Biology

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Latest in Biology

A trio of giraffes from the necks up against a cloudy sky backdrop.
Science

Ask Us Anything: Why do humans stop growing?

By Claire Maldarelli, Jessica Boddy

Bird in nest
Science

Scientists Rank World’s Most ‘Evolutionarily Distinct’ Birds

By Emily Gertz

A cave.
Science

Millennium- old poop reveals the surprising diversity of our ancestors’ microbiomes

By Hannah Seo

Sharks have a sixth sense for navigating the seas
Environment

Sharks have a sixth sense for navigating the seas

By Ellie Shechet

an illustrated man with a magnifying glass held up to his eye
Science

Ask Us Anything: Why can’t we see more colors?

By Claire Maldarelli, Jessica Boddy

Wheat farm and blue sky
Environment

Understanding plant biological clocks could boost future agriculture

By Sara Kiley Watson

wasp eating bug
Environment

Wasps are the bee’s knees

By Philip Kiefer

Bearded dragon
Environment

High temperatures can cause embryonic bearded dragons to change sex

By Emily Cerf

An ant on a bright green leaf.
Environment

In the battle for the crown, Indian jumping ants shrink and regrow their brains

By Hannah Seo

An updating list of science jokes to make you laugh, groan, and Google
Science

An updating list of science jokes to make you laugh, groan, and Google

By Popular Science Team

A primer to the primal origins of humans on Earth
Science

A primer to the primal origins of humans on Earth

By Mary Beth Griggs

Why Can Humans See In Color?
Science

Why Can Humans See In Color?

By Alexandra Ossola

illustration of hatchling lamprey
Science

These fossilized lamprey hatchlings disprove an age-old evolutionary theory

By Philip Kiefer

treefrog
Environment

Treefrogs have noise-cancelling headphones built into their ears

By Rahul Rao

PXLR, Perseverance Mars rover camera instrument
Science

Perseverance’s giant ‘hand lens’ will scour Mars for signs of ancient life

By Charlie Wood

ferns
Environment

Conservation and ecology research tackles global issues without global input

By Ellie Shechet

a man and woman sit close to each other and share a plate of pancakes
Science

Your favorite brunch foods are thousands of years old

By Popular Science Team

The MOXIE instrument before it was lowered into NASA's Perseverance Rover, which is currently settled on the surface of Mars.
Science

With MOXIE, Perseverance will try to make oxygen on Mars

By Charlie Wood

a coral reef
Science

What underwater sounds can tell us about the state of coral reefs

By Ellie Shechet

microbes being sent into Earth's atmosphere.
Science

Some of Earth’s tiniest living things could survive on Mars

By Ellie Shechet

Aurora sky over icy winter forest at night
Environment

A geomagnetic curveball 42,000 years ago changed our planet forever

By Sara Kiley Watson

Mars' surface, in high-resolution and color, as captured by the Hazcams on NASA's Perseverance rover.
Science

See Mars through Perseverance’s eyes

By Rahul Rao

An artist's interpretation of Perseverance, NASA's newest Mars rover, parachuting down from orbit.
Science

Watch the Perseverance rover complete its dramatic landing on Mars

By Charlie Wood

Masha Krasnova-Shavaeva illustration
Health

Neanderthal genes are still helping humans today

By Claire Maldarelli

a lone wolf walking around the forest
Environment

Wolves use ambush tactics to hunt unsuspecting beavers

By Kate Baggaley

The Jezero Crater as captured from orbit.
Science

Your ancestors might have been Martians

By Charlie Wood

An overhead view of Mars featuring peculiar dark streaks.
Science

Mars’s mascara-like streaks may be caused by slush and landslides

By Charlie Wood

Tiktaalik
Science

This ancient fish-crocodile mashup snared its prey using a key adaptation

By Kate Baggaley

Masha Krasnova-Shavaeva illustration
Science

How humans have adapted to the harshest environments

By Marion Renault

A shooting star in a night scene over the Arabian Desert
Science

It’s a cosmic miracle that life on Earth’s lasted this long

By ToTyrrell/The Conversation

older woman facing a happy lamp
Health

Can a happy lamp help cure your winter blues?

