Biology(Page 5)

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

Latest in Biology

an image taken with a microscope that shows a fruit fly approaching a tower made of tiny roundworms

Worm towers are all around us

By Lauren Leffer

an illustration of an extinct marsupial with brown and white fur and a small trunk-like nose

Australia’s giant extinct marsupials may be ID’d using tiny bone bits

Dead coral sit on the ocean bed in the Straits of Florida near Key Largo, Florida, on September 23, 2021. The coral is very gray and white

Probiotics can help heal ravaged coral reefs

By Laura Baisas

a small rod-shaped bacteria seen under a microscope. several individual bacterium are moving along a blue surface

Watch bacteria ‘hitchhike’ and zoom around

By Laura Baisas

A female Anopheles mosquito is sitting on a green vine of the forest a

Scientists engineer mosquito STD to combat malaria

By Laura Baisas

Well-preserved dinosaur skull belongs to new sauropod species

a female student with gloves on working with fungi in a lab

College student discovers mysterious fungus that eluded LSD’s inventor

By Laura Baisas

orange and yellow flames on a black background

Can humans spontaneously combust? The baffling cases explained.

By Lauren Leffer

Close up of fruit fly head on orange background

Researchers genetically altered fruit flies to crave cocaine

a small frog on a road, with a person's bright sneakers in the background

Wildlife underpass reduces squished amphibians by 80%

By Laura Baisas

A harbor seal viewing a simulation of the seabed rushing beneath him, with a red ball target either side of his head to touch, to indicate which direction he appeared to be moving in.

Seals playing a video game reveal how they find their way

By Laura Baisas

A wildfire frontline with emergency services nearby, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada.

Are we in a sixth mass extinction?

By Lauren Leffer

A female oceanic whitetip shark seen feeding on the carcass.

Sharks surprise scientists by sharing a meal

By Laura Baisas

a cat with wide eyes

Your cat probably knows your smell

By Laura Baisas

a close up of a bed bug

Bed bugs have been bothering humans for 60,000 years

By Laura Baisas

an illustration of a long marine reptile with large teeth eating a shelled animal

‘Very odd’ 40-foot-long marine reptile stalked prehistoric Canada

By Laura Baisas

luffa acutangular, Cucurbitaceae green vegetable fresh on brown fabric in garden on nature background

A trip to the farm where loofahs grow on vines

By Alisha McDarris

a large American bullfrog in water with vegetation

This invasive frog can fit baby turtles inside its mouth

By Margherita Bassi

two birds with black and white plumage with dots of yellow or blue feathers neat their beaks sit near a nest

Male hornbills are at their mates’ every beck and call

By Margherita Bassi

an illustration showing the various sizes of extinct giant sloths

8,000-pound sloths once roamed North America. Where’d they go?

By Laura Baisas

Adélie penguins walking along the Antarctic coastline.

How pungent poop could help Antarctica’s penguins

By Laura Baisas

a pink and yellow flower with delicate petals

Plants can hear tiny wing flaps of pollinators

By Laura Baisas

a clear marine worm with many appendages branching out of its torso and some dots of colors

Sea worm’s reproductive bits grow their own eyes before mating

By Laura Baisas

Sargassum algae piles up along the shore at a beach in Fajardo, Puerto Rico.

31 million tons of seaweed ready to stink up Florida’s beaches

By Laura Baisas

a humpback whale calf swims in front of its mother

Humpback whales can give birth while migrating thousands of miles

By Laura Baisas

a baby howler monkey on the back of a juvenile capuchin

Capuchin monkeys kidnap baby howler monkeys, shocking scientists

By Lauren Leffer

Fossil fragments on black background

These human ancestors weren’t as lonely as experts thought

a black and white snake with two heads

Rare two-headed snake is surprisingly thriving

By Margherita Bassi

thousands of birds take to the sky

Weather radar picks up over 1 million migrating birds

By Margherita Bassi

an illustration of a human brain with a lightbulb over it, simulating an idea

Your ‘Eureka!’ moments can be seen in brain scans

By Laura Baisas

four puffins with white and black plumage and bright orange bills stand on a rock overlooking the north sea

Puffin-counting season begins with two new livestreams

By Laura Baisas

The Chicago Archaeopteryx, under UV light to expose soft tissues.

Feathered fossil shows famed dinosaur could fly (like a chicken)

a split image of two newly discovered poison dart frogs. the one on the left has yellow legs with brown spots and green-ish stripes. the frog on the right has a brown body with light blue stripes

It’s raining tiny toxic frogs

By Lauren Leffer

An illustration of what the Amniote (early reptile) would look like from 350 million years ago.

