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New Research

An artist's rendering of what a pentaquark structure might look like.

New Research

What Is a Pentaquark and Why Are Physicists so Excited About It?

For fifty years scientists have thought they existed, and now they finally have proof

Fungus has been infecting snakes like this adorable baby garter snake

New Research

A Deadly Fungus is Eating the Scales off Snakes in the Eastern U.S.

Researchers are still not sure why the fungus, usually content to live on dead animals, is now infecting living snakes

New Research

In Some Ways, Human Hands Are More Primitive Than Chimp Hands

Study suggests our common ancestor had humanlike hands

New Research

These Worms Hitchhike in the Belly of Slugs To Get Around

New study shows that worm their way into slug guts and feces to travel long distances

A young black-footed ferret learns to hunt prairie dogs at the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center

New Research

How Feeding Prairie Dogs Peanut Butter Could Help Save Ferrets from the Plague

The recovery of black-footed ferrets is threatened by plague

An Anopholes mosquito, the vector for malaria, taking a blood meal from a tasty human.

New Research

Mosquitoes Can Carry, and Deliver, a Double Dose of Malaria

Insects that are already carrying one strain are more likely to pick up a second infection and harbor higher numbers of parasites

A color image of Pluto and its moon Charon captured on July 11, 2015 by New Horizons

New Research

New Horizons Probe Reveals That Pluto is Bigger Than Expected

But so far it still won’t be considered a “planet”

Variegated squirrels, like the one pictured above in Costa Rica, may carry a virus that causes encephalitis in humans.

New Research

A Squirrel Virus May Have Killed Three Squirrel Breeders in Germany

A mysterious set of deaths seem to be linked to the rodents

New Research

Real-life Vampires Exist, but They Are Scared to Admit Their Practices to Doctors

Even vampires need non-judgmental help sometimes

New Research

How Air Pollution Makes Floods Worse

A better understanding of how aerosols interact with weather could lead to better flood forecasts, fewer floods

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New Research

Bumblebees Are Getting Squeezed by Climate Change

Across North America and Europe, the insects are just not keeping up with shifting temperatures

An original Tetris arcade game

New Research

Playing Tetris Could Stop Traumatic Memories from Becoming Flashbacks

The visually stimulating game seems to lessen the blow of disturbing events when they are recalled

Researchers found pieces of dinosaur egg shells at a possible nesting site in Kamitaki, Japan.

New Research

Researchers Just Found a Surprising Stash of Dinosaur Eggshells in Japan

The eggs belonged to a slew of different species and represent the first nesting site discovered in Japan

People Who Bring Their Own Grocery Bags are More Likely to Buy Junk Food

It’s all about perceived virtue

Researchers discovered a red ochre- and milk-based paint on a stone flake from 49,000 years ago.

New Research

In South Africa, People Painted with Cow Milk Long Before They Domesticated Cattle

The need to hunt wild cow relatives would have made this paint valuable

Some ants, like the unidentified species above, take lazy breaks while others work.

New Research

Despite Their Industrious Reputation, Some Ants Are Super Lazy

Research suggests that some worker ants excel at inactivity

New Research

Ultrasonic Fingerprint Readers Can Unlock Phones Even When Your Fingers are Gross and Sweaty

Experts say ultrasound fingerprint sensors are harder to hack

A scanning electron micrograph of Yersinia pestis bacteria

New Research

These Two Mutations Turned Not-so-Deadly Bacteria Into the Plague

The ancestor of the bacterium responsible for the Black Plague isn’t nearly as deadly

New Research

Almost Half of Black and Latina Scientists Report They’ve Been Mistaken for Administrative Assistants or Janitors

Women of color in science are more likely to experience some forms of bias

Unlike the tails of almost all other animals, seahorse tails are more like square prisms than cylinders.

New Research

Why Seahorses Have Square Tails

Engineers show that the animals’ prism-like tails are mechanically superior to cylindrical ones

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