Biology(Page 16)

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

Latest in Biology

emperor penguin and chicks

Many bird species are struggling—but data can help us save them from extinction

By Emily Sohn/Knowable Magazine

Paramecium bursaria under a microscope. All creatures whose cells house a nucleus, including Paramecium bursaria, can be traced back to a common ancestor called the Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor (LECA).

Newfound single-celled hunters may have been Earth’s first-ever predators

By Laura Baisas

An illustration of the rhynchosaur Bentonyx from the Middle Triassic of Devon, about 245 million years ago.

This ancient reptile had a deadly vegetarian diet

By Laura Baisas

Mice lived longer lives when given the supplement taurine.

Animals given taurine supplements in ‘groundbreaking’ study had longer lifespans

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

The California two-spot octopus (Bimaculoides) is the first octopus species to have its genome sequenced and is very helpful for studying cephalopods.

Octopuses rewrite their own RNA to survive freezing temperatures

By Laura Baisas

A monkey laying on a tree smiling.

Super semen could be one reason why primates evolved to masturbate

By Laura Baisas

Computer illustration of ISS with docket spacecraft

The ISS’s latest delivery includes space plants and atmospheric lightning monitors

A badger in a forest on a rainy day.

Air quality monitoring stations could help track and preserve threatened species

By Laura Baisas

Lionfish are now threatening ecosystems and livelihoods in Brazil

Lionfish are now threatening ecosystems and livelihoods in Brazil

By Osmar J. Luiz/The Conversation

A moth with wings extended outward lands on a flower.

This massively underrated pollinator needs your help

By Laura Baisas

These species were discovered in museum collections. They might already be extinct.

These species were discovered in museum collections. They might already be extinct.

By Katarina Zimmer / Undark

The adult gomphothere skull (foreground, tusk capped in white plaster) was separated from the main body (background, covered in plaster) prior to its preservation.

Elephants once roamed Florida—and scientists just stumbled on a graveyard full of them

By Laura Baisas

A mother and baby golden snub nosed monkey. These primates live in mountainous regions of southwestern China. Longer periods of maternal care may have helped them form more complex societies.

Chilly climates may have forged stronger social bonds in some primates

By Laura Baisas

An artist’s reconstruction of an Australian pterosaur flying with a large wingspan.

Dinosaur Cove reveals a petite pterosaur species

By Laura Baisas

Reassembled partial skeleton Ambulator keanei with silhouette demonstrating advanced adaptations for quadrupedal, graviportal walking.

This 500-pound Australian marsupial had feet made for walkin’

By Laura Baisas

HIV, seen in red budding particles, is among the deadliest viruses.

The deadliest viruses in human history, from COVID to smallpox

By Eva Botkin-Kowacki

A close up of a skull and teeth.

Plague DNA was just found in 4,000-year-old teeth

By Laura Baisas

A walker in sneakers, with the bottom of the shoe visible.

Evolution of human foot arches put the necessary pep in our upright steps

By Laura Baisas

A sloth hangs in a tree in Costa Rica. The mammals have the slowest digestive system of any animal on Earth. It can take sloths two weeks to digest an entire meal, and they sleep about 20 hours a day to conserve energy.

Sloth schedules are surprisingly flexible

By Laura Baisas

The weevil Anchylorhynchus trapezicollis is the main pollinator of South American palm Syagrus coronata. Here, the weevil is seen on a female flower, touching the receptive parts and leaving pollen grains in the process.

Move over, bees: The lowly weevil is a power pollinator

By Laura Baisas

The Tungurahua volcano eruption.

Mixing volcanic ash with meteorites may have jump-started life on Earth

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

Danish painters used beer to create masterpieces, but not the way you think

Danish painters used beer to create masterpieces, but not the way you think

A person wearing running shorts holding their thigh on a beach, potentially wondering what happens when you pull a muscle, because they probably just did.

Here’s what really happens when you pull a muscle

By Nicole Wetsman

A spiny mouse standing on a rock. Spiny mice can regenerate skin, muscle, nerves, spinal cord, and possibly cardiac tissue.

African spiny mouse joins a small but mighty group of bony plated mammals

By Laura Baisas

A group of yellow and fuzzy baby chicks.

How a sniff test could make sexing chicks more humane

By Laura Baisas

An artist’s illustration of the giant gorgonopsian Inostrancevia with its dicynodont prey, scaring off the much smaller African species Cyonosaurus.

This tiger-sized, saber-toothed, rhino-skinned predator thrived before the ‘Great Dying’

By Laura Baisas

A newly hatched California condor.

Thriving baby California condor is a ray of hope for the unique species

By Laura Baisas

An older couple shares a kiss against a backdrop of fall trees.

Ancient Mesopotamian texts show when and why humans first kissed

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

Siler collingwoodi is a colorful, ant-mimicking spider found in China and Japan.

