Animals
-
Animals
Dino-bird had wings made for flapping, not just gliding
Archaeopteryx fossils suggest the dino-birds were capable of flapping their wings in flight.
-
Neuroscience
Readers muse about memory, magnetic monopoles and more
Readers had questions about the physical trace of memory, magnetic monopoles, blowflies and more.
-
Animals
This baby bird fossil gives a rare look at ancient avian development
A 127-million-year-old fossil of a baby bird suggests diversity in how a group of extinct birds grew.
-
Anthropology
Humans don’t get enough sleep. Just ask other primates.
Short, REM-heavy sleep bouts separate humans from other primates, scientists find. Sleeping on the ground may have a lot to do with it.
By Bruce Bower -
Animals
In a pack hunt, it’s every goatfish for itself
Pack hunting among goatfish is really about self-interest.
By Susan Milius -
Earth
By 2100, damaged corals may let waves twice as tall as today’s reach coasts
Structurally complex coral reefs can defend coasts against waves, even as sea levels rise.
-
Animals
Penguin supercolony discovered in Antarctica
Scientists have found a penguin supercolony living on tiny, remote Antarctic islands.
By Katy Daigle -
Animals
It’s official: Termites are just cockroaches with a fancy social life
On their latest master list of arthropods, U.S. entomologists have finally declared termites to be a kind of cockroach.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
A new species of tardigrade lays eggs covered with doodads and streamers
These elegant eggs hint that a tardigrade found in a Japanese parking lot is a new species.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
This scratchy hiss is the closest thing yet to caterpillar vocalization
A new way that caterpillars make noise may involve (tiny) teakettle‒style turbulence.
By Susan Milius -
Earth
New mapping shows just how much fishing impacts the world’s seas
Industrial fishing now occurs across 55 percent of the world’s ocean area while only 34 percent of Earth’s land area is used for agriculture or grazing.
-
Genetics
The last wild horses aren’t truly wild
The ancestor of today’s domesticated horses remains a mystery after a new analysis of ancient horse DNA.