Biology (Page 2)

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

Latest in Biology

a hamster asleep in the gloved hand of a scientist

How hibernating hamsters could help astronauts

By Margherita Bassi

live black scorpion (Emperor Scorpion)

Deadly scorpions are picky about their soil

a litter of naked mole rats

4 wild ways animals breed

By Laura Baisas

Example of paired images used during free-view eyetracking study. These image pairs focused on participant reactions to spider versus other arthropods – (A) spider versus butterfly, (B) spider versus insect, (C) spider eyes versus insect eyes, (D) spider versus non-spider arachnid, and (E) spider versus myriapod. We also included a paired image of (F) scorpion versus non-scorpion arachnid to gain insight into whether participants respond differently to spiders versus scorpions (e.g., d vs. f).

Psychologists made people look at spiders. They didn’t like it.

Close up of man's hand on chin while he's thinking

Humans really don’t need chins

a zookeper places a piece of apple inside of an elephant's trunk

Elephants are smart. So are their whiskers.

By Laura Baisas

a whale swimming

The oldest-known humpback whale recording was hiding in an archive

By Laura Baisas

a monkey standing up on two legs in a forest

9 rare animals caught on camera in the ‘Amazon of Asia’

By Popular Science Team

Wild boars killed by a pellet gun is seen inside a booby trap at a residential area near Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Tomioka town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, March 30, 2017. (Photo by Richard Atrero de Guzman/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Nuclear hog hybrids are breeding at breakneck speed in Japan

a new species of lady bug. it is black and the size of a grain of sand

New ladybug species is the size of a grain of sand

By Margherita Bassi

a sea turtle swimming with a boat in the distance

The world’s smallest sea turtle lives in a noisy ocean

By Margherita Bassi

a cold-stunned green iguana likes on its back on the ground in florida

Florida euthanizes 5,195 frozen iguanas

By Laura Baisas

a whale fluke with hills in the distance

The lobstermen teaming up with scientists to save endangered whales

By Valerie Shively

Hands warming near a bonfire at night

Fire may have altered human DNA

a white dog with ears perked up and wide eyes against a blue background

Cortisol could impact your dog’s behavior

By Laura Baisas

A hummingbird’s wings on a micro-CT scanner.

How do you check a hummingbird for broken bones? Very carefully.

a small chick sits on a nest with its parent behind, cleaning its feathers with its beak

Watch an albatross give its brand-new chick a very careful cleanup

By Laura Baisas

a dog sits next to a no dog poop sign

Poop DNA tests and AI dog surveillance: The tech changing pet care.

By Mack DeGeurin

Artist illustration of Archaeopteryx

Weird bird mouths go all the way back to the first avian dinosaur

Poison warning label layered atop brown hair

Hair samples reveal the benefits of lead regulation

a small primate with large eyes clings to a branch

This wide-eyed baby primate is cute, cuddly—and venomous

By Margherita Bassi

a green caterpillar on a plant's stem

Caterpillars use tiny hairs to hear

By Margherita Bassi

A young groundhog and its mother lounging in the tall green grass

Groundhogs don’t poop during hibernation and 6 other random facts

By Laura Baisas

a large dark millipede

These rare, giant millipedes only exist in Florida

By Margherita Bassi

Illustration of sailbacked dinosaur vomiting stomach contents

Oldest fossilized dinosaur vomit discovered in Germany

Two paleolithic skeletons displaying dwarfism in museum exhibit

Skeletons reveal Stone Age mother and daughter had a rare genetic condition

Lake Lipno frozen with green cyanobacterial blooms in winter

Toxic algae turned a frozen lake green

three polar bear cubs resting on their mother

Svalbard polar bears are doing surprisingly well (for now)

By Laura Baisas

an illustration of a large shark holding a flag of the state of maryland.

