Science

...

Over the past 40 years, across the rich world, R&D has increasingly been funded by private companies, rather than the state or public bodies such as universities. Booming spending by companies such as Amazon has masked flat or, in the US, falling public support, which the current US administration wants to cut by a further 35%.

Until very recently, policymakers and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic have largely shrugged their shoulders at this private shift. They often assumed that it doesn’t matter much who funded R&D, so long as more money flows into the system, and many have welcomed the surge in corporate spending. The EU, Germany and the Netherlands, for example, all have overall R&D spending targets which are agnostic on who stumps up the cash.

But a new generation of economists say they now have the first empirical evidence that this reliance on privately funded R&D may have been a historic mistake.

This debate is still just beginning. But if they are correct, the failure to invest in public research helps explain why productivity gains due to technological innovation in the rich world have slowed to a crawl, leading to anaemic growth that aids the rise of radical, anti-establishment parties in Europe and the US.

“There is this growing consensus [. . .] that the decline in publicly funded R&D has contributed to the deceleration in productivity growth,” said Andrew Fieldhouse, an assistant finance professor at Texas A&M University. He’s one of the economists whose work challenges the shift to private R&D, and it has recently caught the eye of some governments. “I think a lot of policymakers are concerned,” he said.

...

Rising business R&D is still a good thing for the economy, economists stress. No one is criticising companies for spending more; quite the opposite.

But the problem, some economists say, is that this boom in corporate spending has masked stagnant or falling levels of public support for research.

“If you look at the United States’ R&D share of GDP, if anything, it’s trending up a little bit, and there’s no immediate cause for concern,” said Fieldhouse. “But if you lift up the hood, there’s a big compositional shift going on down there.” If the funding source of R&D matters, “that compositional shift may be quite problematic.”

...

Why are public returns higher?

If Fieldhouse and Dyèvre [two researchers] are right, why might public R&D spending be more economically beneficial than private?

Their findings, at first glance, sound counter-intuitive. Corporate R&D divisions, after all, have to create saleable products to survive. University-based scientists don’t. “This is the trillion-dollar question,” says Fieldhouse.

One leading explanation is simple, and will be instantly familiar to most scientists. Public funding is much more likely to back openly published basic research: often curiosity-driven science that tries to understand the universe, rather than develop a specific technology.

This creates more beneficial spill-overs in the rest of the economy, because anyone can pick up and use this understanding. The germ theory of disease, which revolutionised medicine from the 19th century, is inherently impossible to commercialise, for example.

...

Free rider problem?

One objection to spending more on basic science is precisely because it’s open and unpatentable, other countries will benefit just as much as the funding state, creating a free-rider problem.

But the economists who spoke to Science|Business aren’t too worried. They point out that geography and face-to-face connections are still crucial in turning fundamental science into real-world inventions. In Boston, the London-Oxford-Cambridge triangle in the UK, or Munich, say, the tacit knowledge of leading university researchers is an essential part of high-tech cities.

Basic research creates a “pool of common knowledge” all private firms and broader society can use, as Filipetti puts it. But if basic science gets cut, “this amount of common knowledge shrinks over time.”

...

The US Congressional Budget Office recently published a new paper estimating returns to public R&D similar to those identified by Fieldhouse. Although the Trump administration wants to cut public R&D, these kinds of behind-the-scenes accounting shifts may well outlast him.

“I think the consensus among policymakers has changed rapidly over the past few years, in particular in the US,” said Dyèvre. “With the exception of the current administration, a lot of policy folks are convinced more public funding for R&D is needed.”

...

UK spending plans for the rest of the decade show the country increasing R&D incentives for new companies, while money for “curiosity-driven” research will flatline.

As for implications for the EU, Dyèvre and Fieldhouse’s work is based on US data, so some caution is needed. And boosting public research is far from a silver bullet, . The bloc also needs to crack other intractable problems, such as integrating its single market. That said, “most countries in Europe would benefit from higher spending in public R&D dedicated to fundamental science,” Dyèvre said.

But as Europe frets about its immediate economic woes, the focus instead is on corporate innovation. For example, as part of a new economic strategy, Czechia is prioritising applied invention, not basic science.

