Issues

Summary: Amphibious fish may use oxygen-sensing neuroepithelial cells to sense and avoid high CO₂ or low pH in the water.

Highlighted Article: The respiratory capacity of the humpbacked conch, a jumping snail, appears sufficient not only for today's needs but also for those in a warmer acidified future.

Summary: The ability of the progenitor population to differentiate toward bone-forming cells may be a better correlate to bone structural adaptation than external forces generated by exercise.

Summary: Guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) show speed-dependent shifts in neuromuscular control during obstacle negotiation, characterized by a greater reliance on anticipatory modulation and stride-to-stride neural adjustments at slow speed, shifting towards feedforward activation and intrinsic mechanical stability at high speed.

Summary: Physiological and behavioral evidence indicates the presence of a TRPA1-like channel in the medicinal leech Hirudo verbana that responds to both reactive electrophiles and moderate cold.

Highlighted Article: Lipid composition changes with depth in the avian skin, but these changes vary by season. This seasonal variation affects rates of cutaneous water loss.

Summary: Paleotropical false-leaf bushcrickets exhibit a novel multimodal duet with alternating male acoustic calls and female tremulation signals; this functions in mate localization and may have evolved under predator pressure.

Summary: Toads alter forelimb kinematics in a distance-dependent manner and achieve more extended elbow configurations at impact in longer hops.

Highlighted Article: A UV-avoidance sensory mechanism complements the low DNA repair efficiency of treefrog tadpoles to mitigate the genotoxic effects of solar UV radiation.

Summary: When developing ectotherms cannot reduce the costs of daily temperature fluctuations through phenotypic plasticity, effects on the rate of development may determine fitness consequences.

Summary: The frequencies of reliable and unreliable signals of strength in Uca vomeris are influenced by the structural and physiological mechanisms behind force production in the major claw.

Summary: Insulin plays a regulatory role in hepatic metabolism in yellow catfish, increasing lipid and triglyceride accumulation. These changes are mediated by the modulation of PPARα, PPARγ and PI3K signaling pathways.

Highlighted Article: Amazon river dolphins inhabit an acoustically complex habitat, where they employ a short-range biosonar with source parameters not predictable from body size alone, suggesting that habitat is an important evolutionary co-driver of toothed whale biosonar.

Summary: Grizzly bear locomotion has some similarities to that of previously studied animals, but they do not appear to trot and produce relatively high mediolateral forces.

Summary: Kissing bugs learn well during the night but not during the day, as their ability to acquire information – but not to retrieve it – is modulated by time.

Summary: Honeybees change their walking behaviour to improve fixation performance, depending on the sensor that is used to measure their behaviour in closed-loop virtual reality.

Summary: The gel-based glue of Arion subfuscus combines two separate networks: a deformable proteoglycan network and a cross-linked protein network. These work together to achieve far greater toughness than each can produce separately.

Summary: FTIR analysis performed on unspun silks and cocoons from 35 different species provides information regarding the biochemical diversity and evolution of this group of materials.

Summary: During cyclic contractions of a muscle–tendon unit, the timing of muscle stimulation onset determines whether the muscle acts like a force producing strut, energy generating motor or energy absorbing brake.