Nature's October Science and Wildlife Highlights

The month of October featured several significant scientific observations and photographic achievements across various disciplines, ranging from deep-sea biology to space exploration and archaeology.

Marine and Biological Discoveries

In marine biology, an international 'species discovery' workshop held in Buenos Aires in July resulted in the identification of 57 new marine species and 5 genera. These discoveries include corals, sea cucumbers, and crustaceans. Many of the samples were collected by the deep-sea remotely operated vehicle SuBastian during an expedition led by the Schmidt Ocean Institute to Argentina’s Mar del Plata Canyon in August 2025. Among the new species is 'Loki', described as a pale sea cucumber with a blob-like body that features two stubby apendages (Peniagone sp.).

In entomology, researchers studied the mechanics of a honey bee (Apis mellifera) stinger. Fiorella Ramirez-Esquivel, a sensory ecologist at the University of New South Wales in Canberra, and collaborators detached a stinger to study its pumping mechanism. They discovered that the process involves two collapsible cylinders that act as pistons to inject venom, called apitoxin, into a gel.

Archaeology and Wildlife

In northern Spain, a dig in a cave has yielded the remains of a 46,000-year-old Neanderthal. The findings, which included a well-preserved hand and analyses of what researchers described as well-preserved ancient DNA, were presented in Tarraga, Spain, on 19 October. These findings have not yet been peer reviewed.

In wildlife photography, several notable images were captured:

• In northwestern Namibia, Federico Veronesi photographed an elephant carrying a dead calf. Researchers have documented a range of mourning behaviours in African elephants (Loxodonta spp.), including carrying and guarding the dead.
• In Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, photographer Tony Wu captured two specimens of Abbott’s moray eel (Gymnothorax eurostus) in what could be the first photo documenting their spawning behaviour. Wu used a red light because the animals spawn at night and are sensitive to other colours of light.
• In Indonesia, rescuers were documented carrying an adult female orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) across a palm-oil plantation in Laman Satong on 30 September, as Indonesia experiences its worst wildfire season in a decade.

Space and Atmospheric Observations

Space exploration activities included the following:

• NASA’s Astrobee, a cubic robot approximately 30 centimetres across, continues to work in the microgravity environment inside the International Space Station (ISS). The three Astrobees work autonomously or are controlled by ISS astronauts or Earth-bound flight controllers to perform tasks like drawing up inventories and recording experiments.
• On 9 October, the Canadian-built arm of the ISS, Canadarm2, held a Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft during undocking operations, which were released about 420 kilometres above the North Atlantic Ocean.
• On 13 October, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on a resupply mission to the ISS.
• The European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-1 used polarized radar to picture the sea underneath Typhoon Surigae as it lingered off the coast of Japan on 28 September. The false-colour image shows rough surface conditions caused by strong winds in orange, while calmer seas at the eye of the storm appear dark blue.

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Sources

• nature.com: See a tardigrade shed its skin — October’s best science images

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.