Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Via congruent observations in geological samples and pyrolysis experiments, the authors demonstrate that 26-alkylsteranes posited as sponge biomarkers can form during diagenesis of common algal sterols.
By subjecting chlorophyte lipid extracts to pyrolysis, the authors demonstrate that the lipid biomarkers 24-isopropylcholestane and 24-n-propylcholestane can be generated from algal C29 sterol in experiments simulating diagenetic processes, thereby undermining their status as sponge biomarkers.
An analysis of the overlap between tropical forest restoration, human populations, development and national policies for community forest ownership shows that 294.5 million people live within forest restoration opportunity land in the Global South.
Comparing historical records with contemporary camera trap surveys, the authors report widespread declines in the occurrence of four large carnivore species from protected areas within the distributional range of the giant panda.
The costs of echolocation during flight were thought to be negligible for bats, but here it is shown that this is true only below a certain intensity threshold. Above 130 dB, the costs of sound production become too expensive for small bats.
The German site of Schöningen preserves rare examples of Palaeolithic wooden artefacts. Here, a 300,000-year-old spruce wood implement is interpreted as a throwing stick on the basis of microscopic use-wear analysis.
Bird species with a higher propensity towards innovative behaviours are at a lower risk of global extinction and are more likely to have increasing or stable populations than less innovative birds
An analysis of 102 genomes shows remarkable levels of gene loss in ecdysozoans and deuterostomes and large genome novelties in deuterostomes and protostomes.