A mother panther walks into frame and pauses. She looks around, ears alert. One of her cubs appears and looks healthy and strong. Then her other cub stumbles into the frame and falls to the ground.   The young cat doesn’t have full control of its hind legs – as if a neurological disease, or

How do you study the evolution of brains, without any ancient brains to study? It’s not a simple proposition, so it’s no surprise that scientists are excited to have scanned the very well-preserved skull of a 20-million-year-old monkey species, Chilecebus carrascoensis.   “Human beings have exceptionally enlarged brains, but we know very little about how far

Scientists have discovered evidence of a massive distributed reservoir of methane formed by chemical reactions deep inside the ocean floor. Abiotic methane – created in reactions that don’t involve organic matter or living creatures – has long been known to exist buried in the seabed and released via deep-sea vents, but the origins of the

It’s one of the deepest unknowns in geophysics: the hidden movements of Earth’s innermost core. While we think of the ground beneath our feet as terra firma, that reassuring rigidity only extends so far. Deep below the planet’s surface, Earth’s super-hot inner core sits within a molten liquid outer core, detached from the overlying mantle

Early Earth grew up in a chaotic time. As our planet tried to find its place in a relatively young Solar System about 4.5 billion years ago, it was under constant attack from waves of comets, whizzing asteroids, and even some failed proto-planets.   The Late Heavy Bombardment period was the absolute zenith of all

A careful inspection of super-deep diamonds has revealed what geologists have long suspected: Hiding somewhere in our planet’s interior, there exists a vast reservoir of primordial magma, undisturbed for more than 4 billion years.   The location, the size and the contents of this ancient reservoir are still up for debate, but thanks to these

Ah, New Zealand. The ancient home of enormous parrots. And, apparently, penguins that would tower menacingly over them. Researchers have found the remains of a beast that would have stood nearly as tall as a human, one of the biggest penguins to ever waddle the Earth.   Paleontologists have named the penguin Crossvallia waiparensis, and

Around 54 million years ago, in the early Eocene, there lived a tiny crane fly. It may not have been a particularly remarkable crane fly while it was alive, but after it died, geological processes turned it into something magnificent: a fossil so brilliantly preserved, we can make out the individual cells of its compound

When scientists ran DNA analysis on a sediment core taken from the floor of the Arctic ocean back in 2010, they found something surprising. A previously unknown organism belonging to the strange domain of microbes called Archaea appeared to have genomic characteristics associated with a totally different domain – Eukaryota.   They named their discovery

The aptly named goliath frog is the biggest species of frog in the world, and scientists now say it’s the first African amphibian we know of to engage in ‘nest-building’ activity – something that may actually be responsible for their gigantic size.   The nests that these frogs build are small, protected ponds for their

Some people don’t like sharing their food – we all have a friend who gets cranky when you steal a chip from their plate. For wild animals, this makes sense, because any food shared is energy lost that could otherwise have been used to pursue more food.   So it was a big surprise to

Glowing catsharks that lurk the briny depths have a fluorescence mechanism never seen before in another organism. And that glow could be conferring some serious perks – such as the ability to pick out other sharks among the many fluorescent things on the seafloor.   “Studying biofluorescence in the ocean is like a constantly evolving

The human species has done some incredibly smart things. We’ve revealed gravitational waves. We’ve discovered and confirmed 118 chemical elements. We have a whole spacecraft taking beautiful photos of Jupiter.   But humans can also be stupid. Especially when it comes to the way we treat living, breathing, animals. And so, as many news organisations

New research suggests Earth’s most recent magnetic field reversal took longer to complete than previously thought: around 22,000 years in total. Figuring out why this particular flip was so drawn out will let us better understand this mysterious process, and maybe even help us to prepare.   It’s a fact geologists know about our planet:

A collection of bird bones sat in lab storage for more than a decade, believed to be the remains of an ancient eagle. Little did scientists know what was hiding in the fossils: “Squawkzilla.”   Heracles inexpectatus was discovered by scientists in New Zealand, according to a study published Wednesday. At about 3 feet (1 meter)

If there’s one thing seagulls are famous for, it’s their pro-grade pilfering. They steal your snacks, nick your nosh, purloin your pudding, and liberate your lunch. No morsel is safe in the range of a seagull’s beady, greedy eye.   But, as scientists in the UK have discovered, there’s a way you can hold them