And in the EU’s next research and innovation programme, which starts in 2028, the European Innovation Council, which largely gives out grants to entrepreneurial academic teams and start-ups, will be the biggest winner, with an inflation-adjusted budget boost of around 139%. The fundamental research-focused ERC will see a more modest increase of around 54%.

...

Web Archive link

A tropical insect has been found to change color from vivid hot pink to green within a fortnight, which scientists believe may mimic the young leaves of rainforest plants. The findings, published this week in the journal Ecology, focuses on Arota festae, a leaf-masquerading katydid also known as a "bush cricket," native to Panama, Colombia and Suriname.

When researchers spotted an adult female beneath a light at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's field station on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, she was an unmistakable hot pink. Eleven days later, she was completely green.

Scientists from the University of St Andrews, University of Reading, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and University of Amsterdam, propose that the pink coloration evolved to mimic "delayed greening," a phenomenon in which newly emerged tropical leaves flush vivid shades of pink or red before maturing to green.

On Barro Colorado Island, around one-third of plant species show this trait all year, providing a reliable supply of pink leaves for a camouflaged insect to blend into.

Lead author Dr. Benito Wainwright, of the University of St Andrews, said, "Finding this individual was a genuine surprise. Because it was so rare, we kept it in natural conditions and found it changing color from hot pink to green.

"Rather than a bizarre genetic quirk, this may actually be a finely tuned survival strategy that tracks the life cycle of the rainforest leaves this insect is trying to resemble."

The team reared the individual in captivity for 30 days, photographing her daily. The hot pink faded to pastel after four days, and by day eleven, she was indistinguishable from the common green morph.

She survived to mate before dying naturally the following month.

Pink katydids have been documented in scientific literature since 1878 but were generally considered a rare, disadvantageous mutation. This appears to be the first recorded case of a katydid completing a full color shift within a single life stage.

Dr. Matt Greenwell, of the University of Reading, a co-author of the study, said, "Tropical forests are extraordinarily complex environments, and this discovery hints at just how precisely some animals have evolved to exploit them.

"You would think that a bright pink insect in a mostly green forest would stand out to predators like a worker in a high-vis jacket. The idea that an insect might gradually shift color to keep pace with the leaves it mimics shows how dynamic the rainforest can be, and is a remarkable example of camouflage in action."

The tiny Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa) has always fascinated researchers because, according to the rules of evolution, it shouldn't have survived as a species, let alone thrive as a species for over 100,000 years. Using advanced genetic mapping and comparison techniques to track how the Amazon molly's DNA has changed over time, a new study set out to uncover the genetic secrets behind this apparent rebellion against evolutionary theory.

The molly undergoes asexual reproduction and gives live birth to its young, which are its clones, because the species is made up entirely of females—much like the all-female Amazonian warriors of Greek mythology, from whom it gets its name, not the Amazon Basin (where it doesn't live).

As per Muller's ratchet, a standard evolutionary theory, they should have gone extinct because clonal organisms accumulate harmful mutations over time due to a lack of genetic diversity.

The genetic evidence from this study, published in Nature, shows that the Amazon molly picks up mutations faster than its sexual relatives, yet somehow avoids the expected genetic decay—the secret behind this surprising act of resilience is gene conversion. This process purges harmful mutations by spotting damaged genes, "copying" a healthy version of the same gene from another part of the fish's own DNA, and "pasting" it over the faulty region to overwrite the mistake.

www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10180-9)

Accidental origin of the species

The Amazon molly didn't slowly evolve into a new species, it was the result of a 100,000-year-old accident. A long time ago, near Tampico, Mexico, a female Poecilia mexicana mated with a male Poecilia latipinna and created the hybrid—the Amazon molly. Every fish of that species alive today traces its lineage back to that single cross.

Unlike hybrid animals like a liger or mule, which are sterile and cannot reproduce, the Amazon molly is fully capable of reproducing asexually. Inside the mother's ovaries are specialized cells that undergo a modified version of meiosis—a type of cell division in sexually reproducing organisms—where the pairing up of chromosomes from two parents and swapping genetic information before dividing doesn't occur.

Instead, the mother produces eggs that already contain a full, double set of DNA that develops into new fish that are genetically identical to the mother. This form of cloning is called apomixis.

