A newfound ‘croakless’ frog may communicate via touch
A newfound species of frog doesn’t ribbit. In fact, it doesn’t make any sound at all. Many frogs have unusual characteristics, from turning translucent to…
Category: Life
Are your cats having fun or fighting? Here are some ways to tell
Are your cats play fighting or fighting fur real? It turns out that certain behaviors in domestic cats could be telltale signs that an interaction…
76 percent of well-known insects fall outside protected areas
The existing boundaries of national parks and other habitat preserves aren’t enough to protect more than three-quarters of the world’s well-studied insects. The finding, reported…
Prairie voles can find partners just fine without the ‘love hormone’ oxytocin
Prairie voles have long been heralded as models of monogamy. Now, a study suggests that the “love hormone” once thought essential for their bonding —…
Birds that dive may be at greater risk of extinction
Birds that dive underwater — such as penguins, loons and grebes — may be more likely to go extinct than their nondiving kin, a new…
Fossils suggest early primates lived in a once-swampy Arctic
The Arctic today is a hostile place for most primates. But a series of fossils found since the 1970s suggest that wasn’t always the case.…
A bird with a T. rex head may help reveal how dinosaurs became birds
A 120-million-year-old fossil bird found in China could offer some new clues about how landbound dinosaurs evolved into today’s flying birds. The dove-sized Cratonavis zhui…
Some young sea spiders can regrow their rear ends
No backside, no problem for some young sea spiders. The creatures can regenerate nearly complete parts of their bottom halves — including muscles, reproductive organs…
A rare rabbit plays an important ecological role by spreading seeds
A crucial link in the life cycle of one parasitic plant may be found in a surprising place — the bellies of the descendants of…
Chicken DNA is replacing the genetics of their ancestral jungle fowl
Today’s red jungle fowl — the wild forebears of the domesticated chicken — are becoming more chickenlike. New research suggests that a large proportion of…
Scientists have found the first known microbes that can eat only viruses
New Year, new viral diet — literally. Tiny, pond-dwelling Halteria ciliates are virovores, able to survive on a virus-only diet, researchers report December 27 in…
These adorable Australian spike-balls beat the heat with snot bubbles
Animals cover themselves in all kinds of unsavory fluids to keep cool. Humans sweat, kangaroos spit and some birds will urinate on themselves to survive…
Meet some of the microbes that give cheeses flavor
Cheese making has been around for thousands of years, and there are now more than 1,000 varieties of cheese worldwide. But what exactly makes some…
Jumping beans’ random strategy always leads to shade — eventually
Given enough time, jumping beans will always find their way out of the sun. Jumping beans, which are really seed pods with twitchy moth larvae…
Sleeping glass frogs hide by storing most of their blood in their liver
As tiny glass frogs fall asleep for the day, they take almost 90 percent of their red blood cells out of circulation. The colorful cells…
Scientists thought snakes didn’t have clitorises. They were wrong
Female snakes have clitorises too, a new study finds. The research raises the possibility that the sex lives of snakes are more complicated and diverse…
Katydids had the earliest known insect ears 160 million years ago
Over 100 million years ago, the chirps of insects known as katydids dominated the sounds of Earth’s nights. Now, fossils reveal what the katydid ears…
The ancestor to modern brewing yeast has been found hiding in Ireland
In 1516, the duchy of Bavaria in Germany imposed a law on its beer brewers meant to reserve ingredients like wheat and rye for the…
A natural gene drive could steer invasive rodents on islands to extinction
In the battle against the invasive house mouse on islands, scientists are using the rodent’s own genes against it. With the right tweaks, introducing a…
Why the sale of a T. rex fossil could be a big loss for science
Tyrannosaurus rex isn’t just a king to paleontologists — the dinosaur increasingly reigns over the world of art auctions. A nearly complete skeleton known as…
This dinosaur may have had a body like a duck’s
A dinosaur unearthed in Mongolia is making a splash among paleontologists, as its sleek physique adds potential evidence to the idea that some dinos were…
Rats can bop their heads to the beat
Humans aren’t the only animals known to move to a musical beat. For instance, parrots do it, too. And now rats have been observed bopping…
Long considered loners, many marsupials may have complex social lives
Marsupials may have richer social lives than previously thought. Generally considered loners, the pouched animals have a wide diversity of social relationships that have gone…
These devices use an electric field to scare sharks from fishing hooks
A new gadget takes advantage of sharks’ sixth sense to send the fish scurrying away from deadly hooks. Sharks, rays and their relatives can detect…
Tiger sharks helped discover the world’s largest seagrass prairie
Scientists have teamed up with tiger sharks to uncover the largest expanse of seagrasses on Earth. A massive survey of the Bahamas Banks —…
