Biology (Page 24)

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

Latest in Biology

Researchers are using gassy, explosive bacteria to destroy cancer cells

Researchers are using gassy, explosive bacteria to destroy cancer cells

Night owls can become early birds. Here’s how.

Night owls can become early birds. Here’s how.

By Isobel Whitcomb

These female hummingbirds don flashy male feathers to avoid unwanted harassment

These female hummingbirds don flashy male feathers to avoid unwanted harassment

Here’s how hagfish slime gets 10,000 times bigger in 0.4 seconds

By Sara Chodosh

tetrapod fossil

Our four-legged ancestors evolved from sea to land astonishingly quickly

By Philip Kiefer

Salty ridged potato chips on yellow background

What happens if you eat too much salt?

By Alexandra Ossola

Both bats and humans test out talking as infants

Both bats and humans test out talking as infants

The weirdest things we learned this week: Falcon sex hats and buying human skulls on Instagram

The weirdest things we learned this week: Falcon sex hats and buying human skulls on Instagram

By Rachel Feltman

Scientists genetically engineered prehistoric proteins to detect diseases

Scientists genetically engineered prehistoric proteins to detect diseases

an illustration of a melting planet earth covered in lush trees and leaves

An ancient era of global warming could hint at our scorching future

Soldier termites marching

These photos are proof that evolution is wild and wondrous

By Popular Science Team

a colorful illustration of long-tailed gray rodents carrying assorted objects such as buttons, bones, bugs, and flowers

What’s in a packrat’s petrified pee? Just a few thousand years of secrets.

By Jason Bittel

We have now seen our sense of smell in action

We have now seen our sense of smell in action

By Philip Kiefer

an adult giraffe stands in the grass with a young giraffe

Giraffe grandmas help keep herds going

Mother and baby killer whale swimming in ocean with mountains in the background.

These killer whales go through menopause

Your Nose Is Bad At Warming Air

By Alexandra Ossola

corn cob blue background

The bizarre botany that makes corn a fruit, a grain, and also (kind of) a vegetable

By Sara Chodosh

Elizabeth Kolbert On The Vanishing Of Species

Elizabeth Kolbert On The Vanishing Of Species

What the heck is a species anyway?

What the heck is a species anyway?

By Sara Chodosh

Bacterial zoo in a bottle

Grow A Bacterial Zoo In A Bottle

A 3-D rendering of a human-like skull faces forward against a black background. The skull is a tan color and has a pronounced brow ridge, large nose cavity, and square-ish eye sockets. The lower jaw is absent.

The debate over ‘Dragon Man’ shows that human origins are still kind of messy

By Lauren Leffer

A close-up of juvenile Hawaiian bobtail squid.

Dozens of baby squid are orbiting our planet right now

Microbes Will Be Essential For Human Survival On Mars

Microbes Will Be Essential For Human Survival On Mars

By Kate Baggaley

A furry looking, ground-hog like creature climbs onto a rock from the forest floor surrounded by leaf litter and tree saplings at night.

Elephants can add a cuddly new cousin to their family tree

By Lauren Leffer

Two scientists dig with a shovel.

These 142-year-old seeds sprouted after spending more than a century underground

A person wearing a baseball cap and tan jacket holds a pair of green, silver, and yellow pruning shears up to a tree branch, read to cut.

Humans have become the biggest selection force in evolution

By Lauren Leffer

Frozen Siberian microbes just woke up from a 24,000-year nap—and immediately got busy

Frozen Siberian microbes just woke up from a 24,000-year nap—and immediately got busy

By Ellie Shechet

How Ancient Human-Like “Hobbits” Got So Small

How Ancient Human-Like “Hobbits” Got So Small

By Grennan Milliken

Iceman’s Stomach Bug Gives Clues To Humans’ Spread Into Europe

Iceman’s Stomach Bug Gives Clues To Humans’ Spread Into Europe

By Grennan Milliken

The First Dogs May Have Been Domesticated In Central Asia

The First Dogs May Have Been Domesticated In Central Asia

By Grennan Milliken

A Brown hen sits on a nest of straw and one brown egg in a particle board compartment. A white egg sits nearby.

Even from inside their shells and wombs, embryos are listening

By Lauren Leffer

A new finding raises an old question: Where and when did life begin?

A new finding raises an old question: Where and when did life begin?

The Mars Jezero crater

Life could be hiding deep under Mars

By Leto Sapunar

Important Scientific Mystery Solved: How Birds Lose Their Penises

Important Scientific Mystery Solved: How Birds Lose Their Penises

By Lindsey Kratochwill

A Garibaldi fish swims through a California kelp forest.

These newly discovered sea sponges were hiding in plain sight in California’s kelp forests

Highlights from the Biodesign Challenge Summit

Highlights from the Biodesign Challenge Summit

By Daniel Grushkin

A tangle of macaque monkeys.

Laughter is a key part of play for many animals

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

Ask Us Anything: Why do humans stop growing?

By Claire Maldarelli, Jessica Boddy

Scientists Rank World’s Most ‘Evolutionarily Distinct’ Birds

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

Sharks have a sixth sense for navigating the seas

Sharks have a sixth sense for navigating the seas

By Ellie Shechet

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

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

By Claire Maldarelli, Jessica Boddy

Wheat farm and blue sky

Understanding plant biological clocks could boost future agriculture

By Sara Kiley Watson

wasp eating bug

Wasps are the bee’s knees

By Philip Kiefer

High temperatures can cause embryonic bearded dragons to change sex

An ant on a bright green leaf.

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

A primer to the primal origins of humans on Earth

A primer to the primal origins of humans on Earth

By Mary Beth Griggs

Why Can Humans See In Color?

Why Can Humans See In Color?

By Alexandra Ossola

illustration of hatchling lamprey

These fossilized lamprey hatchlings disprove an age-old evolutionary theory

By Philip Kiefer

Treefrogs have noise-cancelling headphones built into their ears

PXLR, Perseverance Mars rover camera instrument

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

By Charlie Wood

Conservation and ecology research tackles global issues without global input

By Ellie Shechet

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

With MOXIE, Perseverance will try to make oxygen on Mars

By Charlie Wood

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

By Ellie Shechet

microbes being sent into Earth's atmosphere.

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

By Ellie Shechet

Aurora sky over icy winter forest at night

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.

See Mars through Perseverance’s eyes

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

Watch the Perseverance rover complete its dramatic landing on Mars

By Charlie Wood

Masha Krasnova-Shavaeva illustration

Neanderthal genes are still helping humans today

By Claire Maldarelli

a lone wolf walking around the forest

Wolves use ambush tactics to hunt unsuspecting beavers

By Kate Baggaley

The Jezero Crater as captured from orbit.

Your ancestors might have been Martians

By Charlie Wood

An overhead view of Mars featuring peculiar dark streaks.

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

By Charlie Wood

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

By Kate Baggaley

Masha Krasnova-Shavaeva illustration

How humans have adapted to the harshest environments

By Marion Renault