For a long time, scientists believed sexual reproduction was essential for long-term survival because it shuffles genes, removing harmful mutations and combining beneficial ones. The Amazon molly, however, gets the same advantages without ever mating.

Previous studies hinted at its high genetic diversity and signs of gene conversion, but detailed, haplotype-resolved genomic data were still missing.

Clues hidden in the genetic code

In this study, the researchers filled in this knowledge gap by creating a highly detailed and complete map of the entire genetic code for the Amazon molly and its two parent species using advanced long-read sequencing technology.

The researchers combined Hi-C and trio-binning to unravel the Amazon molly's genome. While Hi-C showed how DNA folds into chromosomes, trio-binning separated the two parental DNA sets, letting them study each lineage independently.

They found widespread presence of gene conversion, which supports two different pathways to reverse or correct unwanted genetic mutations: adaptive, or positive, selection, which promotes beneficial genetic mutations that enhance an organism's fitness, and second is purifying, or negative, selection, which helps reduce the presence of harmful genetic variations within a population.

The team also observed a higher rate of genetic repairs happening near DNA that carry crucial biological instructions, such as immunity or cell signaling.

Another fascinating detail revealed by the genome map was that out of the two sets of DNA present in the Amazon molly, one from each ancestral parent, is that the P. mexicana half of the fish's DNA is mutating and changing faster than the P. latipinna half, with changes mirroring those happening to the original species in the wild.

The study sheds light on long-debated questions about the evolutionary costs of asexual reproduction and establishes gene conversion as a powerful mechanism for effectively offsetting the negative effects. The findings give rise to a new question for future studies to explore: Do other long-lived asexual species avoid Muller's ratchet through the same process or is there something completely different at play?

Arvoreznha, Brazil — Meet the admirable red-belly toad — a tiny amphibian found nowhere else on Earth but a small forest patch in southern Brazil. Don’t let its size fool you.

In 2014, it made history by halting the construction of a hydroelectric dam that would have wiped out its only home.

With just over 1,000 individuals left in the wild, the species is listed as critically endangered. In addition to climate change, the little toad suffers from the advance of agriculture and the threat of wildlife trafficking.

But this tiny hero doesn’t shy away from a challenge. In 2024, catastrophic floods swept through southern Brazil, submerging entire landscapes — including the fragile habitat this little survivor depends on. Did it make it through? Or was this finally too much? Michelle Abadie, a researcher who has been studying the species for more than 15 years, went to the field to find out. Mongabay joined her on this mission to discover why even the smallest creatures can have an outsized impact.

Curious to see what happens next? Press play.

---

This tiny toad stopped a giant dam. Then historic floods hit.

The video is about 6’30” long. The post also contains a transcript which I haven’t copied here.

Of all the crazy parts of our crazy system, the craziest part is where taxpayers pay for the research, then pay private companies to publish it, and then pay again so scientists can read it. We may not agree on much, but we can all agree on this: it is time, finally and forever, to get rid of for-profit scientific publishers.

Three striking new species of rock-dwelling monitor lizards have been formally described from the savannas of northeastern Queensland, revealing a previously unrecognized evolutionary lineage. The discovery, led by researchers from The Australian National University (ANU), identified the rainbow rock monitor (Varanus iridis), the orange-headed rock monitor (Varanus umbra) and the yellow-headed rock monitor (Varanus phosphoros).

Together, the three species represent the first rock-adapted monitors formally recorded from the eastern Australian savannas. "Australia has a few rock monitors, but they're all known from much further west," co-lead author Dr. Stephen Zozaya from ANU said. "These are the first rock monitors known from the eastern Australian savannas."

The team initially believed the lizards represented a single, variable species. "We were blown away when the first genetic results came back. These three species are more distinct from one another than many monitor species that have been recognized for decades," Dr. Zozaya said.

Detailed genetic and morphological analyses confirmed the three populations are distinct species that have been evolving independently for millions of years. The findings reshape our understanding of diversity within one of the world's most iconic lizard groups—the same lineage that includes the Komodo dragon.

"All three species names refer to light in some way, to highlight the beautiful and distinct coloration of each of the new species. We feel very lucky to have had the chance to describe them," Dr. Zozaya said.

