Animals

  1. Paleontology

    A baby ichthyosaur’s last meal revealed

    A new look at an old fossil shows that some species of baby ichthyosaurs may have dined on squid.

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  2. Oceans

    Castaway critters rafted to U.S. shores aboard Japan tsunami debris

    Researchers report finding 289 living Japanese marine species that washed up on American shores on debris from the 2011 East Japan earthquake and tsunami.

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  3. Animals

    Bedbugs may be into dirty laundry

    When humans aren’t around, bedbugs go for the next best thing: smelly human laundry.

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  4. Paleontology

    This giant marsupial was a seasonal migrant

    The giant, extinct marsupial Diprotodon optatum migrated seasonally, the first marsupial shown to do so.

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  5. Paleontology

    This giant marsupial was a seasonal migrant

    A new analysis suggests that Diprotodon optatum, a giant plant-eating marsupial that went extinct about 40,000 years ago, migrated long distances, much like today’s zebras and wildebeests.

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  6. Animals

    To test sleep, researchers don’t let sleeping jellyfish lie

    Upside-down jellyfish are the first known animals without a brain to enter a sleeplike state.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    From day one, a frog’s developing brain is calling the shots

    Frog brains help organize muscle and nerve patterns early in development.

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  8. Environment

    The way poison frogs keep from poisoning themselves is complicated

    Gaining resistance to one of their own toxins forced some poison dart frogs to make other genetic tweaks, too.

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  9. Paleontology

    Shhhh! Some plant-eating dinos snacked on crunchy critters

    Scientists studying dinosaur poop found that some duck-billed dinos cheated on their vegetarian diets by snacking on crustaceans.

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  10. Animals

    This newfound hermit crab finds shelter in corals, not shells

    A newly discovered hermit crab takes its cue from peanut worms and uses walking corals as a permanent shelter.

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  11. Tech

    Nature offers inspiration, and occasionally courage

    Acting Editor in Chief Elizabeth Quill discusses how nature can inspire people to make long-lasting change.

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  12. Animals

    Bat brain signals illuminate navigation in the dark

    New lab technologies that let bats fly freely allow scientists to track nerve cell signals as the animals dodge and weave.

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