News
The odd ways mammals descend trees and what it means for primate evolution
3+ hour, 27+ min ago (769+ words) Mammals descend trees in different ways, and primates stand apart. (CREDIT: Andrew Mercer / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0) A new comparative analysis of tree-dwelling mammals, published in eLife, examined how animals move down vertical supports such as trunks and vines. The…...
Cleaner fish display intelligence and self-awareness — just like mammals
7+ hour, 27+ min ago (1134+ words) Cleaner wrasse quickly scraped off a mirror-only mark, then used shrimp scraps to probe mirror space, researchers report. (CREDIT: Osaka Metropolitan University) A shrimp scrap drifted down the face of a mirror, and a small reef fish tracked it like…...
Global first: A massive sleeper shark was filmed in cold Antarctic waters
2+ day, 1+ hour ago (733+ words) University of Western Australia researchers found a sleeper shark swimming into the spotlight of a video camera in Antarctica in January 2025. (CREDIT: University of Western Australia) A bulky shape drifted through dim water nearly half a kilometer below the Antarctic…...
Programmable hydrogel 'smart skin' can hide images, shift texture, and morph shape
2+ day, 7+ hour ago (1000+ words) At first glance, it looks like a plain, slightly glossy sheet. Then it goes through a quick bath, the temperature shifts, and a famous face comes back from nowhere. In one demonstration, a film made from hydrogel, a water-rich material…...
Indigenous communities in southern Brazil hunted large whales 5,000 years ago
4+ day, 3+ hour ago (794+ words) New research finds sambaqui societies in Babitonga Bay hunted large whales 5,000 years ago, far earlier than expected. (CREDIT: Patricia del Amo Mart'n) The first clue sits in a museum drawer, not on a windswept Arctic shore. It is a whale…...
Fast-aging fish reveals how kidneys age and how a common drug protects them
1+ week, 4+ day ago (993+ words) A fast-aging fish reveals how kidneys decline with age and how a common drug helps protect kidney health. (CREDIT: Frank Vinken / Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing) Kidney aging rarely draws attention until something goes wrong. Over time, these…...
Fossil skull discovery reveals when land animals first learned to eat plants
1+ week, 5+ day ago (1103+ words) Arjan Mann with a 3D-printed replica of Tyrannoroter's skull in the Carboniferous coal forest display at Chicago's Field Museum. (CREDIT: Field Museum) Life began in the sea, and it took a long time to move onto land. Plants started creeping…...
Ape's pretend tea party challenges long-held beliefs about animal imagination
2+ week, 3+ day ago (978+ words) A Johns Hopkins study shows a bonobo can engage in pretend play, reshaping views of animal imagination. (CREDIT: Wikimedia / CC BY-SA 4.0) "This is a groundbreaking discovery because it suggests they (bonobos) can think beyond their present," said Krupenye. "Historically, imagination…...
The surprising role of baby dinosaurs within the Jurassic food chain
2+ week, 4+ day ago (1127+ words) New research reveals baby sauropods fed Jurassic predators and shaped one of Earth's most famous dinosaur ecosystems. (CREDIT: AI-generated image / The Brighter Side of News) About 150 million years ago, the land that is now the western United States was alive…...
Fossilized dinosaur vomit reveals new pterosaur species in Brazil
4+ week, 11+ hour ago (780+ words) In the foreground, two Bakiribu waridza feed in a lake environment while, in the background, Irritator pursues other specimens. (CREDIT: Julio Lacerda) "This was very unexpected, because fossils from the Araripe region have been studied for decades and almost 30 types…...