Biology(Page 3)

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

Latest in Biology

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

A wasp spider in its web inside Sierra Mariola Natural Park in Bocairent, Valencian Community, Spain.

Spiders ‘decorate’ their webs to help trap dinner

By Laura Baisas

Side-by-side of a coiled green mamba and a white llama

The secret ingredient in a snake antivenom? Llamas.

a zombie worm, it is long and cylindrical with tentacles

Zombie worms have gone missing

By Laura Baisas

Artist's recreation of ‘Epiatheracerium itjilik’ in its forested lake habitat, Devon Island, Early Miocene, 23 million years ago. The plants and animals shown, including a rodent, rabbit and the transitional seal ‘Puijila darwini,’ are all based on fossilized remains found at the site.

Rhinos once lived in Canada

By Laura Baisas

Two close up shots of two tube-nosed bat species

Six new bat species discovered in the Philippines

The blue marked Queen of a Carniolan honey bee (Apis mellifera carnica) colony is searching for a place to insert an egg.

Queen bees are violently ousted if worker bees smell weakness

By Laura Baisas

a dolphin blowing bubbles under water

Dolphins may be getting an Alzheimer’s-like disease due to this neurotoxin

By Margherita Bassi

Back angle of man scratching head and looking at rows of TVs in electronics store

Your eyes can only handle so much HDTV

a close up of leopard spots

Why do animals have spots and stripes?

By Laura Baisas

A ringworm mosquito (Culiseta annulata) is seen on a control monitor connected to a microscope in the laboratory for mosquito monitoring at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) on the island of Riems in Germany.

Iceland was the only country in the world without mosquitos—now they’ve found three

By Margherita Bassi

a rattlesnake with an open mouth bearing its fangs

How snake bites really work

By Laura Baisas

pinworm under microscope

Ancient poop from Mexico’s ‘Cave of the Dead Children’ teems with parasites

By Laura Baisas

Close up of bearded dragon against black background

Reptile ‘pee crystals’ might help treat kidney stones and gout

Group of people speaking in conference room, out of focus image

Men speak with a vocal fry just as much as women

A red cusk-eel burrowed in among tubeworms at a methane seep off the coast of El Quisco in central Chile. Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute

Tiny spider crabs snack on parasites from Chile’s favorite fish

World’s only flightless parrot doing okay against ‘crusty bum’ disease

By Laura Baisas

Kidney transplant in container

Donor organ’s blood type altered for the first time

a woman running with snow-capped mountains in the background

Ultra-endurance athletes can burn up to 8,000 calories per day

By Laura Baisas

Woman leaning back in office chair at desk looking out window

Deep sighs are not only satisfying—they’re healthy

a glowing green capped mushroom

13 fascinating fungi photos that’ll really grow on you

By Popular Science Team

several large black antsDeposit Photos

Ants ‘social distance’ during a pandemic

By Margherita Bassi

a lemur in a tree

Lemurs keep evolving new species, even after 50 million years

By Margherita Bassi

Paranthropus boisei. Reproduction of an adult skull. 1,8 million years ago. Pleistocene. Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania). (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

This overlooked human ancestor wielded tools with a gorilla-like grip

Close up of stink bug on leaf

These stink bugs use cordycep-like fungus to fend off parasitic wasps

a baby sea turtle crawling on sand

Green sea turtle no longer Endangered

By Laura Baisas

Close up of Neanderthal skull

Lead has been poisoning humans for over 2 million years

a mushroom with a white stem and a red cap with white dots

Mario’s super-sized mushroom exists in real life