Biology

Nov 11th, 2025 - It's quick and easy to access Live Science Plus, simply enter your email below. We'll send you a confirmation and sign you up for our daily newsletter, keeping you up to date with the latest science news. Scientists have identified three new toad species that give birth to live "toadlets" rather than laying eggs. All three species are part of the Nectophrynoides genus, also known as "tree toads," which is a group known for birthing live baby toads that skip the tadpole stage. Previously thought ... [Read More]

Nov 11th, 2025 - Follow Earth on Google Far beneath the Pacific Ocean's surface, where light fades and the pressure could crush steel, scientists came across a brand new limpet species, Pectinodonta nautilus , clinging to a piece of sunken wood. It wasn't treasure or lost cargo – it was life. A small community of deep-sea creatures had made the log their home, nearly 8,000 feet (2,400 meters) down. And right there, attached to that forgotten fragment of tree, was a sea snail that had never been seen ... [Read More]

Nov 11th, 2025 - Scientists believe new discovery to be the oldest crocodilian eggshells ever found in Australia Scientists have identified what are believed to be the oldest crocodilian eggshells ever found in Australia, unearthed in a grazier's back yard in regional Queensland . The 55m-year-old eggshells – found at a fossil deposit in Murgon, approximately 270km north-west of Brisbane – likely belong to a group of extinct crocodiles known as mekosuchines, new research suggests. Modern saltwater ... [Read More]

Nov 11th, 2025 - Flinders University fossil experts have unearthed more clues about why kangaroos and wallabies have endured to become one of the continent's most prolific marsupial groups. They have analyzed the powerful limbs of Australia's earliest "true" kangaroo—the shared ancestor of modern-day kangaroos and wallabies. The paleontologists focused on the limb bones of the extinct Dorcopsoides fossilis, found only in the rich Alcoota fossil field in the southern Northern Territory. Lead investigator ... [Read More]

Nov 11th, 2025 - Follow Earth on Google Paleontologists can often tell you what a creature was and where it lived, but not always exactly when. Many fossil-rich layers around the world are only coarsely dated because they lack the tidy time stamps of nearby volcanic ash.  Without precise ages, it's tough to line up ecosystems across continents, track evolutionary bursts, or test whether extinctions and climate jolts truly coincided. Minerals such as zircon or apatite sometimes save the day, but they aren't ... [Read More]

Nov 10th, 2025 - The name of a new species of fossil billfish honors a world-leading paleontologist who inspired generations of young researchers. Zealandorhynchus fordycei is named after the late Emeritus Professor Ewan Fordyce, a renowned vertebrate paleontologist who had a 40-year career at the University of Otago—Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka Department of Geology. Professor Fordyce passed away in November 2023 but his legacy lives on. A paper recently in the journal Gondwana Research describes two ... [Read More]

Nov 10th, 2025 - From cancer-resistant mole rats to 200-year-old whales, evolution has equipped long-lived species with unique biological strategies. Aging brings about a range of changes—often unwelcome—to our bodies: sagging skin, graying or thinning hair, and a decline in muscle strength and vitality. But aging also affects us on the inside, altering proteins and other biomolecules in ways that increase our risk of developing chronic diseases—such as cancer, Alzheimer's, and diabetes ... [Read More]

Nov 10th, 2025 - A new study reveals that the impact humans are having on the Amazon rainforest is so profound it is even changing the evolutionary history and functionality of the forests. As the world gathers at COP30 to discuss climate in the world's largest rainforest, the focus is often on the carbon that these forests either store or sequester. However, tropical forests are much more than just carbon: they are among the biggest reservoirs of biodiversity on the planet. For example, the Amazon holds up to ... [Read More]

Nov 10th, 2025 - Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. . Y ou've likely heard of coprolites, or fossilized feces, from which paleontologists can tell a lot about the ancient animals who deposited them. You've maybe even heard of gastroliths, stones swallowed by herbivorous dinosaurs to help grind their fibrous diets. These trace fossils often contain a wealth of knowledge that scientists can use to reconstruct the ancient world and the beasts that inhabited it. Now there's a new trace fossil on the ... [Read More]

Nov 10th, 2025 - As Australian Pollinator Week (8–16 November) gets underway, new research has found that many Australians have poor awareness of Australian native bee species—revealing a significant gap in public understanding of the nation's bee biodiversity. Australia is home to more than 1,700 described native bee species, with hundreds more yet to be scientifically identified—a diversity that remains largely unrecognized by the public. A study led by University of Southern Queensland ... [Read More]

Nov 9th, 2025 - Follow Earth on Google A new study describes Wudingloong wui , an early long-necked dinosaur found in Yunnan, China. It is the oldest known member of its group in East Asia, dating to about 200 million years ago. The fossil comes from rocks that sit at the very base of the Jurassic in the region. That timing makes this species a key marker for when early long-necked dinosaurs first took hold in this part of the world. Meet the early sauropodomorph Wudingloong was a member of the sauropodomorphs ... [Read More]

Nov 9th, 2025 - It's quick and easy to access Live Science Plus, simply enter your email below. We'll send you a confirmation and sign you up for our daily newsletter, keeping you up to date with the latest science news. Creatures like sea stars, jellyfish, sea urchins and sea anemones don't have brains, yet they can capture prey, sense danger and react to their surroundings. So does that mean brainless animals can think? "Brainless does not necessarily mean neuron-less," Simon Sprecher , a professor of ... [Read More]

Nov 9th, 2025 - Follow Earth on Google A new duck-billed dinosaur from northern New Mexico turns out to be a species we did not have on the books. It lived about 75 million years ago in the late Cretaceous, when rivers laced a warm, coastal plain. The fossils were first collected in 1916, but then filed under a different name for decades. Careful re-study shows those bones belong to a completely new animal species. What the team found The reanalysis identifies the duck-billed skull as a new species of ... [Read More]

Nov 8th, 2025 - By California may not live up to every movie stereotype, but there's a reason it's known for its coastal lifestyle and sandy beaches. There's nothing quite as magical as being out on the water on a sunny day! You can see marine mammals like sea lions , harbor seals, and whales while cruising California's coast, but a lucky group of whale watch tour guides recently witnessed something even more magical. It was a 'stampede' of dolphins ! The massive pod must've included thousands of dolphins, and ... [Read More]

Nov 7th, 2025 - During a day at the beach, it's common to see people walking up and down the shore collecting seashells. As a paleontologist and marine ecologist , we look at shells a bit differently than the average beachcomber. Most people dig up shells in the sand and see beautiful color patterns or unusual shapes. But we tend to focus on how old these shells are and what they tell us about the habitat they come from. You may be surprised to learn that the translucent spiral shell you plucked from the sand ... [Read More]

Nov 6th, 2025 - Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. . T hough their wriggling, oozing forms may provoke a shudder, worms seem like uniquely fragile creatures—prone to getting flattened underfoot, flash-dried on a sidewalk, or crushed in the beaks of the early birds that patrol the dawn. And yet, scientists have recently discovered one species of worm that would inspire the envy of any survivalist: It endured multiple mass extinction events across a half billion years without ever changing its ... [Read More]