By Erin Fennessy

two people looking bored
Health

There’s a right and wrong way to be bored

By Sara Chodosh

Dire wolves attacking prey and fighting off gray wolves.
Science

Dire wolves are actually ice age mega-foxes

By Sara Kiley Watson

corpse flower from above
Environment

Corpse flowers across the country are swapping pollen to stay stinky

By Doug Johnson/Undark

Tim Enthoven illustration
Science

The world’s most diverse group of bacteria lives inside your mouth

By Claire Maldarelli

Fossilized lizard
Science

How fossil preservation and public health are intertwined

By Colella & McLean/The Conversation

Red crab on water.
Science

Why everything eventually becomes a crab

By Sara Kiley Watson

Tim Enthoven illustration
Science

Why do cats purr?

By Marion Renault

Expedition 46 Flight Engineer Tim Kopra on a Dec. 21, 2015 spacewalk.
Science

Spaceflight affects the human body in two major, peculiar ways

By Paola Rosa-Aquino

infected human cell
Health

How the COVID-19 pandemic might end

By Wendy Orent/Undark

Jezero Crater, the destination of the Perseverance rover, is one of many sites on Mars where ancient water flowed, suggesting that the planet once had a thicker atmosphere.
Science

Mars died billions of years ago, and its guts are still spilling into space

By Charlie Wood

This image of the Moon was created with images taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Science

The moon is (slightly) wet, NASA confirms. Now what?

By Charlie Wood

A reconstruction of Ambopteryx in a glide.
Science

Dinosaurs may have evolved into birds, but early flights didn’t go so well

By Kate Baggaley

A yellow fever mosquito discretely sinks its labrum into its prey
Science

Evolution made mosquitos into stealthy, sensitive vampires

By Erica McAlister

Artist's conception of NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collecting a sample from the asteroid Bennu.
Science

Local asteroid Bennu used to be filled with tiny rivers

By Charlie Wood

A green frog from Madascagar sits on a leaf.
Science

What hundreds of pickled frog carcasses can tell us about their enormous eyes

By María Paula Rubiano A.

Myobatrachus gouldii live, in situ, Kalbarri National Park, WA.
Science

These buff frogs never skip arm day

By Sara Kiley Watson

Highland wild dog.
Science

New Guinea singing dogs still roam the wilderness

By Sara Kiley Watson

Neuralink.
Science

Watch Elon Musk unveil the next version of his AI-powered brain implant, Neuralink

By Stan Horaczek

The bacterial exposure experiment took place from 2015 to 2018 using the Exposed Facility located on the exterior of Kibo, the Japanese Experimental Module of the International Space Station.
Science

Clumps of bacteria could spread life between planets

By Paola Rosa-Aquino

south island new zealand
Environment

Mummified leaves offer a glimpse of Earth’s ancient climate—and our future

By Kate Baggaley

pappy lane shipwreck
Science

This WWII shipwreck hosts an underwater kingdom of bacteria

By Kate Baggaley

Devon Island in the Canadian arctic Archipelago.
Science

Ancient valleys may hold clues to past life on Mars

By Kate Baggaley

Friends.
Science

Humans owe our evolutionary success to friendship

By Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods

Sled pulled by dogs.
Science

Humans have partnered with sled dogs for 9,500 years

By Sara Kiley Watson

Medical physicist Joanna Harper
Science

The science behind sex, gender, and athletic competition is still pretty shaky

By Britni de la Cretaz

Big Q body parts
Science

Why your body looks so weird

By Ellen Airhart

moss balls
Environment

Glacier mice have no feet, but they still move in herds

By Candice Wang

An inch-long bogong moth covers hundreds of miles of Australian terrain to return to its birthplace.
Science

Animals have mysterious ways of finding their way back home

By Purbita Saha

Renaud Vigourt illustration
Science

No one knows what a perfect night’s sleep actually looks like

By Claire Maldarelli

overhead view of a coral reef
Environment

Lab-grown algae might help save corals from climate change

By Ula Chrobak

Adalatherium hui
Science

This ‘crazy beast’ is unlike any mammal we’ve ever seen

By Sara Kiley Watson

people's faces
Health

Why we evolved to feel empathy during pandemics and other disasters

By Peter Sterling/MIT Press Reader

Pale blue blip
Science

This timeline shows just how insignificant humans are

By Nicole Wetsman