Megalodon could become Maryland’s official state shark

By Laura Baisas

Comparison of short green and long red lipstick vine flowers

This odd vine contradicts long-standing evolutionary theory

a shark with brownish yellow scales and spots curled up among coral

‘Walking sharks’ lay eggs without breaking a sweat

By Margherita Bassi

several nesting pairs of birds on grass with a clear blue ocean water in the background

Snowed in? Watch albatrosses nest on a sunny Pacific island instead

By Laura Baisas

a jellyfish with a red center, blue circle on the outer part of its body, and small tentavles

Perplexing blue button jelly looks like something out of ‘Lord of the Rings’

By Margherita Bassi

a stingray swimming in clear blue water

Stingray-inspired robot cracks the mystery of how rays swim

By Mack DeGeurin

Group of red kangaroos running in Australia

550-pound Ice Age kangaroos could still hop

a small mammal called a marten stands on a log

Adorable ferret-sized martens are rebounding in California

By Laura Baisas

Yellow bananas arranged against a blue background

Penis size may matter more to men than women

a monkey with a red face sits in a hot spring while it snows

Snow monkeys love hot springs. They’re also good for them.

By Laura Baisas

a pod of white beluga whales swimming off the coast of Alaska

The swinging sex lives of Alaska’s beluga whales

By Laura Baisas

A cross section of a dog's heart showing heartworm

This deadly dog ‘spaghetti’ has ancient origins

By Laura Baisas

a brown cow with a large stick in her mouth and mountains in the background

Veronika the Cow shocks scientists by using a tool

By Laura Baisas

The skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex is seen in the Dinosaur Gallery of the Royal Belgium Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels, Belgium.

Tyrannosaurus rex took 40 years to reach full size

By Margherita Bassi

Three harvest mice playing around and entwining their tails together to stop them from falling.

Female mice often have multiple sexual partners—for survival

By Margherita Bassi

a young chimpanzee hanging upside down in a tree

Baby chimpanzees like to free fall through trees

By Margherita Bassi

an iguana with mostly green scales flecked with some orange, blue, and yellow

Don’t pick up frozen iguanas

By Laura Baisas

a close up of a mummified cheetah preserved in a laboratory. it's sharp front teeth are visible

Mummified cheetahs could help save the critically endangered big cats

By Laura Baisas

a mosquito drinking human blood

Without forests, mosquitoes turn to human blood

a deer stands by a river

Deer markings actually glow

By Laura Baisas

the remains of an ice age wolf

14,000-year-old woolly rhinoceros DNA extracted from wolf’s stomach

By Laura Baisas

a small black insect standing on white snow

Snow fleas use their tail to jump around the ice

By Laura Baisas

A pair of Sacabambaspis fish, around 14 inches (35 centimeters) in length, which had distinct, forward-facing eyes and an armored head. No fossils of animals like Sacabambaspis from after the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction event have been discovered.

Mass death paved the way for the Age of Fishes

By Laura Baisas

a portrait of leonardo da vinci. he has a long white beard, long white hair, and is wearing a black hat

Science sleuths think they found Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA

By Mack DeGeurin

a dog surrounded by stuffed animals

Super smart dogs learn by eavesdropping

By Laura Baisas

an iguana with blue and green scales

10 vulnerable wildlife species to watch in 2026

By Laura Baisas

three side by side images of a large jellyfish in a deep sea canyon

Giant phantom jellyfish spotted deep in Pacific

By Laura Baisas

Close up of Greenland shark with copepod attached to eye

Dissected Greenland shark eyeballs could help humans see forever

A fluffy beavers sits in front of a fallen tree branch with yellow leaves.

Idaho once dropped 76 beavers from airplanes—on purpose

By Jennifer Byrne

a cave painting of two warty pigs

Pigs have been island hopping for 50,000 years

By Laura Baisas

a couple holding hands as the sun sets over water

Why humans live and die for love

By Dr. Justin R. Garcia

A group of three African elephants walking through tall, dry yellow grass in a savanna. The central elephant is facing forward with its large ears fully fanned out, flanked by two others with visible tusks.

Why do elephants have such big ears? There’s not one answer.

By Sarah Philip

a block calendar with january 1 and the word "dry" on it

The health benefits of Dry January

a capybara between two evergreen trees

Donated Christmas trees get a second life at the zoo

By Laura Baisas

a small cat walking on leaves

Tiny wild cat spotted in Thailand for first time in 30 years

By Margherita Bassi

An overhead view shows a group of diverse hands, with varying skin tones, arranged in a circle against a plain white background. The palms are open and facing upward, with some hands overlapping, creating a sense of unity and community. Some individuals wear rings or a beaded bracelet, and the sleeves of various shirts—plaid, denim, and solid colors—are visible at the edges of the frame.

Why do we have five fingers and toes?

By Laura Kiniry