Evolution

Delicate blossoms might get knocked down, but they get up again.

How Flowers Marvelously Evolved Resilience

Blossoms contort and twist back into optimal pollination position after getting bumped and battered

Paleontologists crossing the Rio Yurúa in Amazonian Perú, with the Santa Rosa fossil site in the background.

More Than 30 Million Years Ago, Monkeys Rafted Across the Atlantic to South America

Fossil teeth uncovered in Peru reveal that an extinct family of primates, thought to have lived only in Africa, made it across the ocean

A gray whale "spyhopping" off the coast of Alaska. Gray whales migrate over 12,000 miles along North America's west coast.

How Storms on the Sun Interfere With Whale Migration

The new research gives weight to the hypothesis that gray whales use Earth’s magnetic field to navigate

Most cat allergies are caused by a protein called Fel d 1 that's found in cat saliva and skin glands, and often gets wicked into fur.

What Does a Study of Slow Lorises Actually Say About Cat Allergies?

An unusual theory ultimately warrants skepticism under further research is conducted

Axolotls can regrow lost limbs, again and again, making them appealing to scientists who want to understand regeneration.

Some Salamanders Can Regrow Lost Body Parts. Could Humans One Day Do the Same?

In recent decades, the idea of human regeneration has evolved from an 'if' to a 'when'

The mesmerizing rainbow sheen of jewel beetles Sternocera aequisignata might help camouflage them from predators.

Glitzy Beetles Use Their Sparkle for Camouflage

A new study suggests eye-catching iridescence isn't just for standing out in a crowd—it can conceal, too

Researchers in India studied whether 160 stray dogs would react to commands like gesturing toward a bowl. This image, taken in 2012, shows street dogs surrounding an Indian tea vendor in Allahabad.

Stray Dogs May Understand Human Signals, Too

A new study has found that strays in India, when presented with two covered food bowls, were more likely to approach the one an experimenter pointed toward

A fossil of Parioscorpio venator, a 437-million-year-old scorpion that resembles modern species.

World’s Oldest Scorpions May Have Moved From Sea to Land 437 Million Years Ago

A pair of pristinely preserved fossils suggest scorpions have looked mostly the same since they first crawled onto land

Cuttlefish are calculating hunters, and need depth perception to efficiently snare their prey.

Scientists Velcroed 3-D Glasses to Cuttlefish to Study Their Depth Perception

The results of the eye-popping study suggest cuttlefish see the world in surprisingly human ways

Iridescent spots found on the dot-underwing moth suggest that even nocturnal insects might rely on visual cues

How These Nocturnal Moths Sparkle at Night

The nocturnal insect might flash its reflective spots at a potential mate

An artist's illustration of Dendromaia unamakiensis, a 310-million-year old land-dwelling vertebrate that looked a like a modern monitor lizard, pictured here with its offspring

Lizard-Like Fossil May Represent 306-Million-Year-Old Evidence of Animal Parenting

Shortly after transitioning from sea to land, our egg-laying ancestors may have started parenting their young

An aerial view of a fossil of Archaeopteris, a 385-million-year-old tree with surprisingly modern-looking roots.

The World’s Oldest Forest Has 385-Million-Year-Old Tree Roots

A trove of arboreal fossils pushes back the origin of modern forests and sophisticated tree roots

A melanistic Indian leopard in Nagarhole National Park.

Why Are Black Leopards So Rare?

Several species of cat have members with all-black coats, but the evolutionary advantages and disadvantages are just starting to be understood

CT scan of a newborn panda cub.

Panda Bears Have Teeny Tiny Babies, and We Don't Know Why

Panda moms are 900 times bigger than their cubs and a new study disputes the theory it's related to hibernation

No need to flee for this nasty little critter.

Some Moths Taste So Bad That They Don't Bother Fleeing From Bats

A new study offers an explanation as to why some moth species fly erratically in the face of danger, while others do not

Humpback whales being tagged by researchers off the coast of Antarctica in 2018. The data gathered revealed that diet largely dictates a whales' maximum size.

Whales Are the Biggest Animals to Ever Exist—Why Aren't They Bigger?

New research highlights the role diet plays in dictating a cetacean’s size

A human skull on display with earlier ancestor skulls and a picture of a Neanderthal man at the Museum of Natural History of Toulouse.

Human Ancestors May Have Evolved the Physical Ability to Speak More Than 25 Million Years Ago

Though when primates developed the cognitive abilities for language remains a mystery

Short-finned pilot whale, Globicephala macrorhynchus, underwater off Isla San Marcos, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Ancient Whale Fossil Helps Detail How the Mammals Took From Land to Sea

A 39-million-year-old whale with floppy feet, which may not have been very good for walking, helps illuminate the massive animals' transition to the oceans

The Ten Best Science Books of 2019

New titles explore the workings of the human body, the lives of animals big and small, the past and future of planet earth and how it's all connected

Artist‘s reconstruction of Mesophthirus engeli of elder development stage feeding on the dinosaur feathers from mid-Cretaceous amber.

Lice-Filled Dinosaur Feathers Found Trapped in 100-Million-Year-Old Amber

Prehistoric insects that resemble modern lice infested animals as early as the mid-Cretaceous, living and evolving along with dinosaurs and early birds

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