The lizards, newly described in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, are closely tied to rocky outcrops scattered across the savanna landscape. Much remains unknown about their ecology, population sizes and exact distributions.

"These goannas are hard to find and hard to observe. More survey work—including records from nature enthusiasts—will be important for working out just how widespread these species really are," Dr. Zozaya said.

The discovery also underscores how much biodiversity remains undocumented in northern Australia. "These three species suggest there may still be a lot left to discover in northern Australia, even when it comes to large reptiles," Dr. Zozaya said.

Because monitor lizards attract significant attention from wildlife observers and reptile keepers, the species may face risk from habitat disturbance and illegal collection.

"Monitor lizards attract a lot of attention, from keen naturalists to reptile keepers. Unfortunately, some people searching for these animals are careless and damage cap-rock habitat—we've seen it firsthand," co-lead author and ANU Ph.D. researcher Wesley Read said. "Even slight rock displacement can make a shelter unusable. There's also a poaching risk, and we've already seen photos on social media showing some of these lizards in captivity.

"Most populations are in remote, rugged country, but I do worry about the most accessible areas. Time will tell."

The project brought together researchers, postgraduate students and experienced field naturalists. "We all fed off each other's excitement to get it done, and that made it really special," Read said.

The findings mark the first time rock-adapted monitors have been formally documented from the eastern Australian savannas, challenging long-held assumptions about where these specialized lizards occur and highlighting how much of Australia's reptile diversity remains to be uncovered.

Every animal carries a microscopic community of bacteria, fungi, and other microbes that play a critical role in health. These gut microbes help regulate the immune system, support digestion, and even influence how animals respond to stress. In birds, stress triggers the hormone corticosterone, which helps individuals cope with challenges. But when stress is prolonged or repeated, it can disrupt the balance of microbes in the gut, potentially affecting health in ways that aren't immediately visible.

Exploring stress and wild songbirds

While scientists have studied these stress–microbiome links extensively in mammals and domestic birds, little is known about how they operate in wild songbirds.

To fill this gap, Florida Atlantic University researchers and their collaborators studied free-living Northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis), a common territorial songbird, to examine how everyday challenges affect gut microbial communities.

The team characterized the birds' microbiomes before and after an 11-day period during which the birds experienced one of three conditions: repeated simulated territorial interactions with other males; a brief holding period following routine capture; or no treatment at all.

Alongside the microbiome, researchers recorded levels of corticosterone, body condition, and beak coloration—a carotenoid-dependent trait that signals diet, health, and fitness.

The results, published in Scientific Reports, reveal that even relatively mild challenges can leave a clear mark on the gut microbiome. Birds exposed to social or environmental stressors showed changes in the composition of their gut bacteria, while the total number of microbial types remained stable.

Notably, birds briefly held after capture exhibited larger and more consistent shifts in microbial communities than those exposed only to simulated social interactions, highlighting how short departures from normal routines can have measurable biological effects.

Findings show that even subtle, everyday challenges can have profound effects on an animal's internal ecosystem. By revealing the hidden links between stress, microbial communities, and indicators of health, the study offers a new perspective on how wild animals navigate the demands of their environment—and how their tiny microbial passengers reflect those experiences.

"These microbial changes were not just abstract numbers. They were closely linked to visible signs of health," said Rindy Anderson, Ph.D., senior author and an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences within FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Science.

"Birds whose gut microbes shifted the most also showed changes in beak color, stress hormone levels, and body condition. Stress doesn't affect all birds in the same way. Instead, the microbiome may serve as a sensitive indicator of how individual animals are responding to their environment."

The study also uncovered links between specific types of bacteria and measures of health. For instance, males whose beaks became more orange—a signal often tied to condition and diet—also tended to have the largest shifts in their gut microbiome.

Birds exposed to brief captivity showed changes in bacterial groups associated with stress and potential pathogens, whereas increases in beneficial bacteria were associated with better physiological condition. Stress hormone patterns mirrored these microbial shifts: in challenged birds, changes in corticosterone levels were strongly correlated with changes in gut microbes, while untreated birds showed little connection.

