3,470 results
- Animals
Fish beware: Bottlenosed dolphins may be able to pick up your heartbeat
Fish, sharks and platypuses are adept at sensing electrical signals living things give off. Bottlenosed dolphins make that list too, studies suggests.
- Animals
Belugas may communicate by warping a blob of forehead fat
Jiggling the “melon” like Jell-O seems to be associated with sexual behaviors, scientists say.
- 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.
- Life
These scientific discoveries set new records in 2023
This year’s record-breaking findings shed new light on human history and the most amazing feats in the animal kingdom.
- Animals
These nesting penguins nod off over 10,000 times a day, for seconds at a time
Micronaps net chinstrap penguins over 11 hours of sleep a day, offering some rest while staying vigilant against predators and competitors.
- Genetics
Here are 5 cool findings from a massive project on 240 mammal genomes
A new series of studies on mammal genetics is helping scientists start to answer questions about evolution, cancer and even what makes us human.
- Health & Medicine
Bird flu can jump to mammals. Should we worry?
Reports of bears and sea lions infected with H5N1 have sparked fears about the pandemic potential of bird flu. Experts are keeping a close eye on its spread.
- 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
‘Thunder beast’ fossils show how some mammals might have gotten big
Rhinolike mammals called brontotheres repeatedly evolved into bigger and smaller species, a fossil analysis shows. The bigger ones won out over time.
- Life
A vaccine for bees has an unexpected effect
Honeybees vaccinated against a bacterial disease were also protected from a viral disease.
- Animals
Bowhead whales may have a cancer-defying superpower: DNA repair
Bowhead whale cells repair damaged DNA exceptionally well, an ability that could prevent cancer and help the marine mammals live for centuries
- Genetics
A genetic parasite may explain why humans and other apes lack tails
Around 25 million years ago, a stretch of DNA inserted itself into an ancestral ape’s genome, an event that might have taken our tails away.