Deep in the Gulf of Alaska, ocean explorers have filmed an unusual see-through squid with saucer-like eyes, iridescent organs and a bright orange crown. Looking at its face, the bizarre creature somehow looks more like a bird than a fish.   “It’s a cockatoo #squid (Cranchiidae)!” NOAA recently tweeted along with the video. “Pretty, huh?” It’s a

Sometimes the discovery of a new dinosaur species doesn’t require an extensive archaeological dig – it just needs a closer analysis of the dino bones already sitting in the collection of a university. That’s turned out to be case with the newly described Ngwevu intloko.   The new species, now named “grey skull” in the South

When Grandma Fish was just a tiny fry, the Titanic was yet to set sail. Humans had yet to reach the South Pole. The First World War wasn’t even a rumble on the horizon, the first public radio broadcast yet to spill its arias into New York City.   As new dating techniques have revealed,

The way bats use sound to locate their prey is even more clever than we thought. It turns out that leaf-nosed bats can even find insects that hide themselves from echolocation.   In what’s known as acoustic camouflage, insects that sit motionless on leaves can be protected because the echo from the bat’s cry bounces

Bottlenose dolphins are attentive and flexible parents: The very survival of their calves depends on it. And in some rare cases, their adopted offspring, too. For the first time ever, scientists have witnessed a mother dolphin caring for the orphan of another species as though it were hers.   For more than three years, researchers in

Baby jumping spiders have vision that’s almost as extraordinarily good as the grown-ups, scientists have discovered – despite the baby spiders being around a hundredth of the size. A new study reports on how this feat of biological engineering is achieved.   The teeny tiny spiderlings pack the same number of light-capturing photoreceptors into their four

Chase Dekker gripped his camera with anticipation. A couple hundred feet from his seat on a whale-watching boat, the waters of Monterey Bay in California teemed with activity. A group of California sea lions had just come up for air after feeding on a school of anchovies, and following close behind them was the main

Indian tiger numbers are up, according to one of the most detailed wildlife surveys ever conducted. Tiger populations have risen by 6 percent, to roughly 3,000 animals. The massive survey may set a new world standard in counting large carnivores. The encouraging results validate India’s impressive investments in tiger conservation.   A mammoth effort Large,

Many of us will have experienced that super friendly cat who seems to love being stroked one minute, only to bite or swipe at us the next. It might be easy at this point to blame it on the cat, but what’s likely happening here is that we’re just not stroking them right.   To

There are some strange things down there, in the ocean depths, where crushing pressures and low light make for some bizarre adaptations. It’s not easy for humans to get down there, but remote-controlled submarines have, in recent years, been slowly revealing to us the strange wonders at the bottom of the sea.   Like this:

Sometimes all you need is a wild weekend in Las Vegas, amongst the lights, sounds, and attractions of the Sin City. And it seems like grasshoppers are no exception, descending on Las Vegas last week in such numbers that you can even see them on the weather radar.   🤓 Some of you have been

Thanks to a chance observation during a woodland ramble, scientists have found evidence that trees can keep each other alive by sharing water and other resources – forming a type of ‘superorganism’ that works together to keep individuals alive.   In this way, a tree stump has been able to survive and cycle water, even

Ever since humanity split into dog and cat people, we’ve been arguing over which one of our beloved companions is a smarter species. A study from 2017 mightn’t be the last word on the matter, but for those who think more neurons means more intelligence, it looks as if dogs stand out among carnivores for

Something peculiar has been found inside fossilised clams from the Tamiami Formation in Florida: dozens of tiny, silica-rich glass spheres, no more than a few millimetres in size. Such beads are forged by heat, and can be created by volcanic or industrial activity – but in this case, there’s one big problem.   The Tamiami

On a dry summer day in July, the last thing the United Kingdom weather service expected to see on their radar was rain. At first, it looked as though a light sun shower was falling on the south of England, but upon closer inspection, it was clear that these were not your average clouds. They were,

Unhatched bird embryos can not only hear the warning calls of adult birds – they can communicate that information to their unhatched brothers and sisters sharing the same nest, remaining safely tucked away in their shells until it is safe to hatch.   It is a finding that reveals how birds can adapt to their

