Biology (Page 3)

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

Latest in Biology

a butterfly with blue wings with black spots

9 new butterflies discovered in old museum archives

By Margherita Bassi

a close up of a turtle with its head in its shell

Butt breathing and 5 other ways animals stay warm in winter

By Laura Baisas

a large brown bear in italy

Bears in Italy inbreed more, but are less aggressive

By Margherita Bassi

A pink octopus squid floating upside down spotted by MBARI researchers

Dive into 2025’s most stunning deep-sea wildlife encounters

3D scan cross-section of an ant

Weak ants conquered Earth using sheer numbers

roman ruins in northern england

Diarrhea slowed down Roman soldiers

By Laura Baisas

a mother polar bear walking on ice with two cubs behind her

Rare polar bear adoption could save cub’s life

By Laura Baisas

‘Mr. Fezziwig's Ball,’ an 1843 illustration by John Leech for ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens. This novella was the earliest and most popular of Dickens' Christmas stories. The kissing under mistletoe (left) and evergreen decoration hanging from the ceiling are vestiges of pre-Christian winter rites.

A history of mistletoe: The parasitic ‘dung on a twig’

A cross sectional image of an actively growing microbialite from South Africa.

‘Living rocks’ suck up a lot of carbon

By Laura Baisas

a small orange frog sits on a pencil tip for scale

Teeny tiny orange toadlet found in Brazil

By Laura Baisas

a big group of oysters still in the shell

Pills, powders, and opioids stress out oyster babies

By Laura Baisas

A large brown lizard, possibly a mother, is perched on a gray rock, eating a much smaller, lighter-colored juvenile lizard, which it holds in its mouth. The juvenile appears to be struggling or caught in the act.

Why some animals eat their babies

By Andrew Coletti

close up of white lab rat inside cage

If offered, rats will use cannabis to deal with stress

several red and beige mushroom-like plants growing at the base of a tree

Asexual parasitic plants break biology’s rules

By Laura Baisas

Artist's impression of sparks from flint and pyrite

Neanderthals harnessed fire 350,000 years earlier than previously thought

Close up of Nazca booby bird

Female Galápagos birds flaunt their sexual partners. The males don’t seem to mind.

white urinals separated by green plants

Swiss startup turns urine into plant fertilizer

By Margherita Bassi

a dead sperm whale floats among ice while a polar bear floats on the whale

5 captivating images from National Geographic’s Pictures of the Year

By Popular Science Team

German hairy snails are disappearing from London’s River Thames

By Margherita Bassi

Inside the mouth of this anchovy, plankton particles are captured by the gill arch system.

Sardine-inspired washing machine filter removes 99% of microplastics

Frog eating hornet in cage

Pond frogs devour murder hornets, stinger and all

a mom and daughter camping with their dog. a tall mountain is in the foreground

Pet dogs can help teens’ mental health

By Laura Baisas

Ants checking pupa cocoon against white background

Sick baby ants sacrifice themselves to save their colony

Large green anaconda in grass

Anacondas have been huge for over 12 million years

an orange cat sits on ancient ruins

Roman military helped bring cats to Europe

By Laura Baisas

an bird with white and black feathers called an albatross

Record-breaking 75-year-old mother bird prepares to nest

By Laura Baisas

a close up of evergreen branches

How the evergreen shaped America

By Trent Preszler

a chimpanzee in green grass

Chimpanzees shock biologists with rational thinking

By Margherita Bassi

Newly described muscle anatomy (right) and overall jaw anatomy of Dunkleosteus terrelli (center), compared to a more typical arthrodire (left)

Cleveland’s beloved ancient sea monster was more turtle than shark

Charles Darwin’s Address Book is a small brown leather notebook, with “VISITS” and “ADDRESSES” printed on its spine (photo 1) and index-letter tabs in alternating black and red. The entries were begun by his wife, Emma Darwin, and are in her pleasant, rounded handwriting (photo 2), shortly after their marriage in January 1839. Latter entries were by Darwin (photo 3), and he continued to use this Address Book throughout his lifetime.

Flip through Charles Darwin’s digitized address book

a monkey with its hand over its mouth

10 captivating images from National Geographic’s Photo Ark

By Popular Science Team

A female kestrel in a cherry orchard in northern Michigan.

Falcons help keep bird poop off your delicious cherries

By Laura Baisas

Fragments of BRT-VP-2/135 before assembly. The specimen was found in 29 pieces of which 27 of them were recovered by sifting and picking the sifted dirt.