"This study shows that the microbiome can act like a biological record of what an animal has experienced," said Morgan C. Slevin, Ph.D., first author and alumnus of the Integrative Biology Ph.D. Program in the FAU Department of Biological Sciences.

"By working with birds in their natural environment, we can see how different challenges—whether social interactions, environmental changes, or brief disruptions—translate into real physiological changes that matter for health and fitness.

"These microbial shifts give us a window into the hidden ways wild animals respond to the world around them, helping us understand their resilience and overall well-being in ways we couldn't see from behavior alone."

Why these findings matter for conservation

By combining microbiome analysis with physiological measures and visual indicators of condition, the study offers one of the first integrated looks at how stress, health, and microbial communities interact in a free-living songbird. The findings underscore the importance of studying animals in their natural habitats, where behaviors and environmental conditions can shape biology in ways that captivity studies may miss.

"The gut microbiome could serve as a sensitive measure of how wild animals respond to environmental changes, urbanization, or other stressors, with potential applications for conservation, wildlife rehabilitation, and understanding population health," said Anderson.

Study co-authors are Jennifer L. Houtz, Ph.D., an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Allegheny College; and Maren N. Vitousek, Ph.D., an associate professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University.

Ultimately, the arguments over quantum mechanics have much bigger stakes: what reality is. The basic problem is that the theory tells us what we can expect to observe if we make measurements of a quantum system such as an atom or an electron. It doesn’t tell us how the world is, only what we’ll see if we look. Quantum uncertainty, the physicist and philosopher Jeffrey Bub of the University of Maryland told me, “doesn’t simply represent ignorance about what is the case, but a new sort of ignorance about something that doesn’t yet have a truth value, something that simply isn’t one way or the other before we measure.”

The genus Gracixalus belongs to the family of Old World Tree Frogs and is geographically dispersed from Myanmar and western Thailand to Laos, Vietnam, and further to southern China. Despite the considerable amount of research on the species richness of Gracixalus, little is known about their vocalizations.

To remedy this problem, Gracixalus weii in southwest China has been investigated from a bioacoustic standpoint by researchers led by Caichun Peng of the Guizhou Leigongshan Forest Ecosystem Observation and Research Station. The research is published in the journal Herpetozoa.

The study reveals an acoustic convergence between frog advertisement calls and avian communication systems—specifically, the call of Gracixalus weii is remarkably similar to a bird-like chirp commonly performed by the Black-Breasted Thrush (Turdus dissimilis) of the same region.

Similarities like these have frequently led researchers to underestimate frog populations during field surveys because their chirps are easily mistaken for local bird songs.

To the human ear, vocalizations in the Leigongshan Nature Reserve often sound like a melodious bird song because both the Gracixalus weii and Black-Breasted Thrush use a similar pattern: a longer introductory note, followed by two shorter notes, and almost identical pitches. This phenomenon provides evidence to suggest that the evolution of acoustic symbols in amphibians could be influenced by broad ecological interactions, including with that of birds.

The history of observed similarities between frog and bird vocalizations can be traced further back; the acoustic convergence recorded in the Himalayan rapids in 1984 between frogs in the genus Nanorana and the bird Phylloscopius maginostrostris, for instance, underpins these recent findings.

Cases like these demonstrate that bioacoustic data adds value to species identification, particularly because advertisement calls serve as species-specific courtship signals that play an important role in evolutionary diversification.

For cryptic species that may appear identical, acoustic features also provide a reliable alternative to morphological or molecular diagnosis, offering clear evidence for taxonomic validity. Additionally, since many species are difficult to visually observe in dense habitats, such as frogs hiding within bamboo, relying on vocal signatures ensures that biodiversity is not misidentified during field surveys.

The authors argue that future research should focus on combining morphological, genetic, and bioacoustic evidence to better understand the species richness and cryptic diversity within the genus Gracixalus. A key priority is conducting experimental work, specifically playback or "replay experiments," to observe how Gracixalus weii and the Black-breasted Thrush (Turdus dissimilis) respond to one another's calls.

As such, the song of Gracixalus weii is a reminder that a familiar tune can be the perfect disguise for a species we are only just beginning to understand.