We all know sharks have had a bit of an undeserved bad rap (thanks Jaws!). But if you’re one of those people who find sharks scary, this newly identified species of pocket shark might just change your mind.   First up, it’s only about 14 centimetres (5.5 inches) long and has its own pockets tucked

More than 28,000 species around the world are threatened, according to the Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The list, updated on Thursday night, has assessed the extinction risk of almost 106,000 species and found more than a quarter are in trouble.   While recent

When you put a tardigrade under a microscope, you never know what you’re going to get. These weird-looking ‘water bears’ are some of the strangest creatures on the planet, and they are constantly surprising us. Even once you see them with your own eyes, it can be hard to figure out what the heck is

In 2015, David Hole was prospecting in Maryborough Regional Park near Melbourne, Australia. Armed with a metal detector, he discovered something out of the ordinary – a very heavy, reddish rock resting in some yellow clay.   He took it home and tried everything to open it, sure that there was a gold nugget inside

Lizzie Daly was diving Saturday off the coast of Cornwall in Britain when she saw something large in the distance and did a double take. Daly had seen a barrel jellyfish before but nothing of this size.   Daly, a biologist and broadcaster, swam up to the peach-colored creature gliding through the water, as cameraman

Just outside the northernmost city of Alaska, underneath an expanse of white tundra, researchers have found a rich community of microbes bathing in ancient seawater. According to a team from the University of Washington, this underground tomb of briny fluid, known as a cryopeg, has probably been here since at least the last ice age,

It’s not enough for humans to pump less carbon into the atmosphere. To address climate change, many experts say we’re going to need to find a way to remove some of the emissions already polluting our air.   While some scientists are focusing on mechanical solutions to carbon capture, researchers at the Salk Institute’s Harnessing

The question of how life first emerged here on Earth is a mystery that continues to elude scientists. Despite everything that scientists have learned from the fossil record and geological history, it is still not known how organic life emerged from inorganic elements (a process known as abiogenesis) billions of years ago.   One of

When you think of loud sounds you probably imagine earsplitting screams or whole-body-vibrating booms. Not necessarily the abrupt pop that belongs to a tiny 29-millimetre marine worm (Leocratides kimuraorum).   But when marine biologist Ryutaro Goto from Kyoto University and colleagues measured the sounds made by these polychaete worms they came in at a whopping

Feasts are rare on the barren landscape of the ocean depths. So researchers couldn’t believe their luck when they recently stumbled on a feeding frenzy of deep-sea sharks chowing down on a fallen swordfish off the US coast.   But they never imagined they would also capture footage of one of those sharks becoming the

Earth’s magnetic field protects and makes our planet habitable by stopping harmful high-energy particles from space, including from the Sun. The source of this magnetic field is the core at the centre of our planet.   But the core is very difficult to study, partly because it starts at a depth of about 2,900 kilometres

A weird-looking foot preserved in 99 million-year-old Burmese amber has revealed a new species of ancient bird with one insanely long middle toe. The newly-named Elektorornis chenguangi is a small bird distinct from all others, either extinct or living – simply because of its hindlimb. The third digit on its foot, researchers say, is twice

California is a land shaped by seismic activity. A history of earthquakes is written in its landscape in the form of rifts, folds, and cracks. But major tremors also tend to leave less dramatic fingerprints.   While two of the most recent earthquakes to strike the state’s south damaged infrastructure and land, they also warped the

They’re one of the weirdest, most incongruous-looking natural phenomena you could ever see on Earth’s surface: massive dagger-shaped blades of vertically aligned ice, assembled in mysterious flocks in the middle of the desert.   These strange ice spire formations – called ‘penitentes‘ due to their resemblance to penitent, praying folk – take shape at high

A sunburst-colored bird was stranded on a British highway when passersby spotted him, which wasn’t difficult. The Good Samaritans called an animal rescue hospital to report the bird, along with a strange description of his appearance: He was a vivid but uneven orange, like a winged Cheeto.   Was he some exotic bird that escaped

The diversity of life here on Earth is constantly in flux, but this universal pattern of evolution and extinction is not easily explained. Some scientists have reasoned that mass extinction events occur on our planet every 26 to 30 million years and that biodiversity changes every 62 million years.   But the marine fossil record