Amateur paleontologists uncover earliest known ‘reptile’ footprints

By Laura Baisas

an illustration of an extinct arthropod, with three large black eyes, antennae, and 16 body segments

Ancient three-eyed ‘sea moth’ used its butt to breathe

By Laura Baisas

two eaglets with black feathers sitting in nest

Bittersweet fledge watch begins for bald eagles Sunny and Gizmo

By Laura Baisas

an illustration of a pink flamingo feeding in a shallow pool. a swirling vortex of water is near its beak

Flamingos conjure ‘water tornadoes’ to trap their prey

By Laura Baisas

Entamoeba histolytica (green) attacking human T cells.

This parasite rips apart human cells and wears them as disguises

A mother chimpanzee carrying her twins on her back.

Wild chimp babies bond with their moms in human-like ways

By Laura Baisas

a close-up of a chimpanzee eating a piece of watermelon

Chimpanzees can keep a rhythmic beat

By Laura Baisas

three plant species

Scientists discover how some flowers mimic the smell of death

By Lauren Leffer

a snow leopard walking down a mountainside

Northern India’s elusive snow leopards get their close up

By Laura Baisas

a snail laying an egg from its neck

Watch a snail lay an egg…from its neck

By Laura Baisas

A 3D rendering of a sperm cell.

Next-generation male contraceptives could rely on the perfect temperature

By Laura Baisas

The recent discovery helps bridge the gap between ancient cicadas and their present day descendants.

Earliest ‘true cicada’ fossil discovered in Germany

seven women in dive gear stand on black rocks above the ocean on a cloudy day

South Korea’s ‘sea women’ are genetically adapted for their tough trade

By Lauren Leffer

a california sea lion sits by a pool

This sea lion can keep a beat better than some humans

By Laura Baisas

An axolotl crawling up to the aquarium pane at the Hamburg animal shelter.

Axolotls raised in captivity can survive in the wild

By Laura Baisas

A fringe-lipped bat approaches a Fitzinger's robber frog in Panama. This species of bat eavesdrops on the mating calls that male frogs produce to attract females, and uses these frog calls to detect, assess, and localize its prey.

Young bats develop a ‘caller ID’ to avoid poisonous prey

By Laura Baisas

a person scratches an itchy arm

Your skin is crawling with zombie cells–some help, some hurt

By Laura Baisas

Bone collector cases are carefully constructed from silk and exoskeleton parts.

‘Bone collector’ caterpillar wears the body parts of dead bugs

By Lauren Leffer

an illustration of a large red ant with curved jaws. a bird looks on with a concerned expression

Extinct hell ant species used specialized jaws to impale its prey

By Laura Baisas

four jugs of wine are painted on to the wall of ancient ruins

Cheers to Bronze Age humans for delicious Italian wine

By Laura Baisas

Coiled rattlesnake near flowering bush

Rattlesnakes may evolve specialized venoms

An osprey sits on its nest protected by a human-made basket.

To protect birds and motorists, engineers build a steel nest box on bridge

By Laura Baisas

three chimpanzees sit around a round fruit sharing it

Wild chimps sharing ‘boozy’ fruit caught on camera for the first time

By Laura Baisas

the color spectrum

Five people view a never-before-seen color called ‘olo’

By Lauren Leffer

a sea slug in the ocean with whispy purple tendrils

Sea slugs harness the power of the sun to show off their colors

By Laura Baisas

Images of Jyvaskylavirus. The virus particle is about twice the size of influenza or coronavirus. Credit: University of Jyväskylä

Finland finds its first giant virus

Neurons and their branch extensions known as dendrites are featured within a mouse’s cerebral cortex.

Scientists watch how mice learn, one synapse at a time

Two young gorillas, habituated to human presence, scratch the soil in search of truffles

A group of gorillas have a surprising knack for hunting truffles, researchers find

By Laura Baisas

An illustration of what the aurora might have looked like during a polar reversal about 41,000 years ago. The green glow of an aurora is much further south than we see it today.

Sunscreen may have kept ancient humans alive during a polar reversal

By Laura Baisas

an illustration of a small crocodile ancestor sneaking up on a small mammal ancestor

Crocodile ancestors survived two mass extinctions—here’s how

By Laura Baisas

Earth's oceans seen from space

How did water end up on Earth? New evidence upends long-held theory.