Prehistoric foot bones finally linked to our early ancestors

A close-up photograph of a young child's face with freckles, wearing a knit winter hat dusted with snow. The child is smiling and deliberately crossing their eyes. The background is a blurry white winter scene.

Is crossing your eyes really bad for you? We asked an optometrist.

By Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

Golden retriever sitting on couch in front of laptop

Golden retrievers and humans share ‘striking’ genetic similarities

Legume leaf fossil

Without dinosaurs, there’d be no Thanksgiving dinner

an illustration of a baby, a young woman, and adult woman, and an elderly woman walking

Your brain changes at 9, 32, 66, and 83

By Laura Baisas

a small chihuahua running

Your pet dog really does have wolf genes

By Laura Baisas

$Neanderthal human remains from the Troisième caverne of Goyet (Belgium). Highly fragmented bones bear traces characteristic of fresh bone fracturing and percussion, demonstrating intentional treatment of the bodies. The individuals (GNx, for “Goyet Neandertal” x), numbering six at minimum, were identified by genetic analyses: XX indicates female gender, and XY male gender.. Credit: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences /Scientific Reports$

The Neanderthals who ate their neighbors

A monk parakeet preens a friend. Researchers used dye markers to identify individuals for their social experiment.

Parakeets teach a lesson in friendship

By Laura Baisas

a black cat sitting in green grass ready to pounce

Cats love to massacre bugs, and scientists have the videos to prove it

By Mack DeGeurin

a piece of sliced turkey on a white plate with a side of mashed potatoes, stuffing, and green beans. a dish of cranberry sauce is on the left side

Tired of turkey? Try gene edited, meat-like fungi.

By Mack DeGeurin

Man listening to headphones while writing at desk

Humans sync their blinks and brain waves to a song’s beat

Scanning electron microscopy image of the engineered 3D bone marrow tissue colonized with human blood cells (red). Andrés García García, University of Basel, Department of Biomedicine

New lab-made bone marrow model is a bioengineering first

By Laura Baisas

Close up of Calumma gallus chameleon. Males of Calumma gallus have a nasal appendage with distinct spines.

No lie. The long-nosed Pinocchio chameleon is multiple species.

a baby chimp on an adult chimpanzee's back

Chimpanzees’ brutal battle for territory leads to a baby boom

By Laura Baisas

Parasite ant queen amid worker ants as they attack their own queen

Violent queen ant coup staged by parasitic ants

The frozen carcass of a 39,000-year-old female woolly mammoth named Yuka from the Siberian permafrost is displayed for an exhibition in Yokohama, suburban Tokyo on July 12, 2013 at a press preview before the opening.

Oldest known RNA found in 40,000-year-old woolly mammoth leg

two black whales under water. one is diving down the other is looking at a camera head on

Hawaii’s short-finned pilot whales eat over 77,000 squid a year

By Laura Baisas

Microrobot capsule on tip of finger close up

These tiny robots swim through your blood to fight strokes

Sperm whales swimming in clear water

Sperm whales use vowels like humans, new study finds

By Laura Baisas

person petting a turtle

Trafficked turtles get a second chance at life in New Jersey sanctuary

By Laura Baisas

An octopus camouflages itself with the seafloor.

What octopus camouflage has to do with sunscreen

By Margherita Bassi

R2-D2 is seen with Star Wars BDX Droids backstage during Star Wars Celebration Japan on April 19, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan.

Bird or droid? Starlings nail R2-D2 beeps and boops.

By Mack DeGeurin

a woodpecker with black white and a little bit of red plumage on a tree

Woodpeckers grunt like tennis players

By Laura Baisas

Close up of tree toad

These toads don’t start as tadpoles

rotten eggs with black and white fuzzy mold on them

Stinky ‘rotten egg’ gas could fight nail infections

By Laura Baisas

P. Mikazuki Portuguese Man O'War

Portuguese Man O’War species honors ‘One-Eyed Dragon’ samurai

Eastern hellbender salamander underwater in river

Hellbender salamanders are huge—and in trouble

a mosquito on a white daisy

This mosquito death trap is all-natural and very deadly

By Laura Baisas

a plump brown spider

Beware, beachgoers: New spider discovered in California’s sand dunes

By Margherita Bassi

Bat flying down to attack a frog in rainforest pond

This tiny bat is one of the world’s deadliest hunters

Four views of ochre fragment used by Neanderthals

Neanderthals used ‘crayons’ to color

Illustration of a pack of Nanotyrannus brazenly attacking a juvenile T. rex

This tiny T. rex is actually a new species