Animals
- Life
Surprising primate fossils found in an Indian coal mine
Bones of a 54.5-million-year-old primate suggest India might have been a hotbed of early primate evolution.
- Ecosystems
Earthworms: Can these gardeners’ friends actually become foes?
Asian jumping worms can strip leaf litter from floor of U.S. forests, new data show. Many native plants need that leaf litter for their seeds to germinate.
- Animals
Giant slugs snack on baby birds
When they accidentally run into bird nests sitting on the ground, some slugs help themselves to a free, easy meal of bird chicks.
- Fossils
Mini pterosaur from the age of flying giants
Not all pterosaurs flying the Cretaceous skies had a wingspan as wide as a school bus is long. Some, new fossils show, were smaller than modern eagles.
- Brain
Good dog! Canine brains separate tone of speech from its meaning
Dogs brains divide up the tasks of interpreting words and interpreting emotion. It’s a skill that may have evolved even before people did.
- Animals
Meet scientists who take on the study of life
What does a scientist look like? Meet these amazing women in biology.
- Animals
Bee underfeeds eldest daughter, creating ‘nursemaid’
By giving a brood’s firstborn female smaller portions and a low-protein diet, a mother bee can turn the offspring into a nursemaid for her younger siblings.
- Health & Medicine
Cool Jobs: Linking animal health to human health
Scientists who watch out for diseases in wild animals also can play a role in keeping people from getting sick.
- Materials Science
Beetles offer people lessons in moisture control
Taking tricks from a beetle, researchers are designing surfaces that collect water from the air or resist frost buildup.
- Chemistry
Got milk? Roach milk could be a new superfood
Scientists have just figured out the recipe for cockroach milk. And that could be a first step toward making it part of the human diet. Yum!
- Genetics
Wolf species shake-up
A genetic study says red wolves and eastern wolves may really be mixtures of coyotes and gray wolves, not distinct species.
- Life
Plants, animals adapt to city living
Cities have turned into experiments in evolution for both plants and animals, from the taste of clover to the stickiness of lizards’ toes.
