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Biology

Matt Dean (left) and Jim Dines (right) analyzed pelvic bones of whales and dolphins from 29 different species.

New Research

Promiscuous Whales Make Good Use of Their Pelvises

Hips don’t lie: Whale pelvic bones are not vestigial but instead evolved to help the marine mammals maneuver better during sex

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Cool Finds

The Surprisingly Complicated Reason Why Stars Look Like They Have Points

Stars are star-shaped because of imperfection in our eyes

An urban spider hangs out in downtown Los Angeles.

New Research

Friendly Neighborhood Spiders Get Bigger in Cities

A study of orb-weaving spiders in Australia shows a correlation between urbanization and fatter arachnids

Scientists observed the view down the borehole via a computer at the surface as they drilled into the Antarctic ice to reach Lake Whillans.

New Research

Thousands of Microbe Species Live in This Buried Antarctic Lake

Drilling through half a mile of ice let scientists uncover the first solid evidence of life in a subglacial lake

An artist's rendering of Caiuajara dobruskii surrounded by its young in the ancient Brazilian desert.

New Research

New Desert-Dwelling Pterosaur Unearthed in Brazil

A massive bone bed is already yielding insights into the flying reptile’s lifestyle

New Research

Crawfish Can Convert Blood Cells into Neurons

This neat invertebrate trick could help researchers eventually figure out how to do the same for human cells

Dogfish shark denticles viewed using a scanning electron microscope.

Shark Week

Why Are Scientists Trying To Make Fake Shark Skin?

Faux marine animal skin could make swimmers faster, keep bathrooms clean and cloak underwater robots

Google hosts its fourth-annual science fair. Shown here, the 2013 winners.

Google Thinks These 18 Teenagers Will Change the World

The global finalists of this year’s Google Science Fair take on cyberbullying countermeasures, tar sands cleanup and wearable tech

Fun fact: Most of the fish oil harvested from the sea goes to fish farms.

New Research

Fish Oil Could (One Day) Come From Plants

A field trial of genetically modified oilseed plants that can make fish oil hopes to help fish farming become more sustainable

Nanopropellers, shown in this artists rendition as the smaller corkscrew shapes can move through even difficult areas of the body. Micropropellers, like the one illustrated in the top left, tend to get stuck in the same materials (shown here in orange)

New Research

Tiny Propeller Is 100 Times Smaller Than A Red Blood Cell

Boldly going where no machine has gone before

Tropical regions are home to many unique species, such as this tiny frog belonging to the genus Dendrophryniscus that lives in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. A new study finds that removing just a few trees can quickly cause biodiversity in these tropical forests to fall.

New Research

Removing Just a Few Trees Can Lower Tropical Animal Biodiversity

Selective logging can halve the number of species of mammals and amphibians in a forest

An African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) calls out near Table Mountain National Park, Cape Town, South Africa.

New Research

Scientists Decode African Penguin Calls

Researchers are trying to figure out how “jackass” penguins—nicknamed for their braying vocalizations—communicate

A wearable wireless radio replaces your PIN code.

Tech Watch

This Temporary Tattoo Can Unlock A Phone

Motorola and VivaLnk release an electronic sticker that replaces your passcode

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Art Meets Science

Old Time Portraits of Parasites

Photographer Marcus DeSieno uses antiquated techniques to take pictures of parasites with a mix of citizen science and monster movie panache

"Watermarks" earned first place in the contest. “The way water in this picture found its way back to the ocean reminded me of a peacock's tail spreading under the sun or a woman's hair blowing in the wind,” Sadri writes.

Art Meets Science

Who Knew Fungi and Fruit Fly Ovaries Could Be So Beautiful?

Princeton University’s annual science art contest shines a light on the research world, adding a video element this year

New Research

Early Life May Have Thrived in the Wreckage of a Meteorite

Porous rock created by high impact meteorite strikes make a surprisingly pleasant home for microbes

Bubble wrap as test tubes.

New Research

Bubble Wrap Can Make Great DIY Test Tubes

Bubble wrap test tubes could be particularly useful in developing countries

New Research

Human Skin Can Detect Odors, Some of Which May Help Trigger Healing

Olfactory cells occur all over the body, not just in the nose

Cool Finds

This Tiny Implant Could Provide Remote-Control Birth Control for 16 Years at a Time

Microchip implants under the skin could last for 16 years

Is this the face of a cold-blooded man-eater?

14 Fun Facts About Piranhas

They’re not cute and cuddly, but they may be misunderstood, and scientists are rewriting the fish’s fearsome stereotype

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