This spider pretends to be an ant, but not well enough to avoid being eaten

By Laura Baisas

A blue butterfly on a pink flowering plant.

A ‘butterfly tree of life’ reveals the origins of these beautiful insects

By Laura Baisas

Extinct ‘thunder beasts’ went from mini to massive in the blink of an evolutionary eye

Extinct ‘thunder beasts’ went from mini to massive in the blink of an evolutionary eye

By Laura Baisas

A clownfish swimming in an anemone.

Baby anemonefish can rapidly change their genes to survive in the sea

By Laura Baisas

A mosquito hanging upside down on a leaf.

Can scented soap make you less of a mosquito buffet?

By Laura Baisas

A diverse crowd of people.

What is a pangenome? Scientists just released their first draft.

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

Soft brie cheeses on a plate with their rind on top.

A hunk of cheese is a perfect playground for fungal antibiotics

By Laura Baisas

A new butterfly species with orange wings and black spots next to the eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings films.

Lord of the Rings villain Sauron inspires the name of new butterfly genus

By Laura Baisas

A bat sea star on a dark background.

The blueprints for early organs may be hiding in sea stars

By Laura Baisas

The cast of a Neanderthal skull on display at the Chemnitz State Museum of Archaeology in Germany on January 24, 2023.

How Neanderthal genetic material could influence nose shapes to this day

By Laura Baisas

A honeybee pollenating a yellow flower.

What busy bees’ brains can teach us about human evolution

By Laura Baisas

Amazonian dark earth (ADE) is a nutrient rich dark soil that could play a role in reforestation.

How 2,000-year-old soil could be a lifeline for the Amazon rainforest

By Laura Baisas

Robot plants could be used to grow infrastructure in space from scratch

Robot plants could be used to grow infrastructure in space from scratch

By Dario Floreano and Nicola Nosengo/MIT Press Reader

Roses blooming in a garden.

Chemists finally unlock the secret to a rose’s iconic aroma

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

Woolly mammoth tusks in dawn light on Wrangel Island, northeast Siberia, where the female mammoth tusk used in the testosterone study had been found several years earlier.

Male woolly mammoths had hormone-fueled bouts of aggression

By Laura Baisas

Man prepping person for fMRI scan.

This AI-powered brain scanner can paraphrase your thoughts

An illustration of the organisms that lived in the Castle Bank community.

Fossil trove in Wales is a 462-million-year-old world of wee sea creatures

By Laura Baisas

Red cherry shaped as butt on orange and purple ombre background

A scientific exploration of big juicy butts

By Rachel Feltman

The oldest chili pepper specimen may be from present-day Colorado

The oldest chili pepper specimen may be from present-day Colorado

By Sara Kiley Watson

How deadly amphibians survive their own poisons

How deadly amphibians survive their own poisons

By Geoffrey Giller/Knowable Magazine

A bartender pours a light beer into a large glass.

Inventing lager was a huge mistake

By Laura Baisas

An adult male and adult female California sea lion sit on a beach surrounded by pups.

Male California sea lions have gotten bigger and better at fighting

By Laura Baisas

Balto's taxidermy on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

How different is Balto, the heroic sled dog, from today’s Siberian huskies?

By Laura Baisas

Evolution of human brain size shown with brass sculptures at a kids science museum in China

We probably have big brains because we got lucky

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

A mushroom called coprophilous grows in woods.

What prehistoric poop reveals about extinct giant animals

By Laura Baisas

Two mudskippers fighting in the mud, with eyes and pectoral fins exposed.

Mudskippers blink—and that’s a huge evolutionary clue

By Laura Baisas

A male chimpanzee named Frodo frowns.

Nice chimps finish last—so why aren’t all of them mean?

By Laura Baisas

A carnivorous Sarracenia plant growing in the wild.

Carnivorous pitcher plants may use tempting aromas to lure prey to their death

By Laura Baisas

Giving drones inflatable suits could help them survive crash landings

Giving drones inflatable suits could help them survive crash landings

By Sara Kiley Watson

A forest elephant with a raised trunk surrounded by greenery. Forest elephants are much smaller in size compared to savanna elephants, and their ears are an oval shape.

Elephants and humans share surprising similarities. A new docuseries dives deep into that relationship.

By Laura Baisas

Gray hair growing on a male's head.

What’s at the root of gray hairs?

By Laura Baisas

African penguins standing on a sandy beach.

How African penguins continue to survive changes in climate

By Laura Baisas

Cannabis plant under purple weed grow light

On 420, learn more about weed with these carefully cultivated science stories

By Jamie Helmick

Brown garden snail eating a strawberry on a white table

Experience the uncomfortable weirdness of a snail eating fruit

By Laura Baisas

A polar bear standing on ice.

Why the biggest animals move so slowly

By Laura Baisas

An orb weaver spider spins a web in a forest.

Spider glue might evolve faster than the spiders themselves

By Laura Baisas