Across the animal kingdom, sound is more than communication—it's a signal of survival and success. From birds and primates to insects, fish, and amphibians, animals broadcast acoustic "advertisements" to defend territory, attract mates, and reveal their physical condition. Because these calls can reflect traits such as body size, strength, or health, they play a powerful role in sexual selection and help shape how species compete and reproduce.

Parasites can influence these mating signals. Infections drain energy and trigger immune responses that weaken the body, altering traits tied to mating success, such as stamina and the quality of acoustic calls, sometimes disrupting how sounds are produced or perceived.

Adding to the complexity, some parasites infect hosts through predator-prey interactions. This means individuals that are larger or more effective at foraging—qualities often preferred by potential mates—may actually face a higher risk of infection. However, studies in amphibians have produced mixed results.

To explore this paradox, Florida Atlantic University researchers studied green treefrogs (Dryophytes cinereus) and oral frog tongueworm parasites (Halipegus occidualis) that live in the mouth and throat of frogs, to test whether food-web–transmitted parasites influence mating calls and female mate choice in a natural population.

During the breeding season, male green treefrogs gather in loud choruses around ponds, inflating their vocal sacs to produce repeated "honking" calls from nearby vegetation. Females use these calls to choose mates, typically favoring lower-frequency, faster, and sometimes longer calls—traits that often signal a larger or healthier male. Pulse patterns in the calls also help females recognize their own species.

Researchers recorded the calls of male green treefrogs in the wild and counted the number of tongueworm parasites in each frog's mouth. They then analyzed the recordings using audio software to measure features of the calls, such as frequency, length, and pulse structure. They aggregated calls into three infection categories: uninfected, moderately infected (five to eight adult worms), and heavily infected (more than nine adult worms).

To see how females responded, the team conducted two-choice playback experiments, broadcasting pairs of male calls and observing which one they approached.

Results of the study, published in the journal Current Zoology, suggest that choosy female green treefrogs may face a croak conundrum: the call traits they prefer—such as lower frequencies—are typically produced by larger males, which may also be more likely to carry parasites.

Tongueworm infections do influence the calls males use to attract mates, but not in the simple way scientists expected. Rather than just weakening signals, the parasites altered several call traits, creating a complex pattern that can change how females evaluate potential partners.

"Parasites don't always tell a simple story about health or weakness," said Sarah R. Goodnight, Ph.D., first author, a Ph.D. graduate of FAU Harbor Branch, and a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. "In this system, the frogs most successful at finding food may also be the ones most likely to pick up parasites. That means females are evaluating signals that can simultaneously advertise both strength and risk."

The findings challenge the long-standing Hamilton–Zuk hypothesis, which predicts that parasites reduce the quality of sexual signals and that females should prefer less-infected males. Instead, the pattern was more complex.

Larger male frogs—typically favored by females—also carried more tongueworm parasites, likely because males that eat more prey accumulate infections over time. Parasites subtly reshaped male calls: heavily infected frogs produced lower-frequency calls, a trait females usually prefer, but their calls were shorter, which can signal lower stamina.

Playback experiments revealed a similar pattern. Females avoided the most heavily infected males but often preferred males with moderate infections over uninfected ones, suggesting they weigh multiple signals at once—balancing traits linked to size and attractiveness against the risk of parasite infection.

Call duration appeared to play a particularly important role in this decision-making. Longer calls generally come from males with fewer parasites and greater energetic reserves, signaling vigor and lower infection risk. However, the relationship wasn't entirely straightforward: some moderately infected males produced longer calls than uninfected males, possibly because successful foragers accumulated both energy reserves and parasites.

"Mate choice is rarely based on a single trait," said Michael W. McCoy, Ph.D., co-author, associate director, FAU School of Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sustainability, and professor of quantitative ecology, Department of Biological Sciences, FAU Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.

"Our results show that parasites can reshape the information animals use when choosing partners by subtly changing multiple aspects of a male's call. Females may be responding to several signals at once, some linked to desirable traits like size and others hinting at infection. Understanding that complexity is critical for explaining how sexual selection actually works in natural populations."

The study reveals that parasites influence mate selection by altering multiple traits in male calls, creating a complex signal environment. Rather than just diminishing attractiveness, infections introduce nuanced cues that females must interpret, revealing how parasites subtly guide mating decisions and shape sexual selection in wild populations.

