"A new bat species was discovered on Bioko Island in Africa’s Equatorial Guinea, officially marking the 1,500th unique bat species known in the world today. Pipistrellus etula was discovered by Laura Torrent, PhD student at the BiBio Research Group, Natural Sciences Museum of Granollers (and former Bat Conservation International Student Scholar), and colleagues, while conducting a biodiversity assessment on the island."
For more on the discovery and on P. etula, see the link above.
An innovative approach supercharges the innate immune system to provide a first line of defence against respiratory infections.
Posted Feb 19 2026
Imagine if a nasal spray could make you immune not only to the viruses that cause COVID-19 and influenza, but to all respiratory diseases. In a paper published in Science today, researchers describe a vaccine that has done just that. When given to mice, the vaccine protected them for at least three months against multiple disease-causing viruses and bacteria — including the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 — and even quelling responses to respiratory allergens.
If the research translates to humans safely and effectively, such a ‘universal vaccine’ could be offered to everyone at the start of each winter — and perhaps provide a first line of defence against future pandemics.
This quote rubs me as being disrespectful or something of the expertise of taxonomists when it comes to taxonomy....
Image description: screenshot of a section of an email that reads: "Quote of the day
“If we can look at this animal and see what it’s doing, and it looks like a dire wolf and acts like a dire wolf, I’m going to call it a dire wolf. And my colleagues who are taxonomists will disagree with me.”
Beth Shapiro, the chief science officer of Colossal Biosciences, acknowledges the debate over the company’s efforts to ‘de-extinct’ animals — such as its latest headline-grabber, a wolf genetically edited to have some characteristics of the extinct dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus). (Wired | 12 min read)"
The article referenced in the quote above:
Startup Colossal Biosciences has edited the DNA of a gray wolf to produce what it says is a de-extincted animal. Does that make it a true di
Funfact! Common Vampire Bats are being used to make Blood-Thinners and Painkillers with less side effects than most name-brand drugs!
https://realitypathing.com/benefits-of-studying-vampire-bats-for-medical-research/
What even is that site, this article on vampire bats stands out like a sore thumb amid the parenting advice and the pseudoscience...though the information the article does provide is correct, it is also devoid of real information and is just a vague overview of what research is being done with vampire bats (or the writing is so "fluffy" I'm zoning out). It also feels like a rewrite of an old Nature article I came across while fact checking (not linked here because I had issues with a paragraph in it that made it sound like Ebola was present in a species of bat that it most certainly wasn't, English is such a wonderful language).
Ahem. Sorry, let me get back on topic.
^Draculin is one of the components in common vampire bat saliva that keeps blood liquid so it can lap it up.
^Desmoteplase is a drug developed by Lundbeck that's based on Draculin. It did not perform very well in tests, and in 2014, Lundbeck announced that they were discontinuing development of this drug.
Intravenous desmoteplase administered 3 to 9 hours after acute ischemic stroke in patients selected with perfusion/diffusion mismatch is ass
^The results from the clinical trials of Desmoteplase, published in 2005? Not clear on exact dates.
Desmolaris, a major anticoagulant from vampire bat saliva, has been identified as a novel FXIa inhibitor. Desmolaris inhibits arterial throm
^As for the pain killer, this anticoagulant present in vampire bat saliva interferes with blood clots in arteries (arterial thrombosis) and inhibits inflammation. Study published in 2013, but I was not able to find any indication that any drug company has had any luck developing it into a drug as yet (I could be wrong on this, I am tired).
The social lives of vampire bats is also the focus of research, I recommend checking out the Carter Lab for more information:
I’m Gerry Carter, an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University. My work mainly focus
