Biology

Mar 11th, 2026 - By A landmark ocean expedition off Japan's coast has confirmed 38 new species and identified 28 more candidates, including two worms found living inside the skeleton of a deep-sea glass sponge. The Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census expedition launched in June 2025 in partnership with the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). Scientists aboard the JAMSTEC research vessel Yokosuka deployed the Shinkai 6500 , a crewed submersible, to explore two understudied deep-sea ... [Read More]

Mar 11th, 2026 - 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. Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Get the Live Science Newsletter Get the world's most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and ... [Read More]

Mar 11th, 2026 - To most people, calories are the North Star of nutrition: a rigid quantity assigned to each and every food that never wavers or changes. Two individuals who eat the exact same thing in the exact same amount will always absorb the exact same number of calories, right? Or will they? "This is probably one of the more robust dietary myths that circulates," Janice Dada, MPH, RDN , a certified intuitive eating counselor based in California, tells SELF. Contrary to what you've probably thought all ... [Read More]

Mar 11th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google A juvenile great white shark caught off Spain has become one of the clearest modern records of the species in the Spanish Mediterranean. That single animal forces a reconsideration of waters long treated as empty of white sharks, raising new urgency around where young individuals may be coming from. A juvenile shark appears Pulled aboard by local fishers, the shark measured nearly 7 feet (2.1 meters) long and weighed 176 to 198 pounds (80 to 90 kilograms). Examining that ... [Read More]

Mar 11th, 2026 - Everything we thought we knew about where magic mushrooms came from is probably wrong. Magic mushrooms are stepping out of the underground and into the clinic. Increasing evidence suggests that psilocybin mushrooms help with treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), addiction, and psychiatric illnesses related to a growing global mental health crisis. At the center of this psychedelic renaissance is Psilocybe cubensis , the golden-capped fungus cultivated by ... [Read More]

Mar 10th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Scientists have discovered that a 7.2 million-year-old thigh bone from Bulgaria preserves unmistakable anatomical traits associated with upright walking in a very early human relative. The discovery pushes clear evidence of bipedal movement deeper into the past and places a critical chapter of human evolution in southeastern Europe. Bone from Azmaka Recovered from river-laid sediments near Chirpan in southern Bulgaria, the fossil preserves most of a right femur belonging ... [Read More]

Mar 10th, 2026 - These tiny teeth prove that our earliest relatives moved across North America much faster than we thought. Sixty-six million years ago, a massive asteroid smashed into Earth. Life has undergone at least five mass extinctions in the last 500 million years, but this one particularly stands out. It wiped out all the non-avian dinosaurs and plunged the planet into a devastating ecological crisis. But out of the ashes of the Cretaceous period, a new cast of characters quickly emerged. Among these ... [Read More]

Mar 10th, 2026 - By A team of researchers in one of Thailand's most biodiverse national parks lifted a single rock near their campsite and found a scorpion no one had ever formally described. It was barely an inch long, armed with slender speed-snap claws, covered in sensory hairs that detect the faintest shift in the air, and equipped with a full set of eight eyes. The species, Scorpiops krachana , may exist nowhere else on Earth. Zoologist Wasin Nawanetiwong and colleagues from and partner institutions were ... [Read More]

Mar 10th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google In most mammals, a newborn spends almost all of its time with its mother. The mother feeds, protects, and guides the baby through the early stages of life. This pattern appears in many animals, from tiny land mammals to large marine mammals such as whales and dolphins. However, scientists sometimes observe another interesting behavior in social animals. Young animals may interact with adults that are not their parents. Scientists call this behavior allomaternal behavior. ... [Read More]

Mar 10th, 2026 - How a collection of London pigeons and Galápagos mockingbirds provided the receipts for Darwin's biggest ideas. Nearly 200 years after Charles Darwin stepped off the HMS Beagle , his luggage is still giving up secrets. We often think of the story of how we came up with the theory of evolution by natural selection as an abstract "aha!" moment. But for Darwin, it was a gritty, material process. It was about jars, beetles, bones, and thousands of pages of notes. It turns out, the famed ... [Read More]

Mar 10th, 2026 - Two mass strandings involving hundreds of dolphins in Argentina probably happened because the pods were being hunted by orcas, highlighting the role of predators in these mysterious events Hundreds of stranded dolphins in Argentina appear to have become trapped while escaping hungry orcas in a tragic lose-lose situation. Videos shared on social media and citizen science platforms have helped scientists unravel the mystery behind two deadly mass stranding events in recent years, says Magdalena ... [Read More]

Mar 10th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google A new study suggests a major group of plant viruses was already circulating in wild Eurasian plants long before agriculture, long before global trade, and even before the last Ice Age.  The research focuses on tymoviruses, a family of viruses that now infect both wild plants and important crops.  The results hint that their evolutionary story stretches back tens of thousands of years – while their modern, worldwide spread looks much more recent and very ... [Read More]

Mar 10th, 2026 - A small dinosaur that forces some big changes. "Terrible Lizards"—That's the literal translation of the term Dinosauria, coined by Sir Richard Owen in the 19th century to describe the colossal bones early paleontologists were unearthing. For a long time, the name made sense. The dinosaur lineage has provided us with some of the most truly terrifying animals to ever walk the planet. But we eventually learned that all birds are actually theropod dinosaurs. Looking at chickens, geese, or ... [Read More]

Mar 9th, 2026 - Early spring sightings show colourful insect is a resident species for first time in decades, says conservation charity The large tortoiseshell – an elusive and enigmatic butterfly that became extinct in Britain in the last century – is a UK resident species once again, with a flurry of early spring sightings. Britain's list of native butterflies has increased to 60 with the return of the insect after individuals emerged from hibernation in woodlands in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, ... [Read More]

Mar 9th, 2026 - By Carlos Bocos uploaded photographs of a small marsupial to iNaturalist. Those images helped scientists confirm a species that had been classified as extinct for thousands of years — and earned Bocos a co-authorship on the published study. Two marsupial species in New Guinea, previously known only from fossil evidence and believed extinct for more than 7,000 years, have been confirmed alive. According to The Bishop Museum in Honolulu , which announced the discovery on Tuesday, Bocos ... [Read More]

Mar 9th, 2026 - Birds of prey have always captured human curiosity, but few species have a story as dramatic and inspiring as the red kite. Recognized by its striking reddish feathers and distinctive forked tail, the red kite is not only visually impressive but also an important part of the natural ecosystem. Today, these birds can be seen gliding gracefully across parts of the United Kingdom and Europe, but their presence in the sky is the result of years of careful conservation and research. Understanding ... [Read More]