Life

  1. Animals

    Swimming evolved several times in treetop ants

    Certain ants living in tropical forest canopies turn out to be fine swimmers.

    By
  2. Animals

    Feedback

    Readers discuss mammal milk, ancient human genetics and hand washing techniques.

    By
  3. Animals

    It’s hard being a sea otter mom

    The energy requirements of lactation may explain why some female sea otters abandon their young.

    By
  4. Life

    Dinos straddled line between cold- and warm-blooded

    Tyrannosaurus rex and other dinosaurs straddled line between cold- and warm-blood, a new analysis finds.

    By
  5. Tech

    Exoskeleton helps paraplegic kick off World Cup

    A paralyzed person wearing a brain-controlled robotic exoskeleton has made the first kick at the 2014 soccer World Cup.

    By
  6. Life

    California mite becomes fastest land animal

    Despite being the size of a sesame seed, the Paratarsotomus macropalpis mite can outpace Usain Bolt and even a cheetah in terms of body lengths per second.

    By
  7. Genetics

    Chimp and human lineages may have split twice as long ago as thought

    New estimates of chimpanzee mutation rates suggest humans and chimps last shared a common ancestor 13 million years ago.

    By
  8. Neuroscience

    Crayfish get anxious, too

    After receiving a shock, crayfish act anxious, avoiding brightly lit areas.

    By
  9. Animals

    Look beyond pest species to find beauty in cockroaches

    A few pest species give the group a bad name, but exotic roaches include an amazing diversity of colors and lifestyles.

    By
  10. Animals

    See your lawn through a bird’s eyes with YardMap

    A new web tool lets you map your outdoor spaces and wildlife habitat, helping scientists understand how birds use urban and suburban spaces.

    By
  11. Paleontology

    Ancient fish may have set stage for jaws

    A fish called Metaspriggina walcotti, which lived roughly 500 million years ago, had body parts that may have later evolved into jaws.

    By
  12. Animals

    Ant sperm swim as a team

    The desert ant has sperm that swim in bundles for extra speed, perhaps increasing their likelihood of fertilizing an egg.

    By