Biology

Feb 1st, 2026 - Plant chemicals made more potent by insect pests are detoxified by the fungus. Exterminators keep getting calls for a reason. Wood-devouring insects, such as beetles, termites, and carpenter ants, are constantly chewing through walls or infecting trees and breaking them down. The fight against these insects usually involved noxious insecticides; but now, at least some of them can be eliminated using a certain species of fungus. Infestations of bark beetles are the bane of spruce trees. Eurasian ... [Read More]

Jan 31st, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Someone at Brazil's Butantan Institute was sorting through spiders in the collection when they spotted something that looked decorative. On a spider only a few millimeters long, there was a neat string of pale beads clinging to its body, like a miniature pearl necklace. Except it wasn't decoration. It was parasite larvae. They called in a mite expert from Butantan Institute , Ricardo Bassini-Silva, and he immediately knew what he was looking at: mite larvae latched onto ... [Read More]

Jan 31st, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Butterflies closer to the equator have been shown to evolve shared wing patterns faster than their relatives at higher latitudes. That gradient reframes tropical diversity as an active process, shaped by pressures that speed up adaptation rather than merely preserving it. Mapping butterfly relatives The pattern emerges within Adelpha , a widespread group of American butterflies whose lookalike wings long obscured their relationships. Decades of work by Keith Willmott at ... [Read More]

Jan 31st, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google A deep-sea squid was filmed hiding in plain sight, covering itself in mud and holding its tentacles rigidly upright to blend into the seafloor. For most of the encounter, only two pale tentacles rose above the sediment, fixed in place like surrounding stalks. The behavior was recorded more than 13,000 feet below the surface on an abyssal plain, where fine mud and scattered structures dominate the landscape. As Alejandra Mejia-Saenz of the Scottish Association for Marine ... [Read More]

Jan 31st, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Termites run some of the most impressive "cities" in the animal world, with colonies that can swell into the millions. A new study suggests their path to this kind of social life wasn't built by adding genetic upgrades. Instead, termites appear to have streamlined their genomes, dropping genes that became unnecessary once cooperation and family life took over. By tracing termites back to cockroach-like ancestors, researchers found that key steps toward advanced social ... [Read More]

Jan 30th, 2026 - By With the arrival of cold weather, some people in South Florida see low temperatures as a possible solution to the region's invasive reptile problem. But that hope cools quickly: species like giant invasive pythons have mechanisms that help them survive cold snaps — as long as they don't last too long. Meteorologists forecast that temperatures in Miami could drop into the 30s on Sunday, with wind chills possibly reaching the 20s — below freezing. These temperatures affect reptiles ... [Read More]

Jan 30th, 2026 - The Morrison Formation is a hotbed of dinosaur fossils. Spanning across much of the western U.S., this layer of rock dates to the Late Jurassic, some 163.5 million to 145 million years ago . It holds the remains of iconic dinosaurs, such as the armored Stegosaurus and the about 30-foot-long, meat-eating Allosaurus . Paleontologists have been digging through the formation since at least 1876. But only now are we getting a glimpse of how the dinosaurs that are found there interacted with one ... [Read More]

Jan 30th, 2026 - As forests disappear, mosquitoes are not vanishing with them. Instead, they are adapting in ways that bring them closer to people. A new study published in shows that in Brazil's rapidly shrinking Atlantic Forest, many mosquito species are increasingly feeding on humans rather than on wild animals. Scientists warn that this quiet behavioural shift could significantly raise the risk of diseases such as dengue, Zika and yellow fever, especially for communities living near forest edges. The ... [Read More]

Jan 30th, 2026 - Reading time 4 minutes After the tragic death of Canadian backpacker Piper James on K'gari (Fraser Island) on January 19, a coroner found the 19-year-old had been bitten by dingoes while she was still alive, but the most likely cause of death was drowning. Days later, the Queensland government announced it would cull the entire pack of ten dingoes seen near where Piper's body was found. Most of those animals have now been killed. Authorities justified the targeted cull on " public safety " ... [Read More]

Jan 30th, 2026 - Florida's invasive python population is a bit like the Terminator down in the Sunshine State. There's just no stopping them. Not even dropping temperatures are getting the snakes down. Whereas other cold-blooded reptiles are struggling with the winter cold snaps, pythons are just shrugging off the chilly weather. With temperatures dropping below 50 degrees for several days, officials weigh in on the effects on the reptile population. Alligators, for instance, can go into a hibernation-like ... [Read More]

Jan 29th, 2026 - A mass extinction occurred less than a billion years ago that eradicated most species from the face of Earth. A newly discovered fossil site in Hunan, South China, captured an ecosystem in recovery, featuring soft tissues and internal structures of various species. Astonishingly, about 60% of the species found at the site have never been known to science. The discovery just unlocked a whole new chapter to add to the history of biodiversity. The fossil collection named the Huayuan biota features ... [Read More]

Jan 29th, 2026 - So you thought great white sharks aren't awesome enough? A great white shark is a masterwork of evolutionary engineering. These beautiful predators glide effortlessly through the water, each slow, deliberate sweep of the powerful tail driving a body specialised for stealth, speed and efficiency. From above, its dark back blends into the deep blue water, while from below its pale belly disappears into the sunlit surface. In an instant, the calm glide explodes into an attack, accelerating to more ... [Read More]

Jan 28th, 2026 - Researchers have found some of the biggest dinosaur footprints ever. They are so huge that an adult could curl up inside one without a problem. It's wild to imagine, honestly. This kind of find really turns our old ideas about prehistoric life on its head. This ancient print was uncovered along the Dampier Peninsula in Western Australia and is given the title of " " by Guinness World Records. They are embedded in fossil-rich sandstone that dates to the Early Cretaceous, which was roughly 130 ... [Read More]

Jan 28th, 2026 - Almost a hundred new animal species that survived a mass extinction event half a billion years ago have been discovered in a small quarry in China , scientists revealed Wednesday. The treasure trove of fossils offers a rare glimpse into a cataclysmic event that brought a sudden end to the greatest explosion of life in our planet's history. The site where the fossils were found in the southern Chinese province of Hunan was "extraordinary," Han Zeng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences told AFP. ... [Read More]

Jan 28th, 2026 - A mother gray whale and her calf were peacefully going about their life until a speeding boat almost drove over them. The incident captured in shocking drone footage off Palos Verdes Estates, California, was dramatic and frightening, to say the least. It was also a scary reminder of the growing dangers of increased human activities in California waters. Fortunately, neither the mother nor the calf was harmed during the incident. The footage was posted by Mauricio Tassara, an independent drone ... [Read More]

Jan 27th, 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. Sharktober is real in Hawaii — and it's down to the reproductive pattern of predatory tiger sharks, an analysis of 30 years of data reveals. Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter ... [Read More]