Cut marks found on Ice Age bones indicate that humans in Ohio hunted or scavenged earlier than previously known. A series of 41 incisions appear on an animal's left femur. Radiocarbon dating of the fe
The majestic leatherback turtle is the largest sea turtle in the world, growing to more than 6 feet in length. It is also one of the most threatened. A major new study of migration patterns has identi
A recent decline in ovenbirds, a ground-nesting migratory songbird, in forests in the northern Midwest United States is being linked by scientists to a seemingly unlikely culprit: earthworms.
The domestication of chickens has given rise to rapid and extensive changes in genome function. Scientists have established that the changes are heritable, although they do not affect the DNA structur
A new study is the first of its kind to systematically investigate the use of different land cover types for tiger habitat.
After 35 years, a giant fossil penguin has finally been completely reconstructed, giving researchers new insights into prehistoric penguin diversity.
Humans aren't the only
Species that like to get busy with a glass of bubbly. Turns out, the common baker's yeast has indulged in a frenzy of amorous frolicking in the fermentation vats of winemakers f
You probably know your blood type: A, B, AB or O. You may even know if you're Rhesus positive or negative. But how about the Langereis blood type? Or the Junior blood type? Positive or negative? Most
The tiny, little-noticed jewel wasp may provide some answers as to how different
Species differ in size and shape. And that could lead to a better understanding of cell growth regulation, as well as t
Not that long ago in a hot spring in Kamchatka, Russia, two groups of genetically indistinguishable microbes decided to part ways. They began evolving into different
Species – despite the fa
Cuttlefish have the most acute polarization vision yet found in any animal, researchers have discovered by showing them movies on a modified LCD computer screen to test their eyesight.
Fruit flies infected with a blood-borne parasite consume alcohol to self-medicate, a behavior that greatly increases their survival rate, a new study finds. The researchers say the results are the fir
A biologist has created a sketch of what the first common ancestor of plants and algae may have looked like.
Four new
Species of miniaturized lizards have been identified in Madagascar. These lizards, just tens of millimeters from head to tail and in some cases small enough to stand on the head of a match, r
Bumblebees can use cues from their rivals the honeybees to learn where the best food resources are, according to new research. In a new study, researchers trained a colony of bumblebees (Bombus terres
The American West has seen a recent increase in large wildfires due to droughts, the build-up of combustible fuel, or biomass, in forests, a spread of fire-prone
Species and increased tree mortality f
A new study has shown that boosting the estrogen levels of male garter snakes causes them to secrete the same pheromones that females use to attract suitors, and turned the males into just about the s
Beauty is more than skin deep, at least for fruit flies studied in new research that demonstrates how age-related changes in pheromone production can reduce sexual attractiveness.
Horseflies are unpleasant insects that deliver powerful bites and now it seems that zebras evolved their stripes to avoid attracting the unpleasant pests. New research show that zebras have the least
Obstacles in an organism's path can help it to move faster, not slower, researchers have found through a series of experiments and computer simulations. Their findings have implications for a better u
The famed “corpse flower” plant – known for its giant size, rotten-meat odor and phallic shape – has a new, smaller relative: A botanist has discovered a new sp
The love song of an extinct cricket that lived 165 million years ago has been brought back to life by scientists. The song – possibly the most ancient known musical song documented to date &
They are tiny, ugly, disease-carrying little blood-suckers that most people have never seen or heard of, but a new discovery in a one-of-a-kind fossil shows that "bat flies" have been doing
To generate phylogenetic trees and investigate relationships between organisms, scientists usually look for similarities and differences in the DNA. Plant scientists were confounded by the fact that t
A new
Species of prehistoric crocodile has been discovered. The extinct creature, nicknamed "Shieldcroc" due to a thick-skinned shield on its head, is an ancestor of today's crocodiles.
Precipitous declines in formerly common mammals in Everglades National Park in Florida have been linked to the presence of invasive Burmese pythons, according to new research. The study, the first to
Another attractive theory falls foul of the facts. A census of trees in rainforests on three continents has confirmed that competition plays a central role in structuring communities. This contradicts
Scientists have long seen evidence of social behavior among many
Species of animals. Dolphins frolic together and lions live in packs. And, right under our feet, it appears that nematodes are having t
A bizarre creature that lived in the ocean more than 500 million years ago has emerged from the famous Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies. Officially named Siphusauctum gregarium, f
More than half of the 19,232
Species newly known to science in 2009, the most recent calendar year of compilation, were insects – 9,738 or 50.6 percent – according to the 2011 Stat
The toothiest prehistoric predators also had beefier arm bones, according to results of a new study. Saber-toothed tigers may come to mind, but these extinct cats weren't the only animals with fearsom
Biologists just discovered two new
Species of frogs in New Guinea, one of which is now the world's tiniest known vertebrate, averaging only 7.7 millimeters in size -- less than one-third of an inch. I
Dozens of giant tortoises of a
Species believed extinct for 150 years may still be living at a remote location in the Galápagos Islands, a genetic analysis conducted by Yale University rese
Chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas and bonobos make more sophisticated decisions than was previously thought. Great apes weigh their chances of success, based on what they know and the likelihood to su
Nature's game of intimidation and imitation comes full circle in the waters of Indonesia, where scientists have recorded for the first time an association between the black-marble jawfish and the mimi
Communities of
Species previously unknown to science have been discovered on the seafloor near Antarctica, clustered in the hot, dark environment surrounding hydrothermal vents. The discoveries includ
Chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans make decisions carefully. Great apes weigh their chances of success, based on what they know and the likelihood to succeed when guessing.
For the first time, the presence of large bodied herbivorous dinosaurs in Antarctica has been recorded. Until now, remains of sauropoda had been recovered from all continental landmasses, except Antar
The genomic sequences of two iconic falconry birds -- peregrine and saker falcons -- have been successfully decoded.
Many of the animal
Species at risk of extinction in the United States have not made it onto the country's official Endangered
Species Act list, according to new research.
Field research has uncovered the world's smallest frogs in southeastern New Guinea. The discovery also makes them the world's smallest tetrapods (non-fish vertebrates). The frogs belong to the genus P
Many of the animal
Species at risk of extinction in the United States have not made it onto the country's official Endangered
Species Act list, according to new research.
Food prices are soaring at the same time as the Earth's population is nearing 9 billion. As a result the need for increased crop yields is extremely important. New research into the system by which su
Researchers have found a signal, overlooked until now, that plays a role when honey bees split off from their mother colony and go scouting for a new home. Called the "stop signal," it is a
New research has unveiled enormous bones from North America's biggest dinosaur. Researchers collected two gigantic vertebrae and a femur in New Mexico. The bones belong to the sauropod dinosaur Alamos
A new
Species of horned dinosaur was just announced by an international team of scientists, nearly 100 years after the initial discovery of the fossil. The animal, named Spinops sternbergorum, lived a
In the distant reaches of the universe, almost 13 billion light-years from Earth, a strange
Species of galaxy lay hidden. Cloaked in dust and dimmed by the intervening distance, even the Hubble Space
Though paper wasps have brains less than a millionth the size of humans', they have evolved specialized face-learning abilities analogous to the system used by humans, according to researchers.
Australian scientists have discovered that some tropical fish have a greater capacity to cope with rising sea temperatures than previously thought – by adjusting over several generations. Th
The ranges of
Species will have to change dramatically as a result of climate change between now and 2100 because the climate will change more than 100 times faster than the rate at which
Species can