a competitive advantage in the cruel seas. Such complex social structures usually necessitate concomitantly sophisticated communication skills.

It's long been suspected that cetacean communication has a lot more going on than we can discern, especially in sperm whales. Their gatherings are often accompanied by a soundscape of clicks that can propagate through the ocean for miles.

In 2024, researchers from Project CETI analyzed 8,719 coda vocalizations from at least 60 individual whales recorded between 2005 and 2018, and found them "more expressive and structured than previously believed," with features that can be combined in ways comparable to elements of human speech.

That work suggested whale communication is built from flexible, combinable parts, but did not explore how those parts are structured internally

In the new paper, Beguš and colleagues analyzed 3,948 codas from 15 individuals recorded between 2014 and 2018 as part of The Dominica Sperm Whale Project in the Eastern Caribbean to reveal at least some of those internal structures.

The team found that sperm whale codas fall into distinct categories that behave like vowel sounds in human speech, with consistent differences in length, patterns, and interactions with neighboring sounds.

They identified two different types of codas with different formant structures – that is, the structures of the resonant frequencies of the sound. They called codas with one formant "a-codas", and those with two formants "i-codas".

These a- and i-codas don't just resemble human vowels acoustically, but also behave like them in several ways, too. For example, a-codas are longer than i-codas, and i-codas also have shorter and longer forms.

Individual whales have their own timing for how they use these codas, too, and neighboring sounds can influence each other, similar to compound sounds in human speech, such as an a and a u coming together to make an ow sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm02X0aE8uU&t=1s

"We show that the sperm whale communication system has previously undocumented characteristics that make it similar to human phonology," the researchers write.

They are careful not to go so far as to call it a language, but a "communication system", a broader category of information propagation under which language falls. A communication system becomes a language when it can combine sounds into structured, meaningful messages. Without knowing what sperm whale codas mean, we cannot with confidence define them as language.

However, the analysis does take us a step closer to decoding whale communication, the central goal of Project CETI. The collaboration is using machine learning to break down sperm whale communication to the tiniest detail in an attempt to actually understand what the whales may be saying to each other.

The implications of this would be tremendous. It would tell us whether language is unique to humans, and give us insight into how language evolved. It could also give us a way to communicate with another species on their own terms – one that lives dramatically differently from human cultures.

And the skills and tools acquired to do so may then be applied to other animals, potentially opening up a new way to learn about our planet.

This work is a tantalizing step on that ambitious journey, one that hints at a whole world of discovery nearing our grasp.

"Taken together," the researchers write, "our findings demonstrate that sperm whale vocalizations are highly complex and likely constitute one of the most phonologically sophisticated (currently known) communication systems in the animal kingdom."

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