Biology

Jan 21st, 2026 - A group of students came face-to-face with the wondrous world underwater during a field trip in the Azores, an archipelago in the mid-Atlantic. The group put a BRUV (baited remote underwater video camera) inside the waters every day. Their objective was to see the activity underneath the Atlantic Ocean, and it is safe to say from the footage that they weren't disappointed. Some beings they were able to detect in the footage include Atlantic spotted dolphins and a large blue shark. According to ... [Read More]

Jan 21st, 2026 - A popular idea suggests a link between big brains and a rich social life, but octopuses don't fit the pattern, which suggests something else is going on Octopuses may have big brains because of environmental – not social – factors. Large brains in mammals are generally thought to be linked to social behaviour , an idea known as the social brain hypothesis. The more social connections that members of a species have, the bigger the brain needs to be to manage those connections, a ... [Read More]

Jan 21st, 2026 - Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. . B elugas and other toothed whales such as dolphins are known to live in stable pods, typically ruled by an older matriarch . How the dynamics of reproduction play out in belugas ( Delphinapterus leucas ), however, has been difficult to ascertain. They inhabit high northern habitats that are often ice-bound, making for chilly, challenging behavior observations. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. In a study published today in Frontiers in ... [Read More]

Jan 21st, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Urban life doesn't just squeeze animals into smaller green spaces. It also changes how they relate to each other – who they choose as mates, how they communicate, whether they form stable groups, and how they handle conflict.  A new large review led by researchers at Bielefeld University argues that this social side of city life has been underestimated, even though it can decide whether populations survive or slowly fade out. The team pulled together evidence ... [Read More]

Jan 21st, 2026 - Veronika's improvised grooming device has caused great surprise – but that tells us more about humans than cows I have a farmer friend who regularly regales me with colourful stories of her cattle. Take the time when a beef cow called Noisette used her tongue to pull back the catch on the door of her pen so she could steal cattle nuts from the nearby feed bin. Or the time when she did it again, not to let herself out, but seemingly to stand back and watch as her freed compatriots "mooched ... [Read More]

Jan 21st, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google A plant that can't make seeds has a big problem: it can grow, but it struggles to move. Without seeds to hitch rides on wind, water, or animals, an asexual plant is often stuck near its parent, piling up in the same patch of habitat and risking local wipeout. A new yam species has found a clever workaround. Instead of relying on seeds, the yam makes tiny "clone starters" that look like fruit, tricking birds into eating them and carrying them to new places. The species is ... [Read More]

Jan 21st, 2026 - Mystery tower fossils may come from a newly discovered kind of life Before trees came along some 400 million years ago, our planet's landscape was dominated by enigmatic, spire-shaped life-forms that towered more than 25 feet above the ground. Their trunklike fossils were discovered in 1843. Yet despite more than a century of speculation, scientists have struggled to answer the most basic question about Earth's original terrestrial giants: What were they? According to a new study, that may be ... [Read More]

Jan 20th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google As oceans warm, many marine species are being squeezed into shrinking habitats, with coastlines cutting off their paths to cooler, safer waters. When that escape fails, the losses spread beyond wildlife – disrupting food supplies, livelihoods, and the coastal protection that healthy seas provide. Some coastlines block escape Researchers at the University of Oxford found a simple pattern. Across shallow seas, east-west coastlines are linked to higher extinction risk, ... [Read More]

Jan 20th, 2026 - Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. . W e hear a lot these days about aging human populations. Projections show the number of Americans 65 years old or older increasing by a whopping 42 percent from 2022 to 2050, according to United States Census Bureau stats . And, based on this graphic , many other countries rank even more top-heavy in elderly people, thanks to healthcare advances that promote longevity, coupled with declining reproduction rates. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free ... [Read More]

Jan 20th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Same-sex sexual behavior shows up across many primate species, and a new large comparison suggests it is not random. It appears more often in species facing tougher living conditions, heavier predation pressure, or more intense social lives. The findings point to a behavior that may help animals navigate stress, conflict, and relationships, rather than something rare or biologically pointless. The new analysis brought together evidence from hundreds of non-human primate ... [Read More]

Jan 20th, 2026 - Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. . H eartworm infections are increasingly common in pups—in 2022, more than 1.2 million dogs in the United States were documented with the condition, and infection rates have risen over the past two decades. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. These spaghetti-like nematodes, formally known as Dirofilaria immitis , grow up to nearly a foot long. They can make their way into an animal's blood vessels in the heart and lungs and prompt ... [Read More]

Jan 20th, 2026 - Sharks are the most feared predators in the sea, and their survival hinges on fearsome teeth that regrow throughout their lives. But changes in the ocean's chemistry could put those weapons at risk. That is the takeaway from a study performed by a group of German scientists who tested the effects of a more acidic ocean on sharks' teeth. Scientists have linked human activities including the burning of coal, oil and gas to the ongoing acidification of the ocean. As oceans become increasingly ... [Read More]

Jan 20th, 2026 - Hidden RNA signals in sperm reveal an "aging cliff" that could impact offspring health. The so-called ticking biological clock has been framed largely as a concern for women. We talk about egg freezing, ovarian reserve, and the ticking timeline of maternal fertility. Meanwhile, the male timeline has often been treated as a flat line — men, the story goes, can father children well into their twilight years with little consequence. Is it that simple, though? For one, we know that children ... [Read More]

Jan 19th, 2026 - A century-old Brazilian fungus went global by hitching a ride in the international frog meat trade. A pathogenic fungus that has wiped out hundreds of amphibian species worldwide started its global journey in Brazil. Genetic evidence correlated with trade data demonstrates how the fungus hitchhiked across the world via international frog meat markets. These findings, from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, raise urgent concerns about how wildlife ... [Read More]

Jan 19th, 2026 - By Of all the friendly creatures to pay a visit to our garden and windowsill flower boxes, hummingbirds are among the most ephemeral and magical. Often visiting for only a few seconds at a time, their jeweled wings beating the air faster than the eye can track, their elusive presence is not unlike that of a fairy stopping by for a spell. Naturally, if you're entranced by these hummingbirds, you're probably left wondering how you can keep them around a little longer on their next visit and how ... [Read More]

Jan 17th, 2026 - Ancient DNA from cave mummies offers a genetic roadmap for rewilding Saudi Arabia's deserts. In the dry, sun-baked expanse of northern Saudi Arabia, there are holes in the earth that lead to another world. For millennia, these underground caverns have sat in silence, protected from the scorching heat above. In 2022, researchers rappelled into one of these sinkholes — a 50-foot (15-meter) drop into the dark — expecting to find perhaps a few bats or insects. Instead, they found a ... [Read More]