1,162 results
- Ecosystems
Wild donkeys and horses engineer water holes that help other species
Dozens of animals and even some plants in the American Southwest take advantage of water-filled holes dug by these nonnative equids.
- Genetics
The oldest animal DNA ever recovered reveals mammoths’ evolution
Mammoths evolved to handle the cold over hundreds of thousands of years and North America may been home to a hybrid species, a new study finds.
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- Paleontology
Ancient Lystrosaurus tusks may show the oldest signs of a hibernation-like state
Oddball ancestors of mammals called Lystrosaurus might have slowed way down during polar winters.
- Animals
Apple TV+’s ‘The Elephant Queen’ shies away from hard truths
The Elephant Queen offers an intimate look into the lives of elephants, but the documentary largely avoids threats the animals face.
- Animals
Jumping spiders’ remarkable senses capture a world beyond our perception
Clever experiments and new technology are taking scientists deep into the lives of jumping spiders, and opening a portal to their experience of the world.
- Plants
Rats with poisonous hairdos live surprisingly sociable private lives
Deadly, swaggering rodents purr and snuggle when they’re with mates and young.
- Materials Science
This soft robot withstands crushing pressures at the ocean’s greatest depths
An autonomous robot that mimics the adaptations of deep-sea snailfish to extreme conditions was successfully tested at the bottom of the ocean.
- Animals
Guttural toads shrank by a third after just 100 years on two islands
Introduced in the 1920s, toads on two islands in the Indian Ocean have shrunken limbs and bodies that may be evidence that "island dwarfism" can evolve quickly.
- Animals
Naked mole-rat colonies speak with unique dialects
Machine learning reveals that these social rodents communicate with distinctive speech patterns that are culturally inherited.
- Anthropology
How environmental changes may have helped make ancient humans more adaptable
An East African sediment core unveils ecological changes underlying a key Stone Age transition.
- Health & Medicine
Capturing the sense of touch could upgrade prosthetics and our digital lives
Haptics researchers are working on ways to add touch to virtual reality, online shopping, telemedicine and advanced artificial limbs.
