Search Results for: Vertebrates
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1,536 results for: Vertebrates
- Paleontology
Groovy Bones: Mammalian ear structure evolved more than once
Fossils of an ancient egg-laying mammal indicate that the characteristic configuration of the bones in all living mammals' ears arose independently at least twice during the group's evolution.
By Sid Perkins - Animals
Color at Night: Geckos can distinguish hues by dim moonlight
The first vertebrate to ace tests of color vision at low light levels—tests that people flunk—is an African gecko.
By Susan Milius - Paleontology
Old Softy: Tyrannosaurus fossil yields flexible tissue
Scientists analyzing fragments of a Tyrannosaurus rex's leg bone have recovered soft, pliable material, including structures that apparently are cells and blood vessels.
By Sid Perkins - Plants
Green Red-Alert: Plant fights invaders with animal-like trick
Mustard plants' immune systems can react to traces of bacteria with a burst of nitric oxide, much as an animal's immune system does.
By Susan Milius - Paleontology
Plenty of dinosaurs yet to be found
Despite a dramatic surge in dinosaur discoveries in recent years, paleontologists won't soon run out of interesting new fossils to unearth, a new analysis suggests.
By Sid Perkins - Paleontology
The big fish that went away . . .
Fossils found near Charleston, S.C., suggest that an extinct species of billfish related to today's swordfish and marlin would easily exceed the lengths documented for world-record specimens of those oft-sought sports fish.
By Sid Perkins - Planetary Science
Mars or Bust!
Scientists are working to overcome the biomedical challenges that would hinder a human voyage to Mars.
By Katie Greene - Paleontology
Subway dig in L.A. yields fossil trove
Fossil finds made when a subway line was extended from Los Angeles into the San Fernando Valley include bones of mastodons, ground sloths, extinct bison and camels, and 39 new species of fish.
By Sid Perkins - Paleontology
. . . and the big bird that didn’t
The California condor, one of today's largest and rarest birds, may have survived the last ice age because of its varied diet.
By Sid Perkins -
Learning to Listen
Disparate groups of creatures, including bats, toothed whales, and birds, have evolved biological sonar that they use to track prey, but other creatures have evolved ways to detect this sonar and thereby increase their odds of survival.
By Sid Perkins - Animals
Cool Birds
Emperor penguins go to such extremes to cope with life in Antarctica that they've inspired interesting science as well as a hit movie.
By Susan Milius -
Worm to elephant: New genome targets
The National Human Genome Research Institute has released a list of 18 wildly different creatures as targets for genome sequencing.
By Susan Milius