The study co-author is Ellen F. Titus with The Nature Conservancy.

Britain’s toads have begun their spring migration, putting them at even greater risk than usual. Here’s how – and why – we should look after them

There’s a touch of old magic about toads, those shapeshifters of myth, superstition and folklore. Charismatic creatures with the pleasing Latin binomial bufo bufo, common toads have astonishing copper- or gold-coloured eyes and rugged, textured skin. “People say they look warty, which I’ve always thought is a bit unfair,” says Dr Silviu Petrovan, a conservationist and toad population researcher.

More prosaically, toads are great for your garden. “We say toads are a gardener’s best friend, because they eat all the pests,” says Jenny Tse-Leon, the head of conservation and impact at the British amphibian charity Froglife. Their spring migration is a dramatic event, during which hundreds of thousands of animals travel back to their ancestral breeding ponds. “Like the wildebeest of the Serengeti,” says Tse-Leon. “They’re just a lot smaller than wildebeest.” The males “piggyback” on potential partners: “You see them riding on the female’s back to get a lift to the pond.”

Why do they need to be saved?

A study published by Petrovan and others last year found that, between 1985 and 2021, the population of common toads in the UK (as counted by toad patrols, of which more later) had fallen by 41%. “Because these are an abundant species, that represents vast numbers of individuals that have just disappeared,” says Petrovan.

Road mortality is a huge factor. The annual migration almost inevitably brings toads in contact with the UK’s dense road network – and they start moving at dusk, coinciding with rush hour. But our landscape is increasingly inhospitable to amphibians in other ways. Half of the UK’s ponds – approximately 400,000 – have been lost since 1900 and many of those that remain may be “heavily polluted”, Petrovan says.

Toads are also vulnerable to construction work, which can destroy the patches of woodland that serve as their terrestrial habitat, while conservationists believe it’s it’s likely that the invertebrates toads eat are in shorter supply, adversely affecting toad populations. “There is some evidence that, for instance, earthworm abundance has been declining,” says Petrovan.

Then there’s the climate crisis. Some studies suggest that warmer winters are problematic, Petrovan explains: “Toads will continue to expend energy during those mild winters, but, at the same time, they will not necessarily feed. Therefore, their body condition reduces and females end up producing fewer offspring.”

How can you help?

Join a toad patrol

Across the country, groups of volunteers spend spring evenings helping toads cross the road. It’s pretty simple: “You go along, look for the toads, pick them up, put them in the bucket and move them to the other side so that they can carry on with their migration,” Tse-Leon explains. More than 2 million toads have been helped by patrols since Froglife began recording in 1974; it also gathers data on toad numbers to assist research and inform planning decisions.

Mike Collins has been patrolling Charlcombe Lanein Bath for five years. Since the patrol began in 2003, half a mile of the road has been closed each year for six weeks in February and March to aid the migration. Collins finds great fulfilment in “being part of a community wanting to stand up for nature and make a difference”. One night last month, the patrol recorded 822 amphibians and helped 75 toads to cross; in 2025, they celebrated having saved a total of 50,000 toads. They also encounter other wildlife: deer, shrews, even great crested newts.

Since the patrol started, the toad casualty rate in the area has dropped from about 60% to 3%. “There’s that real sense of collective endeavour,” says Collins. “You’re part citizen scientist, collecting the data that is important for the scientists, but you’re also part conservationist, helping them on their way.”

Now is the time to get involved: toads are on the move during the wet, milder days of spring. If you live in Great Britain, you can find your nearest patrol on the Froglife website and register to volunteer, or even to start a patrol.

Build a pond

“Having a bit of water makes a huge difference. They say the first inch of water that you add to your garden is the most biodiverse,” says Tse-Leon. “Even if you don’t have your own garden, there might be a green space where you can still do it – if you’ve got an allotment, a community garden, a school, you can do a pond.”

Unless it’s very large and deep, it’s unlikely toads will breed in your pond, but it will encourage the insects they eat and may attract other amphibians. The ideal pond for amphibians is free of fish and has gently sloping edges with a deeper middle. (Froglife’s downloadable leaflet, Just Add Water, provides full instructions.)

