Life
- Paleontology
An ammonite’s last supper
A detailed X-ray image of a fossil reveals an ancient marine creature’s diet.
- Life
Spider sex play has its pluses
In the tricky world of arachnid mating, messing around with not-quite-mature females yields later benefits.
- Paleontology
Oceans may have poisoned early animals
High sulfur and low oxygen produced a deadly brew nearly 500 million years ago that apparently stalled a burst of evolutionary change.
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- Life
Robins reject red glowing grub
Parasitic worms induce a color change in their caterpillar victims that's literally repulsive to predators.
- Life
Flower sharing may be unsafe for bees
Wild pollinators are catching domesticated honeybee viruses, possibly by touching the same pollen.
- Humans
Google a bedbug today
With no good technological solutions, entomologists call on the public to remain eternally vigilant against a resurgent foe.
- Life
Neandertal relative bred with humans
Known only through DNA extracted from a scrap of bone, a Siberian hominid group suggests a much more complicated prehistory for Homo sapiens.
- Life
Genes separate Africa’s elephant herds
Genetic work reveals forest and savanna pachyderms as distinct species.
- Life
Gene genesis
About a quarter of present-day life's DNA blueprint had been sketched out by 2.8 billion years ago, a new analysis finds.
- Animals
Female chimps play with ‘dolls’
Youngsters mimic mothering by cradling sticks, reigniting debate over sex differences in toy choices.
- Earth
Bugged forests bad for climate
Trees savaged by pine beetles are slow to recover their ecological function as greenhouse gas sponges.
