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Biology

Enceladus is one of Saturn's 293 known moons.

Could Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Host Alien Life? Earth Microbes Can Live in Its Simulated Environment, Boosting Its Potential Habitability

Enceladus is covered in ice, but that layer might hide a subsurface ocean. Researchers have long wondered if the salty body of water has the right conditions to host life, and now, a team suggests that an Earthly, heat-loving organism could thrive there

With so many food products now touting added protein, consumers have been left wondering how much is really necessary.

Is More Protein Always Better? Despite the Craze Around the Nutrient, Research-Backed Evidence About Its Benefits Is Complicated

It can be difficult to see through the array of flashy, protein-packed products and determine whether you need more of it—and which foods to consume to get it. We asked health experts about the benefits and drawbacks of chasing protein

Researchers prompted around 950 A.I. agents to search through a massive DNA database.

Anthropic Says Its A.I. Discovered a New Enzyme System That Resembles the Revolutionary Gene-Editing Tool CRISPR

Experts at the company don’t know what the newfound system does, so its potential utility in biology—if any—remains unclear. But the work marks a major advancement because the A.I. made this discovery mostly on its own

The rare two-headed turtle was found at a proteted nesting site.

Two Heads Are Better Than One: Rare, Double-Headed Turtle Hatchling Discovered on Cape Cod

The tiny diamondback terrapin was brought to a wildlife center on September 17. At the time, the creature weighed about as much as a nickel

Fire amoeba wiggling around at 140 degrees Fahrenheit

Meet the ‘Fire Amoeba,’ a Newfound Blobby Organism That’s Defying Expectations About How Much Heat Complex Life Can Handle

The newly described species, found in Northern California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park, can still reproduce at 145 degrees Fahrenheit and move around at 147 degrees, according to a new study

A newly identified stick insect species, Anchiale mabiensis, can be found in the Mabi Forest of Australia.

Two New Stick Insect Species Have Been Discovered in Australia—and Another One Was Hiding in Plain Sight

The new discoveries emphasize that scientists have a lot left to learn about insect diversity, even in areas with many observations

The common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) is one of 1,500 species of bats around the world.

Where Did Bats Originate? Huge Genetic Study May Have Settled the Longstanding Debate and Rewritten the Creatures’ Evolutionary Tree

The flying mammals likely arose 65 million years ago in Europe, before spreading to Africa and then the rest of the world, according to the new research

Participants in Germany liked the Eurasian blackbird's call the most out of a list of vocalizations made by more than 100 birds.

Some Birdsongs Are More Pleasing to Human Ears Than Others. Higher-Pitched, Complex Calls Tend to Sound More Beautiful to Us

In a new study, more than 80 participants rated the pleasantness of vocalizations made by 123 European bird species. Researchers then looked at the acoustic qualities of the most—and least—liked songs

Bubbles singled out individual bigeye trevally fish, then harassed them into puking up their most recent meal.

Meet Bubbles, a Dolphin in Australia Who Chases Fish Until They Barf—Then Eats Their Upchucked Meals

Scientists recorded 11 instances of Bubbles successfully snacking this way. They mark some of the first detailed observations of kleptoparasitism, or food stealing, in cetaceans, the group of marine mammals that includes dolphins, whales and porpoises

Using their new knowledge, the researchers became the first to successfully coax human stem cells into becoming hindbrain motor nerve cells.

Scientists Say the Human Brain Might Be Made of Two Distinct Nervous Systems That Got Squished Together

Two separate types of progenitor cells give rise to the front and back of the organ, according to a new study. The findings can help researchers study human diseases that affect the hindbrain, since its nerve cells have previously been difficult—if not impossible—to make in the lab

In one observation, a juvenile male appears to teach an infant named Fotti how to crack open a baobab fruit.

Cameras Capture Adult Chimpanzees Passing Tools—and Know-How—to Their Young, Teaching Important Skills to the Next Generation

Researchers recorded footage of wild chimps in Senegal showing youngsters how to use sticks to fish out ants and how to smash baobab fruit against rocks to open it, among other instances of instruction

Researchers looked at changes in the volume of gray matter, which is made mostly of nerve cell bodies and located in the brain's wrinkly outer layer.

The Brain Shrinks as We Age and During Major Transitions. But Surprisingly, It Seems to Take a Break From Rewiring During Menopause

Puberty, pregnancy and menopause are the three major hormonal transitions for the female brain. Researchers already knew that during the first two, the organ fine-tunes itself in response to hormonal shifts, but they haven’t been sure about the third

Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, a biologist and National Geographic Explorer, first encountered the new species at the Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary in Bolivia.

Meet the Adorable and Tiny Tilcayo, the First Brand-New Cat Species Identified in More Than a Century

Discovered in a cloud forest in Bolivia, the diminutive felines are smaller than a house cat and covered in large, irregularly shaped rosettes

How humpback whales respond to death is one of the least understood aspects of their behavior, according to researchers.

A Humpback Whale Mom Stayed With Her Stillborn Calf, Repeatedly Touching It and Staring Into Its Eyes. Was She Grieving?

Observed last year off the coast of Queensland, Australia, this event marks the first documentation of a stillbirth in the species, providing a rare glimpse at how the highly social animals respond to death

A side view of a "xenocortical" mouse brain, with the grafted human tissue seen in green and red.

Scientists Created Mice With Half-Human Brains. The Hybrid Animals Could Revolutionize Our Understanding of Neurological Disorders

Our brains and their associated diseases are notoriously hard to study. So researchers developed an animal model with a cortex—the brain’s outer layer—grown from human-derived cells

Wiring diagram of an adult male fruit fly's central nervous system

This New Brain Map Shows Every Nerve Cell in an Adult Male Fruit Fly’s Central Nervous System. Here’s Why That Matters

The recently released “connectome” joins a previously completed map of an adult female fruit fly’s brain. The digital 3D diagrams allow scientists to trace precise neural paths in the bugs’ brains, which can unlock secrets about the organ in humans

Lake sturgeon—massive and long-living fish in the Great Lakes—may survive to much older ages than scientists previously thought, according to a recent study. Here, a juvenile lake sturgeon is captured during a fisheries assessment in the St. Clair-Detroit River System.

Some Fish in the Great Lakes Might Be More Than 400 Years Old, a Study Suggests, Outliving Around 15 Generations of Humans

Lake sturgeon may be among the longest-living vertebrates, second only to Greenland sharks, according to recent research. However, scientists note that follow-up work is necessary to clarify the species’ life span

Two yellow-bellied marmots ended up in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Two Chonky, Mountain-Dwelling Marmots Were Found in the Bay Area. What Were They Doing So Far Away From Their Home?

The two rodents of unusual size, rescued this month, might have hitched a ride in the engine compartment of a vehicle coming down from the mountains, wildlife officials say

Lead author Vera Weisbecker poses with a thylacine snout, alongside models of wolf, fox and crocodile upper jaws. 

The Tasmanian Tiger Was Branded a Livestock Killer. New Research Challenges That Myth

Thylacines had powerful snapping bites suited for catching small and medium-sized prey like bandicoots—not taking down large animals such as sheep and cattle, as European colonists feared

Elongated scales form leg-like structures at the tip of the spider-tailed horned viper's tail, creating a decoy arachnid that the predator can use to attract birds.

The Tip of This Snake’s Tail Looks Like a Spider. But Inside, Its Bones Are ‘Bizarrely Normal’

High-tech scans reveal the first detailed look at the internal anatomy of the spider-tailed horned viper. The findings shed light on little-known snake vertebrae and highlight the difficulty of predicting what an animal looks like from its skeleton

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