Life

  1. Animals

    What parrots can teach us about human intelligence

    By studying the brains and behaviors of parrots, scientists hope to learn more about how humanlike intelligence evolves.

    By
  2. Neuroscience

    Handwriting may boost brain connections more than typing does

    Students asked to write words showed greater connectivity across the brain than when they typed them, suggesting writing may be a better boost for memory.

    By
  3. Ecosystems

    How an invasive ant changed a lion’s dinner menu

    An invasive ant is killing off ants that defend trees from elephants. With less cover, it’s harder for lions to hunt zebras, so they hunt buffalo instead.

    By
  4. Animals

    A bird flu outbreak is sweeping the globe. Its long-term effects are unclear

    A reporter’s recent trip to the Galápagos offered a chance to reflect on the bird flu outbreak, which has killed millions of birds and other animals.

    By
  5. Life

    Some honeybees in Italy regularly steal pollen off the backs of bumblebees

    New observations suggest that honeybees stealing pollen from bumblebees may be a crime of opportunity, though documentation of it remains rare.

    By
  6. Plants

    This first-of-its-kind palm plant flowers and fruits entirely underground

    Though rare, plants across 33 families are known for subterranean flowering or fruiting. This is the first example in a palm.

    By
  7. Life

    These snails give live birth, and it’s the babies that may do the labor

    Protecting eggs in mom’s body may have given rough periwinkle snails an advantage over egg-laying cousins, letting them spread to far more coastline.

    By
  8. Life

    Megalodon, the largest shark ever, may have been a long, slender giant

    The ancient shark is typically imagined with the scaled-up stout frame of a modern great white. But in life, the giant may have been more elongated.

    By
  9. Life

    How disease-causing microbes load their tiny syringes to prep an attack

    Tracking individual proteins in bacterial cells reveals a shuttle-bus system to load tiny syringes that inject our cells with havoc-wreaking proteins.

    By
  10. Chemistry

    Here’s how tardigrades go into suspended animation

    A new study offers more clues about the role of oxidation in signaling transitions between alive and mostly dead in tardigrades.

    By
  11. Animals

    A new exhibit invites you into the ‘Secret World of Elephants’

    As elephants face survival threats, the American Museum of Natural History highlights their pivotal role in shaping landscapes — and their resilience.

    By
  12. Animals

    Some mysteries remain about why dogs wag their tails

    Wagging is a form of communication, with different wags meaning different things, but scientists know little about the behavior’s evolution in dogs.

    By