Life

More Stories in Life

  1. photo of Kristine Bohmann using a vacuum to collect air samples near a sloth hanging from a tree
    Animals

    Scientists vacuumed animal DNA out of thin air for the first time

    The ability to sniff out animals’ airborne genetic material has been on researchers’ wish list for over a decade.

    By Jude Coleman
  2. image of a woman smelling an orange
    Genetics

    A genetic analysis hints at why COVID-19 can mess with smell

    People with some genetic variants close to smell-related genes had an 11 percent higher risk of losing their sense of taste or smell.

    By Erin Garcia de Jesús
  3. fossilized skeletons of four kungas lying side by side
    Animals

    Part donkey, part wild ass, the kunga is the oldest known hybrid bred by humans

    Syria’s 4,500-year-old kungas were donkey-wild ass hybrids, genetic analysis reveals, so the earliest known example of humans crossing animal species.

    By Jake Buehler
  4. image of three Jonah’s icefish around two circular nests
    Animals

    The largest group of nesting fish ever found lives beneath Antarctic ice

    Researchers stumbled upon a fish breeding colony of unprecedented size, spanning a territory slightly larger than Baltimore.

    By Jake Buehler
  5. a dolphin looking at the camera
    Animals

    Female dolphins have a clitoris much like humans’

    The similarities suggest female dolphins experience sexual pleasure, which may explain why the species is so randy all the time.

    By Lesley Evans Ogden
  6. A goldfish in a clear tank that is attached to wheels
    Animals

    Here’s what goldfish driving ‘cars’ tell us about navigation

    When measuring intelligence, the saying goes, don’t judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree. But what about its ability to drive a vehicle?

    By Maria Temming
  7. image of a fossilized wasp
    Paleontology

    See stunning fossils of insects, fish and plants from an ancient Australian forest

    Thousands of fossils at an Australian site show a rare glimpse into the continent’s wetter history over 11 million years ago.

    By Carolyn Gramling
  8. a European hedgehog next to a mossy plant
    Microbes

    Drug-resistant bacteria evolved on hedgehogs long before the use of antibiotics

    A standoff between bacteria and antibiotic-producing fungi living on hedgehogs may have led to the rise of one type of MRSA some 200 years ago.

    By Carolyn Wilke
  9. illustration of a skeleton with the nervous system highlighted
    Neuroscience

    ‘Feeling & Knowing’ explores the origin and evolution of consciousness

    In the book Feeling & Knowing, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio suggests that consciousness evolved as a way to keep essential bodily systems steady.

    By JP O'Malley