Animals

  1. Anthropology

    A fossil mistaken for a bat may shake up lemurs’ evolutionary history

    On Madagascar, a type of lemur called aye-ayes may have a singular evolutionary history.

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  2. Life

    How salamanders can regrow nearly complete tails but lizards can’t

    Differences in stem cells in the spinal cord explain the amphibians’ ability.

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  3. Tech

    Here’s what robots could learn from fire ants

    Fire ants’ secret to success is prioritizing efficiency over fairness. Robot teams could use that strategy to work more efficiently in tight, crowded quarters.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    A resurrected gene may protect elephants from cancer

    Researchers have found another gene that may play a role in explaining elephants’ cancer resistance.

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  5. Animals

    In the animal kingdom, what does it mean to be promiscuous?

    A review of hundreds of scientific studies finds that the label “promiscuous” is applied to a surprisingly wide range of mating behaviors in animals.

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  6. Paleontology

    What ‘The Meg’ gets wrong — and right — about megalodon sharks

    A paleobiologist helps Science News separate shark fact from fiction in the new Jason Statham film The Meg.

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  7. Animals

    A ghost gene leaves ocean mammals vulnerable to some pesticides

    Manatees, dolphins and other warm-blooded marine animals can't break down organophosphates due to genetic mutations that occurred long ago.

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  8. Animals

    This killifish can go from egg to sex in two weeks

    The fastest known maturing vertebrate in the lab is even faster in the wild.

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  9. Genetics

    The first detailed map of red foxes’ DNA may reveal domestication secrets

    Thanks to a newly deciphered genome of red foxes, researchers have pinpointed regions in the animals’ DNA linked to taming them.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Rat lungworm disease is popping up in the mainland United States

    A disease caused by a parasite endemic to Asia sickened at least 12 people in eight states in the continental United States from 2011 to 2017.

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  11. Paleontology

    Fossil teeth show how a mass extinction scrambled shark evolution

    The dinosaur-destroying mass extinction event didn’t wipe out sharks, but it did change their fate.

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  12. Animals

    With one island’s losses, the king penguin species shrinks by a third

    Once home to the largest known colony of king penguins, Île aux Cochons has lost most of its birds for unknown reason.

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