There are more than 1,400 species of bat found all over the world. They have conquered every habitat except Antarctica and a few remote oceanic islands. So what makes bats so successful?

Over their 50-million years of evolution, bats have developed ingenious solutions to life’s challenges. In uncovering the secrets of bats’ “superpowers,” scientists are discovering just how much these amazing animals can teach us.

Read more about bats’ superpowers on Nat Geo: Why Bats Are the Real Superheroes of the Animal World.

In a new paper, animal welfare researchers reviewed the scientific literature to ask if animals can develop diagnosable clinical depression. They found worrying evidence in chronically stressed laboratory rats and animals living in sub-optimal conditions, such as intensively kept pigs, but a diagnosis of depression in another species is still elusive.

Read the whole story at my Animal Minds blog: Can Animals Experience Depression?

Human geneticists from around the world convened virtually on October 18-22 for the 2021 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) to share the latest discoveries in human genetics and genomics, as well as explore implications for human health and society.

I worked with ASHG to produce press releases for this meeting that highlight findings related to evolutionary and population genetics, complex traits and polygenic disorders, epigenetics and gene regulation, and more. To view the press releases, click here.

Data visualizations can be powerful tools for communicating science. But careless or incorrect figures can misrepresent data and mislead the public. If you look out for a few common errors, you can be a savvier consumer of data visualizations.

Check out the factsheet I wrote for the American Society of Human Genetics: Interpreting Scientific Figures and Statistics.

Every dog is a good boy or girl. But it turns out that a few of them may also be geniuses. According to a new study, some uniquely gifted dogs are capable of learning up to 12 new toy names in just one week — and remembering the new names for at least two months. The tests were part of the Genius Dog Challenge, a social media campaign aimed at locating more dogs with knowledge of object names.

Read the whole story at my Animal Minds blog: Are Some Dogs Geniuses at Learning Words?