The western corn rootworm continues to be on the rise in Europe. Why attempts to biologically target this crop pest by applying entomopathogenic nematodes have failed, can now be explained by the amazing defense strategy of this insect. In their new study, scientists from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, show that the rootworm larvae are able to sequester plant defense compounds from maize roots in a non-toxic form and can activate the toxins whenever they need them to protect themselves against their own enemies. (eLife, November 2017, DOI: 10.7554/eLife.29307.001)

When mere seconds of storm warning could mean the difference between harm or safety, two researchers with Western University ties have developed a tornado-prediction method they say could buy as much as 20 minutes more warning time.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have found a better way to identify unwanted animal products in ground beef.

Flooding rivers can wreak havoc on homes and roads but are necessary for healthy ecosystems, research at Oregon State University suggests.

Researchers have determined how female grizzly bears keep their cubs safe while crossing the Trans-Canada Highway.

Why do people use social media? Striving to answer this question, social psychologists at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have conducted a survey with more than 500 Facebook users with regard to their personality structure and the way they use the platform. Based on the results, they have developed the first comprehensive theory of social media usage. According to that theory, self-regulation is the key: we use Facebook in a way that makes us feel good and hope to attain our objectives. The research team manned by Phillip Ozimek, Fiona Baer and Prof Dr Jens Förster published their report in the journal Heliyon on November 20, 2017.

• Smallest microplastics in oceans – which go largely undetected - identified more effectively with innovative and cheap new method, developed by University of Warwick researchers
• New method can detect microplastics as small as the width of a human hair, using a fluorescent dye

As American families sit down for the traditional turkey dinner this Thanksgiving, some will be giving thanks for a wild bird that is truly free range. Meleagris gallopavo, the wild turkey, has steadily gained in popularity with hunters since successful restoration efforts put it back on the table in the around the new millenium, bucking the trend of declining participation in hunting throughout the United States. The distinguished native bird is now second in popularity only to white tailed deer.

Soil plays a critical role in global carbon cycling, in part because soil organic matter stores three times more carbon than the atmosphere. Now biogeochemist Marco Keiluweit at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and colleagues elsewhere for the first time provide evidence that anaerobic microsites play a much larger role in stabilizing carbon in soils than previously thought.

A USGS video about manatees reveals that while the animals may act like the cows of the sea, they also have more than a bit of the magical siren or mermaid about them.