Biology

A guide to life, on Earth and beyond, including the top news about plants, animals, and physiology.

Latest in Biology

several birds flying overhead while a bird sits on its nest with a chick

11 wild photos show the Amazon River in its glory

By Popular Science Team

A wolf chases magpies and ravens from an elk carcass near Soda Butte.

Yellowstone’s ravens may memorize wolf hunting hotspots—to feast

By Nidhi Sharma

A close-up photograph of a Halobates, an ocean water strider, resting on the surface of the water. The insect has a long, slender dark body and very thin, wire-like legs that create slight indentations on the water's surface tension. Its reflection is visible on the surface, and the background is a soft, out-of-focus light blue and white.

Do any bugs live in the ocean? Short answer: Not really.

By Andrew Coletti

Illustration showing ancient hominid drinking water at river's edge with crocodile lurking nearby in the water

An odd-nosed crocodile ate our prehistoric ancestors

a screenshot of a website showing a human brain, heart, colon, lung, kidney, prostate, placenta, and liver

Explore the human body in stunning, 3D detail with a new online tool

By Laura Baisas

a grizzly bear stands on a bison carcass

Yellowstone’s first grizzly bear of 2026 emerges from his den

By Laura Baisas

A close-up photograph of a young child with blonde hair smiling broadly, revealing several missing front baby teeth. The child is playfully covering their eyes with both hands, with a plain grey wall in the background.

Why do we even have baby teeth?

By Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

Scientists suggest modifying cars to hit fewer hedgehogs

By Margherita Bassi

A newly described African species in the magic mushroom family confirms its evolutionary origin. Psilocybe ochraceocentrata is found growing on cattle dung in the grasslands of southern Africa and Zimbabwe.

New psychedelic fungus rewrites origins of magic mushrooms

An Ixodes tick (left). An Asian tiger mosquito. (right)

What a cold winter means for ticks and mosquitoes

By Laura Baisas

a black bird sits on a tree

These birds listen to their parents to avoid being eaten

By Margherita Bassi

Two photos next to each other. One is a man laying on grass next to longest snake in the world for scale reference. The other is a with portion of the world's longest snake draped over his shoulder in the jungle

Longest snake ever measured is over 23.5 feet long

a turtle wearing a 3D printed wheel chair

A 3D-printed wheelchair is helping this turtle walk again

By Mack DeGeurin

yellow flowers blooming near hills

Best superbloom since 2016 fills Death Valley with wildflowers

By Laura Baisas

trees and shrubs are surrounded by a bright yellow weed

Weed that smells like paint thinner takes over Arizona

By Laura Baisas

purple crystals

Humans’ love of crystals goes back at least 6 million years

By Laura Baisas

Illustration showing Tanyka amnicola in life, eating underwater plants.

Bizarro salamander ancestor was an evolutionary oddball

Screenshot of final boss from original Doom

Computer run on human brain cells learned to play ‘Doom’

a horse standing in a green field with its mouth open

Horse whinnies are weirder than they sound

By Margherita Bassi

a woman holds a large lizard. it has black and white scales and is sticking out a red tongue tipped black

Frostbitten lizard found in Rhode Island is healing

By Margherita Bassi