Cells have two chances to fix the same mistake in their protein-making process instead of just one – a so-called proofreading step – that had previously been identified, according to new research.

New software developed with help from the Wildlife Conservation Society will allow tiger researchers to rapidly identify individual animals by creating a three-dimensional model using photos taken by remote cameras. The software, described in an issue of the journal Biology Letters, may also help identify the origin of tigers from confiscated skins.

The long tails sported by many male birds in the tropics look like they're a drag to carry around and a distinct disadvantage when fleeing predators, but experiments by University of California, Berkeley, biologists shows that they exact only a minimal cost in speed or energy – at least in hummingbirds.

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have identified a key protein that links the morning and evening components of the daily biological clock of plants.

Biofilms are everywhere – in dental plaque and ear canals, on contact lenses and in water pipelines – and the bacteria that make them get more resilient with age, finds a new study in FEMS Microbiology Letters.

Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) have for the first time made high-resolution images of the earliest stages of bone formation. They used the world's most advanced electron microscope to make three-dimensional images of the nano-particles that are at the heart of the process. The results provide improved understanding of bone, tooth and shell formation. For industrial applications, they promise better materials and processes based on nature itself. The findings form the cover story of Science magazine's Friday 13 March edition.

Tiny, lightweight fruit flies need to know when it's windy out so they can steady themselves and avoid being knocked off their feet or blown off course. But how do they figure out that it's time to hunker down? According to a team led by California Institute of Technology (Caltech) scientists reporting in this week's issue of the journal Nature, the flies have evolved a specialized population of neurons in their antennae that let them know not only when the wind is blowing, but also the direction from which it is coming.

Someone in the developing world – particularly in rural Africa - dies from a rabid dog bite every 10 minutes.

Researchers have developed a new mouse model that allows them to replicate normal pigment cells at the earliest stages of conversion to malignant skin cancer in humans. After testing the mouse with a combination of two drug therapies, the team found the treatment caused a statistically significant regression in cancer cell development.