4+ day, 9+ min ago   (1306+ words) Sixteen Asian elephants in Thailand gave up a trunk habit as soon as it stopped working, the first evidence of self-control in the species. Put a piece of fruit where an elephant can see it and smell it, and the…...

6+ day, 5+ hour ago   (1021+ words) Some ants rescue trapped nestmates, and differences in nervous-system gene activity may help explain why individuals respond differently. Ant colonies depend on workers doing different jobs, but those workers do not always react the same way to the same event....

1+ week, 4+ day ago   (1074+ words) Researchers developed a reliable tool showing how differently people talk to pets during ordinary moments of daily life. People often talk to their pets throughout the day. They give commands, ask questions, offer praise, use nicknames, and sometimes tell an…...

2+ week, 18+ min ago   (1073+ words) Analysis of dodo bird skulls has helped scientists understand how they observed and interacted with the world before their extinction. Call someone a dodo and nobody asks what you mean. The bird showed little fear of the people who landed…...

2+ week, 2+ hour ago   (933+ words) Monkeys and apes form surprising relationships with other species, offering clues about how our close bonds with animals evolved. People keep animals as pets, feed them, brush them, and let them sleep on the bed. Scientists have long treated pet-keeping…...

3+ week, 22+ hour ago   (864+ words) Scientists have built the first complete 3D brain atlas of the Eurasian blackcap, a songbird that migrates thousands of miles guided by Earth's magnetic field. Every autumn, a songbird lighter than a golf ball takes off after dark and flies toward…...

3+ week, 1+ day ago   (1199+ words) Octopus ribosomes make remarkably few errors when reading genetic code, potentially protecting their nerve cells from faulty proteins. Across the animal kingdom, the molecular factory that builds proteins follows a universal design. Octopuses are the bizarre exception. Researchers discovered that…...

3+ week, 2+ day ago   (1047+ words) Octopus arms have an axial nerve cord built in repeating segments, the first case of nervous system segmentation documented in any mollusk. An octopus feeling its way into a rock crevice is not waiting on orders from its brain. Most…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago   (1002+ words) AI can detect signs of pain in horses while showing which facial features helped it reach its decision. Pain is difficult to measure when a patient cannot describe it. Veterinarians often rely on posture, movement, and facial expression, but horses…...

3+ week, 5+ day ago   (1136+ words) Crows memorize facial features of dangerous humans and pass the information along to their friends, remembering the person for up to 17 years. Wild crows learned to treat a rubber mask as a threat after watching people wearing it trap and…...