The art of becoming

The chameleon bends light through structure. Beneath its skin lie layers of cells that manipulate reflection, shifting crystal lattices to alter the wavelengths that reach our eyes. A mood, a rival, a shift in temperature, and forest-green suddenly blooms across its flanks.

The moment, captured on video by researchers from the Auckland University of Technology, has quickly attracted international attention.

While octopuses are known for their intelligence and problem-solving abilities, such behaviour is highly unusual. Researchers suggest the octopus may have been using the shark as cover, attempting to avoid predators or navigate more efficiently through the water. It is also possible the octopus was defending itself after an attempted predation by the shark.

Unlike many animals, oysters do not have sex chromosomes. Instead, their gender is dependent on environmental factors—a process known as environmental sex determination. 

With rising carbon dioxide levels leading to the increased acidification of the oceans, a team of researchers led by Xin Dang and Vengatesen Thiyagarajan sought to find out how the gender ratio of oysters across generations is affected as a result.

Venomous animals have evolved a diversity of toxins to incapacitate prey and defend against predators. Many of these toxins have become valuable tools in basic and biomedical research and have been developed as drug leads, drugs, and diagnostic agents.

Researchers from the American Museum of Natural History have discovered that the porosity in mussel shells along the East Coast of the United States has increased. The cause is believed to be rising ocean temperatures.  

Porosity can affect the structural integrity of mollusk shells, so this means that the shells are weaker and thus more susceptible to damage. 

The findings was published in the journal PLOS ONE. 

For the most part, most research have focussed on the impact of oceanic temperature changes on adult animals, but few looked at the animals' early life stages. A study by researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara gives a useful insight into this specific area. 

Focussing on the larvae of the Kellet's whelk, a common sea snail in Southern California, it showed that rising temperatures will adversely impact the larvae. 

Scientists at the University of California, Davis, are using ultrasound to find out whether abalone are ready to reproduce.

This non-invasive, no-contact method is kinder than the normal method of getting the info, which involves having to pry them off the surface they are suctioned upon.

Researchers led by Louisiana State University (LSU) alumna Joanna Griffiths from Portland, Oregon, and her faculty advisor LSU Department of Biological Sciences Associate Professor Morgan Kelly reveals why some oysters may be more resilient to freshwater than others. 

Griffiths wanted to find out whether, due to transgenerational plasticity, oysters that lived in low salinity would have offspring that was more resistant to low salinity.

Transgenerational plasticity occurs when a generation’s flexibility is passed on to the next generation.

Using a modified version of the Stanford marshmallow test, researchers at the Marine Biological Laboratory (The University of Chicago) discovered that cuttlefish had the ability to delay gratification for a better reward—and those that were able to do it for a longer duration possessed better cognitive learning abilities.

The findings, which demonstrated the link between self-control and intelligence, was published recently in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal.