Biology(Page 4)

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

Latest in Biology

Artist's illustration of Istiorachis macarthurae on a sandy beach

Retired doctor discovers new dinosaur species deep in a museum archive

close up of Cuban brown anole

These New Orleans lizards are full of lead

Cooked shrimp on plate with fork and cilantro

Walmart’s ‘radioactive shrimp’ recall isn’t a reason to fear irradiated food

By Andrew Paul, Laura Baisas

Petralona skull of ancient hominin

Hominin skull discovered in 1960 finally gets an accurate age

close up of a spectral bat. it has large ears, small teeth, and a pointy nose

World’s largest carnivorous bats are big softies

By Laura Baisas

a person wearing gloves holds a large gelatinous greenish blob

‘Cursed gummybear’ spotted in Lake Huron

By Laura Baisas

Close up of ear of corn in corn crop field

Corn gets gassy when it feels too crowded

a lake trout looking up from the water

Meet Mary Catherine, the Great Lakes’ oldest-known trout

By Laura Baisas

Interior of small airplane bathroom

Airplane toilet water may help combat the next pandemic

a rattlesnake with brown and white scales is coiled on the ground of a forest

Michigan’s only rattlesnake is inbreeding

By Laura Baisas

Close up of dental exam on woman's teeth

Want a better toothpaste? Just add wool

a bird with long wings and white and black plumage gliding over the oceanCREDIT: Yusuke Goto

These seabirds poop on the fly (literally)

By Lauren Leffer

two small brown rodents called prairie voles

Love hormone could be key to friendship

By Margherita Bassi

three ants working together

Ants are better at teamwork than humans

By Margherita Bassi

Asian small-clawed otter swimming in water

Splash the otter is training for underwater search-and-rescue

Six stone tool artifacts

Stone Age humans traveled for miles to find the perfect rocks

A nestling bald eagle in Arizona.

Bald eagles stun scientists with bizarre migration pattern

By Margherita Bassi

a river otter with brown fur sits in water with a waterfall behind it

Otter poop reveals they may be ecosystem engineers

By Laura Baisas

a a small bird with brown and white feather and a long skinny beak sits on a tree

Scientists find male bird that laid an egg

By Laura Baisas

a dolphin rides on the bow wave in front of a humpback whale

Dolphin follows a whale all the way to the seafloor

By Laura Baisas

a long, cylindrical blue-green mollusck sits on a rock under the ocean

Unsuspecting sea creature has Earth’s hardest teeth

By Margherita Bassi

a close up of a groundhog on the grass

Three orphaned groundhogs released back into the wild

By Margherita Bassi

Norselaspis illustration

A googly-eyed fish could upend evolutionary history

two french bulldogs with black fur and white bellies

Your Frenchie’s squishy face might shape their personality

By Laura Baisas

a small, yellow snail with dark eyes

Apple snails can regrow their eyeballs

By Laura Baisas

Robot fiddler crab waving claw at actual male fiddler crab on beach

‘Wavy Dave’ is a beefy-armed robot crab on a mating mission

Australian major skink

Australian lizard mutated to resist snake venom

a man kneels down by a tranquilized rhino and applies a substance to its horn

How to stop rhino poaching: make their horns radioactive

By Margherita Bassi

Two researchers excavating dig site in Norwegian cave, seen from above

Remote Norwegian cave is an ice age animal jackpot

Black tarantula with pixelated rectangle over back thorax

These tarantulas’ genitals are so long, it required a new genus

a hammerhead shark swimming in blue water

Hammerhead sharks eat other sharks—and it’s worth the risk

By Margherita Bassi

a 3D graphic of a pink brain with multicolored, square confetti being tossed at it

How your brain can tell squishy ‘stuff’ from hard ‘things’

By Laura Baisas

a purple crab stands on green moss in thailand

Rare purple crabs spotted in Thailand

By Margherita Bassi

a painting with cool pastel colors and with visible snake scales

This painting uses leather from an invasive Burmese python

By Margherita Bassi

Three photos of early hominin and primate skulls

Human teeth evolved to fit our diet

red tomatoes on a vine next to some yellow potatoes and peaches

How the tomato created the potato

By Laura Baisas

Loch Ness monster sculpture in lake with googly eyes

The Loch Ness Monster’s body is a ‘zoological impossibility’

a scientist holds a large, reddish-purple sea star with 24 legs

Meet the 24-armed sea star, a kelp forest’s bodyguard

By Laura Baisas

A highly detailed visualization of a glowing blue neuron with electric impulses traveling through its synapses. This futuristic and scientific representation illustrates brain activity, artificial intelligence, and the complexity of neural networks in both biology and technology

Biomedical engineers grow whole-brain organoid

A herd of ceratopsians (Styracosaurus albertensis) accompanied by an ankylosaur (Euplocephalus tutus) walk through an old river channel under the watchful eyes of two tyrannosaurs (Gorgosaurus libratus). Artwork by Julius Csotonyi.

Dinosaurs roamed in multi-species herds, fossilized footprints show

Older, wrinkled hand reaching out to child's hand

Skin wrinkles because it stretches like Silly Putty

several fireflies blinking at once in a forest

Why fireflies are everywhere this summer

By Laura Baisas

a beaver swimming in water. its eyes, nose, ears, and back are exposed

Beavers put to work saving two Utah rivers

By Margherita Bassi

an illustration of an ancient mole species. it has long claws, a pink snout, brown fur, and is crawling out of a hole by a lake

Prehistoric ‘scalopini’ mole fossil uncovered in an ancient Spanish volcano crater

By Margherita Bassi

a white dog and a black and white dog watch a TV. a metal bowl brimming with dog food is on the screen

Science reveals dogs’ favorite type of TV

By Lauren Leffer

an illustration of a marine reptile with large fins and a beak swimming by several squid and one shark

Ichthyosaurs were silent assassins of Jurassic seas

By Lauren Leffer

a person holds a turtle with piercing eyes

World’s largest known turtle nesting site found in the Amazon

By Laura Baisas

a person cracks an egg over a campfire into a skillet with red peppers

Why does food by the campfire taste better?

By Avery Schluyer Nunn

Forensic science specialist work at a war crime scene investigation

When blood hits clothes, physics takes over

a blue research vessel called the blue heron on water (left). a cup half full of black goo (right).

Mysterious ‘ship goo’ contains new life forms

By Lauren Leffer

A harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) on the beach during the summer premoult stage.

When wily sea lions and determined wildlife officials sparred in Seattle

The acoustic parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea and its host cricket.

This parasitic fly gives birth inside of crickets

By Laura Baisas

a black cat sits in leaves

Pet cat helps discover a new virus

By Laura Baisas

several small fish with colorful organa and blue scales

Orange male guppies are hornier

By Laura Baisas

a team of greenland sled dog puppies with white fur pulls a sled

Oldest known dog breed reveals hidden human history

By Lauren Leffer

a yellow crab on a beach

Australia’s ghost crabs decapitate baby sea turtles

By Laura Baisas

A pseudoscorpion from the genus Nipponogarypus in South Korea.

New pseudoscorpions with dragon-like jaws discovered in a South Korea cave

By Laura Baisas

Burmese python on ground

Pythons can devour bones thanks to unique stomach cells

An artist’s reconstruction of the fossilized landscape, plants, and animals found preserved in a remote bonebed in Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. The newly described pterosaur Eotephradactylus mcintireae is seen eating an ancient ray-finned fish alongside an early species of turtle and an early frog species, with the skeleton of an armored crocodile relative lying on the ground and a palm-like plant growing in the background.

North American pterosaur could sit on your shoulder

By Laura Baisas

A close up of a mosquito biting human skin

A mosquito killer may lurk in a Mediterranean bacteria

By Laura Baisas

a yellowtail parrotfish swims by a coral reef

Real Coral Reefs of Miami: A Q&A with the marine biologist behind a popular livestream

By Laura Baisas

five goats eating vegetation in a park

G.O.A.T. will be crowned in first-ever professional eating competition for goats

By Margherita Bassi

An illustration of a microscopic neural network in the brain.

Even old brains can make new neurons, study suggests

By Lauren Leffer

a close up of a hermit crab, with brown coloring and dark eyes

What makes a hermit crab more bold? Hairy claws.

By Laura Baisas