PhysOrg

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in the U.K. and one in Estonia has created a type of buoy that has proven to be effective at repelling seabirds, thus preventing them from getting caught in gillnets. In their paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the group describes the buoy and how well it worked when tested. View the full article

The report offers, for the first time, a complete assessment of the potential of nature-based solutions (NbS) to mitigate climate change and benefit biodiversity in the UK. Incorporating contributions from over 100 experts, the comprehensive evaluation of the available evidence details the strengths, limitations and trade-offs of NbS in different habitats across the UK. View the full article

Captive pelicans that are free to choose their own friendships are more likely to breed successfully on repeated occasions, new research suggests. View the full article

Some have claimed she's indulging a forbidden romance. More likely, loneliness compels her to seek company at Rio de Janeiro's zoo. View the full article

A team of researchers from Lund University, the University of Copenhagen and the Nature Research Centre in Lithuania has found that some great reed warblers climb as high as 6,000 meters when they fly over the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes monitoring migrating great reed warblers by affixing tiny data loggers to their backs. View the full article

Human laughter is common, but it's a somewhat mysterious part of our evolution. It's clear to evolutionary scholars that we laugh as a part of play, signaling our cooperation or friendliness. But how did laughter evolve? And are humans the only ones who do it? View the full article

If you're anything like us, you may have wondered if an octopus and a seabird would ever end up in a fight. Well they do, and it's a YouTube wormhole that can prove quite addictive. View the full article

Yawning doesn't need be a sign of boredom. Rather, it appears to be a measure of brain size. Vertebrates with larger brains yawn longer, according to a study of more than one hundred species of mammals and birds. The findings of the study, which was conducted by an international team of scientists centered around biologist Jorg Massen of Utrecht University (NL) and Andrew Gallup of the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute (U.S.), were published on May 6, 2021 in the scientific journal Communications Biology. View the full article

The European Alps is certainly one of the most scrutinized mountain range in the world, as it forms a true open-air laboratory showing how climate change affects biodiversity. View the full article

Longstanding protections for wild birds would be restored under a proposal unveiled Thursday to bring back prosecutions of avian deaths by industry that were ended under former President Donald Trump. View the full article

A pair of researchers from the University of Konstanz and the University of Jena, respectively, have found the most "Instagrammable bird" on the internet. In their paper published in the journal i-Perception Katja Thömmes and Gregor Hayn-Leichsenring describe their analysis of "likes" by Instagram users for pictures of birds. View the full article

A team of researchers from Universidad de Granada and Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, both in Spain, has found that male hoopoes provide more nourishment to female mates who paint their eggs well. In their paper published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the group describes their study of hoopoes in the wild. View the full article

In southern Iraq, putrid water gushes out of waste pipes into marshes reputed to be home to the biblical Garden of Eden, threatening an already fragile world heritage site. View the full article

When investigators in the UK recorded the calls of migratory birds called thrushes at night, they found that call rates were up to five times higher over the brightest urban areas compared with darker villages. View the full article

A California condor egg has hatched in Northern California's wild, the newest member of Pinnacles National Park's recovery program for the endangered species. View the full article