Search Results for: Vertebrate
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1,502 results
- Animals
The Brazilian flea toad may be the world’s smallest vertebrate
Brazilian flea toads are neither a flea nor a toad, but they are almost flea-sized. The frogs are small enough to fit on a pinkie fingernail.
- Neuroscience
Ancient viruses helped speedy nerves evolve
A retrovirus embedded in the DNA of some vertebrates helps turn on production of a protein needed to insulate nerve cells, aiding speedy thoughts.
- Animals
See 3-D models of animal anatomy from openVertebrate’s public collection
Over six years, researchers took CT scans of over 13,000 vertebrates to make museum collections more easily accessible to researchers and the public.
- Life
Megalodon, the largest shark ever, may have been a long, slender giant
The ancient shark is typically imagined with the scaled-up stout frame of a modern great white. But in life, the giant may have been more elongated.
- Paleontology
An extinct sofa-sized turtle may have lived alongside humans
Peltocephalus maturin was one of the biggest turtles ever, but unlike similarly sized prehistoric freshwater turtles, it lived thousands of years ago.
- Paleontology
The oldest known fossilized skin shows how life adapted to land
The nearly 290 million-year-old cast belonged to a species of amniotes, four-legged vertebrates that today comprises all reptiles, birds and mammals.
- Science & Society
Humans exploit about one-third of wild vertebrate species
An analysis of nearly 47,000 vertebrate animal species reveals that using them for food, medicine or the pet trade is helping push some toward extinction.
- Planetary Science
The desert planet in ‘Dune’ is plausible, according to science
Humans could live on the fictional planet Arrakis from Dune but (thankfully) no giant sandworms would menace them.
- Health & Medicine
Newly identified stem cells can lure breast cancer to the spine
A new type of stem cell discovered in mice and humans might explain why cancer that spreads to other body parts preferentially targets the spine.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, scientists suspected that lost sense of smell could be restored
Cells responsible for humans’ sense of smell can regenerate. Now, research spurred on by the pandemic could help answer questions about the process.
- Paleontology
Dinosaur feathers may have been more birdlike than previously thought
Feather proteins can change during fossilization, raising questions about what dinosaur feathers really can tell us about feather evolution.
- Neuroscience
Chickadees use memory ‘bar codes’ to find their hidden food stashes
Unique subsets of neurons in a chickadee’s memory center light up for each distinct cache, hinting at how episodic memories are encoded in the brain.
