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Biology

Scientists first spotted the creatures in 2008.

Meet the Orange-Lipped ‘Likweli’ Monkey, a New Species That Was Discovered in the Congo Rainforest

The creatures, which weigh about the same as a small dog, have spiky black hair, orange-cream skin around their mouths and a white patch on their rear ends. Scientists say that they’re probably endangered

Researchers showed each giraffe the contents of several containers, which held varying numbers of carrots, then added extra pieces to one of them. Afterward, the animal would choose a container to get the treats inside.

Giraffes Might Be Even Smarter Than We Thought. Some Can Solve Simple Math Problems, a New Study Suggests

Two of four tested giraffes seemed to be able to mentally combine numbers to get one of their favorite treats: carrots. But all the animals failed at tasks involving subtraction or multiple calculations

Brown huntsman spiders live in eastern Australia.

Scientists Ranked Hundreds of Spider Species by Running Speed. Australia’s Huge, Hairy Brown Huntsman Came Out on Top

The brown huntsman can sprint at a maximum speed of eight miles per hour, although it can only maintain that pace for a fraction of a second. The research will lead to a better understanding of the evolution and biomechanics of arachnids

Andean leaf-eared mice can survive in extremely high-altitude environments with frigid temperatures and little oxygen.

Here’s How These Adorable Mice Can Live at an Extremely High Elevation Where No Other Mammal Is Known to Reside

The Andean leaf-eared mouse has adaptations that help it generate body heat efficiently in frigid, low-oxygen conditions at 22,000 feet above sea level, according to a new study

Dead and dying sea creatures have been washing ashore on beaches in South Australia over the past 15 months because of a toxic algal bloom.

The Culprit Behind South Australia’s Deadly Algal Bloom Might Be the Most Toxic Species Ever Tested, Scientists Say

Karenia cristata, a rare type of microscopic algae that produces toxins that harm nerve cells, can be lethal at very low concentrations

The 1611 oil painting Air

Scientists Just Learned That This Bat Eats Birds Midflight. A Renaissance Painter May Have Known About It Hundreds of Years Ago

Last fall, scientists reported the first known recordings of greater noctule bats hunting and feasting on songbirds during night flights. But a 17th-century artwork by Jan Brueghel the Elder seems to depict the species flying with feathered prey in its mouth

Scientists analyzed about 25 years' worth of data from the Fram Strait, a passageway where the Arctic and Atlantic oceans meet.

The Arctic Ocean May Have Passed a Crucial Tipping Point That Could Harm Food Webs and Worsen Climate Change

Sea ice loss seems to have triggered a decline in the nutrient nitrate, affecting the tiny organisms that form the foundations of marine food chains and absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a new study

Scientists think sperm whales entered the Mediterranean Sea via the Strait of Gibraltar roughly 20,000 years ago, then began to spread east.

Sperm Whales Living in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea Seem to Have Developed a Distinct Dialect From Those in the West

All Mediterranean sperm whales were thought to be part of one cultural group, identifiable by a unique pattern of clicks, or a coda. But sound recordings suggest that eastern creatures use a sped-up version of the western whales’ coda

A 187-foot-tall dipterocarp tree

Tall Trees Were Thought to Be More Vulnerable to Drought. But These Towering Plants in Southeast Asia Have Adapted to Move Water Efficiently

A new study found that enormous dipterocarp trees have special adaptations to transport water up to their highest limbs, challenging the assumption that they would more easily succumb to dry conditions

Microscope images of an artificial cell, colored green, dividing into two

Scientists Say They’ve Made Cells That Feed, Grow and Reproduce, Bringing Them One Step Closer to Building Life From Scratch

The human-made cells show many hallmarks of life, but they can’t make all their necessary internal structures or divide for very many generations

A time-lapse of an individual D. melanogaster sperm cell. The head is artificially colored pink, and the tail is teal.

These Male Fruit Flies Have Sperm That Are Nearly as Long as Their Bodies. Here’s How the Cells Don’t Become a Tangled Mess

Males of the species Drosophila melanogaster pack thousands of almost two-millimeter-long sperm cells into significantly smaller storage organs. A new study reveals how they move in an orderly manner

The Perseverance rover inspects a Martian rock called Cheyava Falls using its Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument.

Mars Rover Spots Complex Carbon on the Red Planet, Marking Yet Another Detection of a Building Block of Life

Along with other recent discoveries, the new finding from Perseverance boosts the case that Mars once hosted conditions that could support living things—but it isn’t a definitive sign of ancient organisms

The technology uses thermal cameras and artificial intelligence to detect whales based on the water spewed from their blowholes, which is slightly warmer than the surrounding water.

Gray Whales Are Getting Struck by Ships in San Francisco Bay. Could This New A.I.-Powered Tech Save Them?

The recently launched system involves two thermal cameras that can detect gray whales up to four miles away, giving ships enough time to slow down or change course—and avoid running into the marine mammals

The spiders build spring-loaded, cone-shaped webs that catapult green tree ants.

This Newly Discovered Spider Builds a Unique Web That Catapults Ants Through the Air

Flung prey can reach speeds of up to 14.4 feet per second, or a little less than ten miles per hour. An insect will land in the spider’s main web about a foot above the spring-loaded trap

Cells suspended in a water-based gel make up the “ink” in this 3D printer.

Can Printed ‘Skin’ Heal Burns and Prevent Scars?

Inks created with a patient’s own cells may one day help the body regrow tissues

A Heliconius melpomene butterfly feeding on pollen.

These Butterflies Can Live 25 Times Longer Than Their Relatives. They Might Provide Insights Into Healthy Aging in Humans

Their unusual diet of pollen—rather than nectar—might partially explain why members of the Heliconius genus live so long, up to nearly a year

Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins live in the tropical waters of the Indian and western Pacific oceans.

Female Dolphins Seem to Remember Which Males Were Aggressive During Mating Season—and May Try to Avoid Them

When researchers played underwater recordings of pushy males, females that were capable of becoming pregnant swam away from the sounds

The researchers tracked eye and body movements of larval zebrafish.

Fish and Humans Share Surprisingly Similar Sleep Habits, Including Daytime Naps

A recent study suggests that zebrafish have four sleep substates, just like humans do—and one of them is akin to an afternoon snooze

A male red fox (silver morph) with a playful kit on San Juan Island in Washington State, May 17, 2024

These Devoted Dads Across the Animal Kingdom Will Warm Your Heart This Father’s Day

From foxes that bring home dinner to fish that keep watch over their young, male animals across several species take an active role in building nests and caring for their babies

Chinese money plant

Researchers Find a Mathematical Pattern Used in City Planning Hidden in the Leaves of a Common Houseplant

The major veins of Chinese money plant leaves form what’s called a Voronoi diagram. It might be caused by a plant-growth hormone that emanates in waves from developing leaves’ pores

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