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Bite marks on the pterosaur bone match up with the teeth of two prehistoric fish: a Saurodon (pictured here) and a Squalicorax.

Prehistoric Sharks Chowed Down on Pterosaurs

Even 83 million years ago, top carnivores considered wings a tasty treat

New Research

Astronomers Find What May Be First Exomoon—And It’s an Absolute Unit

Astronomers suspect that there’s Neptune-sized celestial body trailing an exoplanet about 8,000 light years

Species with a predilection for berries, like this bohemian waxwing, are susceptible to getting drunk on fermented fruits.

Birds Are Acting Erratically in Minnesota. Blame It on the Alcohol.

The birds have been feasting on fermented berries, leading to all manner of drunken antics and fowl play, including flying under the influence.

The intricate network of crevices seen on the African elephant's skin helps it retain moisture and stay cool

New Research

How African Elephants Get Their Wrinkles

The animal’s crevice-filled skin helps keep it cool and shares a surprising set of similarities with the human skin disease ichthyosis vulgaris

Australia is on Track to Eliminate Cervical Cancer

A new study predicts that by 2028, there will be fewer than four new cervical cancer cases per 100,000 Australian women

New Research

Researchers Studied Cute Pictures of Baby Giraffes to Learn About Their Spots

A new study shows giraffes’ iconic puzzle-piece markings aren’t random, and the size and shape may help little ones survive their first months of life

From L to R: Frances H. Arnold was recognized for her work in the directed evolution of enzymes, while George P. Smith and Sir Gregory Winter were honored for the phage display of peptides and antibodies

Trending Today

Three Evolutionary Scientists Share This Year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Frances Arnold, George Smith and Gregory Winter employed principles seen in evolution to develop proteins that tackle global chemical problems

Nobel Prize winner Donna Strickland photographed in her lab.

The Nobels Notoriously Overlook Women Physicists. Donna Strickland’s Win Puts That Disparity into the Spotlight

Nobel committee recognizes three physicists in total, all of whom contributed to advancing laser technology

The Green Bank Telescope pictured—and other radio telescopes like it—are listening for "technosignatures," or possible transmissions from intelligent life forms

New Research

In the Search for Aliens, We’ve Only Analyzed a Small Pool in the Cosmic Ocean

A new study estimates how much of outer space we’ve scoured for other life and finds we haven’t exactly taken a deep dive

Sloths' slow-paced lifestyle is a survival strategy, not a sign of laziness

Sloths Don’t Just Live in Slow-Mo, They Can Put Their Metabolism On Pause

Unlike most mammals, sloths don’t use vast amounts of energy when it’s hot, instead opting to slow down and conserve power, more like birds or reptiles

Swedish researchers used phase-contrast imaging to examine the soft tissue of a 2,400-year-old mummified hand

Now We Don’t Have to Unravel Mummies to Study Them at a Cellular Level

Phase-contrast imaging enabled researchers to non-invasively examine a mummified hand’s blood vessels, skin layers and connective tissue

An illustration of the winners of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: James Allison (left) and Tasuku Honjo (right).

Trending Today

Two Scientists Earn Nobel for Discovering a New Pillar in Cancer Therapy

The award recognizes work that figured out how to encourage the immune system to fight cancer

Mugging for the camera

Cool Finds

World’s Largest Forest Antelope Photographed in Uganda for First Time

The lowland bongo and other mammal species were recorded during the first camera trap survey of Semuliki National Park

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New Research

Watch the Strongest Indoor Magnetic Field Blast Doors of Tokyo Lab Wide Open

The unexpectedly large 1,200 tesla boom could help researchers explore quantum physics and help in the quest for nuclear fusion

Cool Finds

Moths Love Sipping the Salty Tears of Sleeping Birds

A researcher in the Amazon happened up on the rare sight in the dead of night while looking for reptiles and amphibians

Urban cats are more likely to hunt down birds, mice than rats

Cats Are Surprisingly Bad at Killing Rats

Over a 79-day period, feral felines killed just two rats, instead opting to hunt less challenging prey

Pain surging from the right side of the abdomen is often an indication of appendicitis, which is typically treated with surgical removal of the organ. Researchers were able to use antibiotics to relieve symptoms and avoid surgery in some patients, a new study suggests.

Antibiotics May Treat Appendicitis Without Surgery

A new study has found that around 60 percent of patients who were treated with antibiotics did not have a recurrence of appendicitis within five years

Bones of the newly described Vorombe titan

Newly Described Elephant Bird Is the Biggest Yet

A new study is bringing long-overdue scientific rigor to the elephant bird’s family tree

New Research

New Fossil Dubbed ‘Giant Thunderclap at Dawn’ Shows How Big Dinos Went From Two Legs to Four

A new species discovered in South Africa shows how dinosaurs went from bipedal beasts to four-legged giants like brontosaurus

Scientists analyzed 3D scans of entheses, or scars left at points where muscle attaches to bone

Neanderthals Used Their Hands for Precision, Not Just Power

Researchers suggest that the early human ancestors’ hand usage places them in line with tailors, painters rather than brute-force laborers

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