Life
- Paleontology
This ancient sea worm sported a crowd of ‘claws’ around its mouth
A newly discovered species of arrow worm that lived over half a billion years ago had about twice as many head spines as its modern kin.
- Life
Embryos kill off male tissue to become female
Female embryos actively dismantle male reproductive tissue, a textbook-challenging study suggests.
- Neuroscience
How an itch hitches a ride to the brain
Scientists have figured out how your brain registers the sensation of itch.
- Health & Medicine
A new tool could one day improve Lyme disease diagnosis
There soon could be a way to differentiate between Lyme disease and a similar tick-associated illness.
- Animals
Giant larvaceans could be ferrying ocean plastic to the seafloor
Giant larvaceans could mistakenly capture microplastics, in addition to food, in their mucus houses and transfer them to the seafloor in their feces.
- Animals
These spiders crossed an ocean to get to Australia
The nearest relatives of an Australian trapdoor spider live in Africa. They crossed the Indian Ocean to get to Australia, a new study suggests.
- Life
Polluted water: It’s where sea snakes wear black
Reptile counterpart proposed for textbook example of evolution favoring darker moths amid industrial soot.
- Astronomy
What do plants and animals do during an eclipse?
A citizen science experiment will gather the biggest dataset to date of animal responses to a total eclipse.
- Animals
Why midsize animals are the fastest
New analysis delves into the mystery of why medium-sized animals are speedier than bigger ones.
- Genetics
The first look at how archaea package their DNA reveals they’re a lot like us
Archaea microbes spool their DNA much like plants and animals do.
- Genetics
Gene editing creates virus-free piglets
Pigs engineered to lack infectious viruses may one day produce transplant organs.
- Anthropology
Infant ape’s tiny skull could have a big impact on ape evolution
Fossil comes from a lineage that had ties to the ancestor of modern apes and humans, researchers argue.