Leave spawn alone


Although it’s something people have done traditionally to stock their ponds, it’s not a good idea to collect wild frog and toad spawn to hatch at home, says Tse-Leon. “There’s evidence that disease has been spread around the country by movements of spawn.”

Create a winter Toad Hall


In winter, toads go into brumation – a dormant period similar to hibernation – and need safe places to do it. “One of the best things people can do in their gardens is to have overwintering sheltering space,” says Tse-Leon. “It might be leaving an area overgrown and not cutting back all the vegetation, leaving leaf litter on the ground.”

If you’re extra-keen, you can build a hibernaculum: a log pile covered with soil with gaps for amphibian access. “It helps to keep the temperature stable, for them to overwinter,” says Tse-Leon. More information is available on Froglife’s website.

Make green spaces toad-friendly


Toads are ambush predators. “They will sit in a good position and pretty much try to eat whatever crosses in front of them – earthworms, slugs, ants,” Petrovan says. Avoiding pesticides and planting thoughtfully can support them. “Areas of your garden that are planted up well and have a lot of insect diversity will benefit toads,” says Tse-Leon.

Consider including areas of longer grass – they stay cooler and are good spots for toads to forage – as well as wildflowers and other insect-friendly plants. This goes for common spaces, too. In Bath, Collins’ community has created a nature reserve: “We have a whole load of amphibians in there.”

Lobby your MP


Wildlife and Countryside Link, the largest environment and wildlife coalition in England, of which Froglife is a member, has six “asks” for the water reform bill, which will be introduced during this parliament. These include tougher regulation and the creation and protection of corridors of wetland and water habitat. Make your MP aware.

Scientists at Germany's Jülich Research Centre are preparing to run one of the most ambitious brain simulations ever attempted using JUPITER, currently the world's fourth most powerful supercomputer[^1]. The simulation aims to model 20 billion neurons and 100 trillion connections - equivalent to the human cerebral cortex[^1].

Led by neurophysics professor Markus Diesmann, the team demonstrated in late 2025 that their "spiking neural network" model could be scaled up to run on JUPITER's thousands of graphical processing units[^1][^2]. "We know now that large networks can do qualitatively different things than small ones," said Diesmann[^1].

The simulation could help researchers:

• Test theories of brain functionality impossible to study with real brains
• Investigate how memories form
• Model diseases like epilepsy and test potential treatments
• Study learning processes at accelerated speeds[^1]

However, University of Sussex professor Thomas Nowotny cautions about the limitations: "We can't actually build brains. Even if we can make simulations of the size of a brain, we can't make simulations of the brain."[^1]

This effort builds on recent progress in brain mapping, including the 2024 completion of the first fruit fly brain circuit map[^3]. The JUPITER simulation represents a significant advance over previous attempts like the Human Brain Project, which struggled to achieve similar goals despite substantial funding[^3].

[^1]: New Scientist - We're about to simulate a human brain on a supercomputer

[^2]: The Conversation - A new supercomputer aims to closely mimic the human brain

[^3]: Futurism - Scientists Preparing to Simulate Human Brain on Supercomputer

An exceptionally flexible region of the spine enables falling cats to twist the front and back halves of their body sequentially to ensure a safe landing.

Archived link

...

Cats famously always land on their feet. If you hold a cat upside down and drop it, the animal will quickly wriggle in mid-air and land confidently on its feet.

Quite how cats achieve this has been challenging scientists for over 100 years.

...

[Now a new study found that] they have a secret trick: a region of their spine that is exceptional at twisting.

“We compared the flexibility of the thoracic spine and lumbar spine in cats, and we found that the thoracic spine is very flexible,” says Yasuo Higurashi at Yamaguchi University in Japan.

...

The study also threw up a strange detail. Both of the live cats rotated to the right as they fell: one did so every time, the other in six out of eight trials. Gbur says an audience member at one of his talks noticed that the cats in his videos also seemed to turn to the right. “It looks like, at least anecdotally, cats seem to have a rough preference for which way they twist,” he says. It’s not clear why; it may be that asymmetries in the placement of cats’ internal organs mean it’s easier to turn one way than the other.

...