This newfound tarantula is the first known to make its home in bamboo
Meet “bambootula.” This newfound tarantula gets its nickname from the tall, stiff-shafted grass in which it makes a home in northern Thailand. Taksinus bambus, as…
Africa’s fynbos plants hold their ground with the world’s thinnest roots
Some plant roots draw a line in the sand — literally. In South Africa, you can move between cool, green forest and sunbaked shrubland in…
Why kitchen sponges are the perfect home for bacteria
Ask bacteria where they’d like to live, and they’ll answer: a kitchen sponge, please. Sponges are microbe paradises, capable of housing 54 billion bacteria per…
Fossils show a crocodile ancestor dined on a young dinosaur
For the first time, scientists have found indisputable evidence that an ancient crocodile ancestor chowed down on a dinosaur. Preserved within a fossilized crocodyliform, a…
A diamondlike structure gives some starfish skeletons their strength
Some starfish made of a brittle material fortify themselves with architectural antics. Beneath a starfish’s skin lies a skeleton made of pebbly growths, called ossicles,…
Fossils reveal what may be the oldest known case of the dino sniffles
The prehistoric world wasn’t a paradise free of disease, but diagnosing ancient ailments is tricky: Germs usually don’t fossilize well. Now, though, researchers have unearthed…
How the Human Genome Project revolutionized understanding of our DNA
In October 1990, biologists officially embarked on one of the century’s most ambitious scientific efforts: reading the 3 billion pairs of genetic subunits — the…
Fossils reveal that pterosaurs puked pellets
Picture it: Two hungry pterosaurs, one adult and one juvenile, settle down to dig in to a delicious lunch of fish. Down their gullets the…
Earth may have 9,200 more tree species than previously thought
Trillions of trees are growing on Earth, though how many kinds there are has been underestimated, a new study finds. Earth hosts roughly 64,100 known…
Male elephant seals aim to get huge or die trying
If you’re a male northern elephant seal, your car-sized bulk is crucial to your genetic legacy, since only a fraction of the very largest males…
‘Origin’ explores the controversial science of the first Americans
OriginJennifer RaffTwelve, $30 Scientific understanding of the peopling of the Americas is as unsettled as the Western Hemisphere once was. Skeletal remains, cultural artifacts such…
Gory footage confirms orca pods can kill adult blue whales
Killer whales are skilled assassins, hunting everything from herring to great white sharks. Now, for the first time, scientists witnessed a pod of killer whales…
A faulty immune response may be behind lingering brain trouble after COVID-19
A tussle with COVID-19 can leave people’s brains fuzzy. SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19, doesn’t usually make it into the brain directly. But the immune…
A new device helps frogs regrow working legs after an amputation
The cells of adult frogs seem to remember how to regrow lost legs, and a new chemical kick starter helps them hop to it. Scientists…
Gut microbes help some squirrels stay strong during hibernation
Gut microbes give some squirrels a helping hand to stay strong during hibernation. The microorganisms appear to help the squirrels recycle nutrients to keep the…
Urban animals may get some dangerous gut microbes from humans
Animals moving into the big city could be getting more than they bargained for. Gut microorganisms from humans in cities may be spilling over into…
Americans tend to assume imaginary faces are male
There may be a reason we see a man, rather than a maiden, in the moon. When people spot facelike patterns in inanimate objects, those…
An Arctic hare traveled at least 388 kilometers in a record-breaking journey
Arctic hares can go the distance. A member of Lepus arcticus in northern Canada has traveled farther than anyone knew possible. BBYY, as the adult…
Scientists uncover the secret to fishing cats’ hunting success
When the famously enigmatic fishing cat hunts in deep water, it keeps calm and stays still. At least, most of the time. Asia’s Prionailurus…
A ‘trapdoor’ made of muscle and fat helps fin whales eat without choking
Some of the world’s largest whales feed by lunging through the water with mouths wide open. Scientists have long wondered how the animals withstand the…
These tiny beetles fly fast thanks to wing bristles and a weird, wide stroke
Featherwing beetles are some of the world’s smallest flying insects. Yet they can rocket along with the speed and agility of much larger insects. Now,…
Scientists vacuumed animal DNA out of thin air for the first time
On a dreary winter day in December of 2020, ecologist Elizabeth Clare strolled through the Hamerton Zoo Park in England wielding a small vacuum pump.…
A genetic analysis hints at why COVID-19 can mess with smell
For many people, one of the fastest tip-offs that they have COVID-19 is the loss of taste or smell. Now researchers have pinpointed some genetic…
Female dolphins have a clitoris much like humans’
Dolphins have active sex lives, with frequent dalliances not just for reproduction. One reason may be that the prominent female dolphin clitoris provides sexual pleasure.…
Here’s what goldfish driving ‘cars’ tell us about navigation
It might seem like a fish needs a car like — well, like a fish needs a bicycle. But a new experiment suggests that fish…