Biology

Sep 14th, 2025 - Some wildlife species have the incredible talent of imitating human sounds and behavior. For instance, birds like parrots can quickly learn to say certain words and phrases, capturing the attention of everyone present around them. On several occasions, even primates and elephants have been observed trying to mimic human actions. This often reflects their intelligence and social nature, and helps them to build a deep bond with the people they're surrounded by. In one such remarkable incident, a ... [Read More]

Sep 14th, 2025 - When you think about ticks , you might picture nightmarish little parasites , stalking you on weekend hikes or afternoons in the park. Your fear is well-founded. Tick-borne diseases are the most prevalent vector-borne diseases — those transmitted by living organisms — in the United States. Each tick feeds on multiple animals throughout its life, absorbing viruses and bacteria along the way and passing them on with its next bite. Some of those viruses and bacteria are harmful to ... [Read More]

Sep 14th, 2025 - Wildebeest, also known as gnu, are large antelopes popular for their strength, curved horns, and unique bearded faces. While they are native to the grasslands and savannas of the African regions, they steal everyone's attention with their massive migrations . Millions of them move together in search of food and water every year. Recently, a new study titled 'AI-based satellite survey offers independent assessment of migratory wildebeest numbers in the Serengeti' was published in the journal ... [Read More]

Sep 13th, 2025 - His expeditions, including many to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, yielded rare discoveries and led to exhibitions at the American Museum of Natural History. Listen to this article · 7:17 min Mark Norell, a globe-trotting paleontologist whose research focused on the evolutionary links between dinosaurs and birds, and whose expeditions yielded rare discoveries like the nearly intact embryo of a birdlike oviraptor, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 68. His death, in a hospital, was caused ... [Read More]

Sep 12th, 2025 - An ancient DNA analysis of the remains of several mastodons, including those which roamed along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America, has revealed the Ice Age giants migrated vast distances in response to shifting climates and were far more genetically diverse than previously known. In the study in the journal Science Advances , researchers from McMaster University and Harvard provide new evidence which significantly revises and reshapes our understanding of the species' deeply ... [Read More]

Sep 12th, 2025 - Native wildlife species at certain places face population decline, often when there is a disturbance in their natural balance. Factors like loss of their natural habitat, rapid climate change , rising pollution levels, and competition from invasive species contribute to the struggle for survival of the native species. To protect them, it requires careful conservation efforts. For instance, it has been reported that for the first time in several decades, Yosemite has now been welcoming back its ... [Read More]

Sep 12th, 2025 - MELBOURNE: A regulator has approved a world-first vaccine to protect koalas from chlamydia infections, which are causing infertility and death in the iconic native species that is listed as endangered in parts of Australia. The single-dose vaccine was developed by the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland state after more than a decade of research led by professor of microbiology Peter Timms. The research showed the vaccine reduced the likelihood of koalas developing symptoms of ... [Read More]

Sep 12th, 2025 - A moose in Minnesota stumbles onto the road. She circles, confused and dazed, unable to orient herself or recognize the danger of an oncoming semitruck. What kills her is the impact of 13 tons of steel, but what causes her death is more complicated. Tunneling through her brain is a worm that doomed both of them to die. Commonly known as the brain worm, Parelaphostrongylus tenuis is a parasitic nematode that infects a large range of wild and domestic herbivores, such as moose and elk. The worm ... [Read More]

Sep 12th, 2025 - In nature, flashy displays usually scream courtship. Peacocks fan iridescent trains, peacock spiders dance in sequined shorts, and all the glitter serves one end: to impress a mate. So when Panama's matador bugs – Anisoscelis alipes – waggle bright, banner-like hind legs, the obvious guess has been sexual selection. But a new Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) study says the leg-waving isn't a love signal at all. "The very nature of discovery is that we can't anticipate ... [Read More]

Sep 11th, 2025 - (Some) Penguins of the Subantarctic. Visit the remote, windswept islands of the subantarctic with scientific illustrator Bonnie Koopmans. Here she shares her artworks of a few of the extraordinary birds that call this harsh yet majestic environment home. This article originally appeared in the Cosmos Print Magazine in December 2024. Between Tasmania and Antarctica, there are a series of tiny, isolated islands on the cusp of the Southern Ocean. Many people don't even realise they exist, but ... [Read More]

Sep 11th, 2025 - Sharks have been a part of the ocean ecosystem for millions of years, yet there is still so much we don't know about them. From their mysterious migrations to surprising behaviors that were only recently discovered, these giant creatures continue to astonish scientists and common people alike. Additionally, since sharks play a vital role in maintaining the marine ecosystems , the more we learn about them, the better we can protect them. In a discovery, a group of scientists from New Zealand has ... [Read More]

Sep 11th, 2025 - WASHINGTON: Humans may be right-handed or left-handed. It turns out octopuses don't have a dominant arm, but they do tend to perform some tasks more often with their front arms, new research shows. "All of the arms can do all of this stuff - that's really amazing," said co-author and marine biologist Roger Hanlon of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Octopus limbs aren't specialised as many mammal limbs are. However, the three octopus species in the study showed a ... [Read More]

Sep 11th, 2025 - If their names didn't give it away, ghost sharks are very strange creatures. A new study reveals just how strange. The fish grow teeth out of the top of their heads. Ghost sharks are green with glowing skin and eyes and measure around two feet. Some people call them ratfish. But a new study reveals a new characteristic previously unknown. The ghost sharks have teeth growing out of their foreheads. They have an appendage called a tenaculum, which has little teeth. Rather than be used for eating, ... [Read More]

Sep 10th, 2025 - A stunning fossil find has revealed two baby pterosaurs that were struck down mid-flight in a "catastrophic" tropical storm 150 million years ago. Researchers carried out an animal post-mortem (necropsy) on two Jurassic pterosaur skeletons from Germany and concluded that violent winds likely drove the flying reptiles into a lagoon, where they drowned under the stormy waves. Pterosaurs, informally called " pterodactyls ," ruled the skies during the age of dinosaurs. The fossilized skeletons ... [Read More]

Sep 10th, 2025 - A team of arachnologists has named a new tarantula genus, Satyrex , after discovering males with record length reproductive organs that set them apart from all known tarantulas. The open access study reported that the male organs are the longest of any species in the tarantula group. According to Alireza Zamani from the University of Turku , these organs are "possibly functioning in cannibalism avoidance during mating." These spiders live in parts of the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of ... [Read More]

Sep 10th, 2025 - For the first time in tropical latitudes, scientists have sequenced ancient DNA from the only mammoth endemic to North and Central America: the Columbian mammoth. The research revealed unexpected — and as yet unexplained — genetic differences that made these animals distinct from their northern counterparts. Columbian mammoths ( Mammuthus columbi ) were approximately 13feet (4 meters) tall and towered over their woolly mammoth ( Mammuthus primigenius ) relatives, with whom they ... [Read More]