Biology

Mar 3rd, 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 3rd, 2026 - Scientists just found evidence of a rare tiny marsupial hiding out in a completely unexpected place. New evidence of the world's smallest possum has emerged hundreds of kilometers from where it's known to occur in southern Australia — a finding that potentially extends the range of this locally threatened species. Pygmy possums are a group of tiny, mouse-sized marsupials that live in open woodlands, heathlands and scrub. They feed on nectar, pollen and insects, and play a crucial ... [Read More]

Mar 3rd, 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 3rd, 2026 - By A creature whose relatives evolved roughly 500 million years ago — before dinosaurs, before trees — was sitting on the ocean floor off South Korea, misidentified as something it wasn't. Two biologists conducting routine genetic analysis stumbled onto its true identity almost by accident. The species is called , and it belongs to one of the oldest surviving groups of animals on Earth. is a chiton, a type of marine mollusk from the class . If you've walked along a rocky shoreline ... [Read More]

Mar 2nd, 2026 - History from countries and communities across the globe, including the world's major wars. The stories behind the faiths, food, entertainment and holidays that shape our world. Becky Little These apex predators ate whales, dolphins and maybe even other megalodons. . These enormous creatures required a lot of food to survive, and they nourished themselves by eating large prey such as whales, dolphins and possibly other megalodons. Their teeth were the size of human hands, and these giant ... [Read More]

Mar 2nd, 2026 - Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. . A hefty rack of antlers is a status symbol we expect from a mature male deer or elk. Because rival males lock antlers in a shoving contest over mates, the bigger the better. But female deer typically lack antlers—at most developing short, unbranched nubs—except for caribou, in which females sport modest racks. A recent study published in Ecology and Evolution uncovered a surprising behavior that may clarify why female caribou have such ... [Read More]

Mar 2nd, 2026 - Insect taxonomist Art Borkent has described and named more than 300 species of midges but fears his field of science is dying out, despite millions of insects, fungi and other organisms waiting to be discovered O nce Art Borkent starts speaking about biting midges, he rarely pauses for breath. Holding up a picture of a gnat trapped in amber from the time of the dinosaurs, the 72-year-old taxonomist explains that there are more than 6,000 ceratopogonidae species known to science. He has ... [Read More]

Mar 2nd, 2026 - New research reveals the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex ran on its tiptoes, reaching staggering speeds. Pop culture has conditioned us to imagine a terrifying encounter with Tyrannosaurus rex first starts with the rhythmic, earth-shattering boom of heavy, flat-footed stomps. But if you were actually standing in a Cretaceous forest, you might not feel those tremors at all. Evolutionary biologists and biomechanics experts are giving the apex predator a serious makeover. It turns out the T. rex was ... [Read More]

Mar 1st, 2026 - Some creatures can dramatically alter their internal temperature and outlast storms, floods and, predators In 1774, British physician-scientist Charles Blagden received an unusual invitation from a fellow physician: to spend time in a small room that was hotter, he wrote, "than it was formerly thought any living creature could bear." Many people may have been appalled by this offer, but Blagden was delighted by the opportunity for self-experimentation. He marveled as his own temperature ... [Read More]

Mar 1st, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google For years, paleontologists have been trying to piece together the story of one of the strangest groups of dinosaurs around – small, bird-like creatures with stubby arms and a single oversized claw. Now, a nearly complete 90-million-year-old skeleton from Patagonia is helping the picture snap into focus. The fossil belongs to Alnashetri cerropoliciensis , a member of the alvarezsaurs – an odd group of theropod dinosaurs best known for their tiny teeth and their ... [Read More]

Feb 28th, 2026 - Understanding biodiversity within species is key to our understanding of why nature works the way it does, say researchers T welve miles from the heart of Rome, Dr Javier Ábalos pauses his walk, lifts his sunglasses and points. To his right, perched on a rocky wall, sits a beautiful lizard. Its body is coated in charcoal-black tones speckled with striking yellow across a green dorsum, and its head, with a prominent jaw, is splashed with fluorescent blue spots. The reptile basks in the ... [Read More]

Feb 28th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Warming ocean waters are changing where humpback whales feed along the U.S. West Coast. As ocean conditions shift, these giant animals face a growing danger from fishing gear placed in coastal waters. Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) and several research institutions studied this problem in detail. Their research shows that shrinking cool-water habitat plays a major role in whale entanglements. Rising whale ... [Read More]

Feb 27th, 2026 - By Researchers working across five countries have described several remarkable new species, each with astonishing camouflage strategies so effective that even trained scientists struggle to spot them. Somewhere in the forests of Borneo, a spider sits perfectly still on a leaf, producing a foul smell and resting on a thin patch of white silk. To a passing fly, it looks and smells exactly like a fresh bird dropping. By the time the fly realizes otherwise, it's too late. That spider is one of ... [Read More]

Feb 27th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Deep inside Uganda's rainforest, scientists have found strong evidence that wild chimpanzees can really get a buzz from fruit. A team from UC Berkeley traveled to Uganda to Uganda to find out whether chimpanzees consume enough naturally fermented fruit to take in meaningful amounts of alcohol. The answer came from an unusual source: chimpanzee urine. Studying chimpanzees in Uganda Aleksey Maro, a graduate student at UC Berkeley, spent time in Kibale National Park in ... [Read More]

Feb 27th, 2026 - By More than 500 million years before humans walked the Earth, a catastrophic extinction event wiped out vast numbers of early animal species. Now, fossils pulled from a single quarry in southern China are revealing what life looked like in the aftermath — and the discovery is rewriting what scientists know about one of the earliest chapters in animal history. Scientists have identified 91 previously unknown species among more than 150 species discovered at a fossil site in Hunan ... [Read More]

Feb 27th, 2026 - Scientists following humpback whales once brought to the brink of extinction in the South Pacific made a fascinating discovery: Older males were more likely to become fathers and younger males were less likely to do so. The new study, published Friday in the journal Current Biology, sheds light on the illuminating, sometimes counterintuitive dynamics of mating and how species survive. It also reveals how uncontrolled hunting can leave decades of damage, long after populations replenish, and ... [Read More]