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Animals

Our furry friends might be able to infer our mood based on our facial expressions - just like human buddies do.

New Research

Dogs Can Tell Whether You’re Making a Happy or Mad Face

For the first time, science shows that a non-human animal can recognize the emotional state of another species

The red fox is among two European imports that researchers say play a big part in the loss of some of Australia's native species.

New Research

One-Tenth of Native Mammals in Australia Are Extinct: Blame Cats And Foxes

No other country on Earth has lost a greater proportion of land mammals over the last two centuries; now, a new study zeros in on the cause

You can thank these Theobroma cacao flowers for your brownie sundae.

The World of Chocolate

You Wouldn’t Have Chocolate Without Invisible Flies and Extreme Yeast

It takes a wild and temperamental menagerie to bring the beloved candy to store shelves. Bon appétit!

New Research

Pigeons’ Brains Work Kind of Like Ours

A small study showed impressive categorizing abilities in three pigeons

A male houbara bustard putting on an infinitely sexy "booming" display to impress the ladies.

New Research

Old Male Bustards Have Less Desirable Sperm

Male birds don’t just lose their female-wooing prowess as they age, but also their ability to sire healthy chicks

Yosemite National Parks "carnivore crew" spotted this rare Sierra Nevada red fox with a motion-sensitive camera.

Cool Finds

For the First Time in Almost a Century, a Rare Red Fox Was Seen at Yosemite

Cameras and “hair snares” could preserve a threatened Sierra species

Naked mole rats are likely contenders for the most hideously adorable creature on Earth - but also one of the longest lived.

New Research

The Secret to a Long Life: Be Cooperative and Live Underground

Naked mole rats enjoy exceptionally long, healthy lives, and there’s more than good genes at work

The face of Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf

Cool Finds

Fish Live Under Antarctica’s Ice Shelf, Where It Seems They Shouldn’t Survive

Biologists expected the seafloor under a glacier to be nearly barren, until life swam into view

The western tarsier, a rare primate species, has lost large amounts of its Borneo habitat to logging. More of that habitat is likely to disappear because of climate change.

Borneo’s Mammals Face a Deadly Mix of Logging and Climate Change

But adding small amounts of land to already protected areas could help save the island’s biodiversity

New Research

What Hibernation Teaches Us About Treating Alzheimer’s Disease

Scientists find that a brain-protecting protein produced when the body cools may have major implications for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders

A diverse array of trilobites ruled the seas for almost 300 million years, until they vanished at the end of the Permian period.

Vinegar-Like Acid Rain May Have Fallen During Earth’s Worst Extinction

Vanilla-flavored rocks hint at a planet scoured by intense acid rain during the Great Dying 252 million years ago

Trending Today

India’s Tiger Population Grew Almost 60 Percent Since 2008

Could tigers be coming back from the brink? India now counts 2,226 of the big cats

Loggerhead sea turtle surfing the magnetic field

New Research

Earth’s Magnetic Field Draws Sea Turtles to Their Nests

Loggerhead turtles remember the magnetic fingerprint of the beach where they were born

Cool Finds

Beavers Once Parachuted into Idaho’s Backcountry

Strange things can happen when you combine WWII military surplus, innovative thinking and a bunch of beavers in need of a new home

Trending Today

Toystory the Bull Fathered 500,000 Cows Before He Died

Toystory, a Wisconsin “dream bull,” had more than half a million offspring at last count and is the stuff of legend.

New Research

One Orangutan Has Learned to Sound Just Like Us

This defies scientists’ former assumption that great apes just couldn’t learn new calls

The Academy's live Lexias pardais with gynandromorphism

Cool Finds

A Museum’s Butterfly Emerged Half Male, Half Female

The rarity is like a natural experiment that tells scientists how genes and hormones interact to produce different sexes

New Research

Monkeys Can Learn to Recognize Themselves in the Mirror

Generations of monkeys had tried and failed a classic test of intelligence, but the fault may have been in the way humans thought of the test

New Research

Fossils Show How Flying Fish Started to Glide

In the quest to avoid being eaten, some fish took a leap into the open air

The world's six known punked out snail species, which have mohawk-like spikes, acidic-dyed psychedelic colors and hardcore shells that are falling apart.

New Research

New Deep-Sea Snails Are Nature’s Own Punk Rockers

The spikes on one hardcore species inspired scientists to name it after Joe Strummer of the Clash, who was also an ardent environmentalist

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