Biology

Date: July 6, 2025

Source: University of Vienna

Summary: A group of scientists studying pregnancy across six different mammals—from humans to marsupials—uncovered how certain cells at the mother-baby boundary have been working together for over 100 million years. By mapping gene activity in these cells, they found that pregnancy isn’t just a battle between mother and fetus, but often a carefully coordinated partnership. These ancient cell interactions, including hormone production and nutrient sharing, evolved to support longer, more complex pregnancies and may help explain why human pregnancy works the way it does today.

Frogs, salamanders, and other amphibians around the world face mounting threats from a devastating fungus, climate change, habitat loss -- and road mortality. Among these, roads pose a uniquely immediate danger by cutting through critical migration corridors, allowing vehicles to crush millions of animals each year.

Now, a new, first-of-its-kind study offers powerful evidence that a simple intervention -- wildlife underpass tunnels -- can dramatically reduce these amphibian deaths and help preserve ecosystems.

In research spanning more than a decade, scientists and citizens from the University of Vermont, the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, and the local community assessed the effectiveness of two wildlife underpasses installed under a road in Monkton, Vermont. The results were striking: an 80.2% reduction in amphibian deaths.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/7976516

Thoughts on this?

The video is about an hour long.

Honestly, really raises questions about a philosophy of life and how to systematize it.

This is a presentation by the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution.

You can listen to it while you're doing other things but the slides are interesting to me.