Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Readers weigh in on mathematical animals and more
Animal math, dinosaur digestion and more in reader feedback from our December 10, 2017, issue.
- Earth
Devastation detectives try to solve dinosaur disappearance
Dinosaurs and others faced massive losses 66 million years ago from an asteroid impact, volcanic eruptions or maybe a mix of the two.
- Paleontology
With dinosaurs out of the way, mammals had a chance to thrive
The animals that lived through the great extinction event had a range of survival strategies to get them through.
- Life
Some lucky birds escaped dino doomsday
Dino doomsday took out early birds too, but a lucky few survived.
- Paleontology
Bony head ornaments signal some supersized dinosaurs
Bony headwear, like bumps and horns, is tied to bigger bodies in the theropod dinosaur family tree.
- Paleontology
Ancient otter of unusual size unearthed in China
Fossils unearthed in China reveal a newly discovered, now-extinct species of otter that lived some 6.2 million years ago.
- Paleontology
Ancient giant otter unearthed in China
Fossils unearthed in China reveal a newly discovered, now-extinct species of otter that lived some 6.2 million years ago.
- Life
Asteroid barrage, ancient marine life boom not linked
Impacts from asteroid debris probably didn’t trigger the boom in marine animal diversity around 471 million years ago during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.
- Paleontology
Baby dinosaurs took three to six months to hatch
Growth lines on teeth indicate a surprisingly long incubation period.
- Life
What a mosquito’s immune system can tell us about fighting malaria
Immune system messengers carried in microscopic sacs help mosquitoes fend off malaria, new research suggests.
- Animals
Desert ants look to the sky, rely on memory to navigate backward
Desert ants appear to use a combination of visual memory and celestial cues to make it back to the nest walking butt-first, researchers find.
- Animals
How desert ants navigate walking backward
Desert ants appear to use a combination of visual memory and celestial cues to make it back to the nest walking butt-first, researchers find.
