Becoming a guide dog is hard. Not all pups have what it takes to navigate complex landscapes without pausing for hydrants, dog-butts, and taunting cats. New research adds support to what many trainers might have already suspected – puppies that receive less attention from mum are more likely to graduate guide dog training.   Guide

In 1994, Doug Duncan was standing on the Bolivian Altiplano with of group of fellow astronomers. The scientists had come to witness a total solar eclipse, and as such, most of their gazes were turned skyward as the totality approached. That is, until a woman starting shouting, “Look down! Look down!”   “I can still

Around 500 million years ago, during the Cambrian period, Earth was undergoing some massive changes – organisms were becoming more complex, and animals were becoming more abundant. Some looked relatively normal, and some had faces that looked like butts with claws.   A new study has just been published identifying this weird creature as a 10

A strange breed of anthrax bacterium killed more than half of the dead chimps analysed in new research from Africa – and scientists say the fatal infection could wipe out the local chimp population in the Ivory Coast. As grave as the findings are, the greater implications of the Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis (Bcbva) bacterium could

The fact that nothing can be counted as something – what we humans call zero – isn’t exactly common knowledge across the animal kingdom. New research suggests the humble bee can be taught to recognise nothing as an amount, which considering they can also count as high as four, makes them veritable arthropod accountants.  

It may look like a dragon fresh off the set of Game of Thrones, but it turns out that one of the world’s best preserved dinosaurs faced some tough predators when it roamed the Cretaceous landscape some 110 million years ago. The statue-like specimen is so good that researchers were able to see the dinosaur’s

It’s no secret that animals see the world in a very different light to humans, but an international collaboration between scientists has revealed that we are on the brink of a new era when it comes to figuring out how animals see, use and manipulate colour.  The in-depth review takes a deep dive into the

Of the many variations between organisms in a species, only some of them can currently be explained by differences in their genetic code, but a new study has shed light on one of the other ways variations can occur. Researchers looking at the cichlid fish, an African species, found that how they exercise their jaws

Tales of epic ocean crossings are usually reserved for sailors with two legs, but an eight-legged odyssey millions of years ago may well be the most daring sea voyage in maritime history. The Australian trapdoor spider (Moggridgea rainbowi) was long thought to have arrived down under as a result of the breakup of the ancient

The dinosaurs that roamed Earth 66 million years ago might be gone forever, but the plants they trampled through are still with us, as a new discovery in the US shows. Scientists have come across a prehistoric plant called Lychnothamnus barbatus in North America for the first time, although it has previously been spotted in

A woman in Ohio has been saved by firefighters after making a frantic 911 emergency call to explain she was being attacked by a boa constrictor. The Sheffield Lake resident was the owner of 10 other snakes, and had rescued the 1.7-metre-long (5.5 foot) boa just the day before the attack – but that act

If you’re a fan of potato chips, the next best thing might just be a crispy, lightweight sheet of preserved jellyfish. Scientists have come up with a new way to prepare these animals for consumption, improving on a centuries-old technique. And they say that eating these creatures would both help us battle jellyfish blooms in certain

The physics behind fungal spore momentum may not keep all of us up at night, but for a select group of scientists, the issue has proved vexing for over a century. Now, researchers in the US have solved the mystery of how fungi launch their reproductive seedlings, showing how the merging of minuscule water droplets

Using the flatworm’s ability to survive and even regrow its head after decapitation, researchers have shown the animal will shy away from a light source even when it no longer has eyes. And these eyes can do more than you think; the study also found that in spite of being little more than dimples with

We’re still making many discoveries about the animals that roamed the Earth more than 66 million years ago, and a newly identified dinosaur bears a remarkable resemblance to a modern-day bird, the cassowary. The similarities are so strong that palaeontologists are now studying the flightless cassowaries to get a better idea of how their ancient equivalents

A fresh analysis of the tardigrade’s genome has revealed new secrets about the world’s toughest animal, while casting doubt on a previous conclusion. By comparing the genes of taken from two different species from the phylum Tardigrada, researchers determined how the group is related to other animals while pinpointing the genes that allow individuals to

Make some room tortoises and whales, because it looks like tubeworms have the real secret to longevity. A new study has found that these deep-sea animals from the Gulf of Mexico can live to be between 100 and 300 years old. “At more than 250 years old, Escarpia laminata achieves a lifespan that exceeds other

Jude Sparks was out on a family hike in the desert near Las Cruces, New Mexico, testing walkie-talkies, when the then-9-year-old boy tripped over a rocky protrusion. When Jude got up again, he examined what appeared to be two large, fossilised teeth jutting out from the terrain. Farther up, he spotted what looked like a

For the first time in 130 years, researchers have discovered a new species of sunfish that has escaped taxonomy records for almost three centuries. The bizarre new species has been named the Hoodwinker sunfish (Mola tecta), and has been found in the cold waters of New Zealand, southern Chile, South Africa and the south-east coast

Dogs are heartwarmingly friendly. They lick us, jump on us, would probably buy us a house if they could. We love them for it – even if sometimes they’re a little too overenthusiastic – but the reason behind why these animals are so hypersocially engaging has never been fully understood. Now, a new study examining

Many people spend their workdays indoors under fluorescent lights and in front of computers, then return home to bask in the glow of television screens. But spending too much time inside isn’t good for us. And nature is beneficial – maybe essential – for human health. Psychologists and health researchers are finding more and more

Aquatic plants buried underground for more than a century can be revived and regrown, according to a new study investigating the phenomenon of ‘ghost ponds’ – ponds that aren’t properly drained but filled in with soil and vegetation under agricultural land. Restoring some of these buried ponds, and the habitats hidden in limbo beneath the

Verily is releasing millions of male mosquitos treated with a naturally occurring bacteria that renders them sterile in Fresno. This is the largest such field trial in US history and part of a major effort to fight Zika virus and dengue fever. Verily, the life sciences arm of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has created a robot

If you thought your commute was bad Thursday, it probably wasn’t as bad as what people dealt with while driving along a coastal highway in Depoe Bay, Oregon. A truck carrying 7,500 pounds (3.4 tonnes) of hagfish – or slime eels – tipped over while trying to make a stop, tossing containers of slime-covered prehistoric

Nearly half of long-haul flights at some of world’s busiest airports could face disruptions on the hottest days because of extreme heat under climate change toward the end of the century, a new study said Thursday. On hot days, flights experience weight restrictions. Focusing on five major aircraft at 19 of the world’s busiest airports,

Just when we thought corvids couldn’t get any smarter, new research shows that ravens are just as capable of planning ahead of time as humans and apes. They can also barter and use tools better than apes, and display greater self-control than four-year-old children. The new findings show that planning for future events may have

Biology students will tell you that a beating heart is how the body pumps blood and circulates oxygen, but with fairness, educators never considered a freakish exception to the rule: the sea spider. These unusual ocean dwellers – which despite their name, aren’t actually arachnids at all – get by with a unique alternative, using

Decades ago, while Philip H. Lieberman was soaking in a bathtub and listening to the radio, he heard anthropologist Loren Eiseley ponder an evolutionary puzzle: Why couldn’t monkeys talk? Like us, they’re social primates, intelligent and certainly not quiet. Rhesus macaques grunt, coo, screech and scream. Infant macaques make sounds known as geckers.   Despite the grunting and geckering, though, no

In many places around the world, native animals have had their populations decimated by introduced species. Particularly in cut off lands like Australia, many species are now only found in isolated locations. But researchers now think that there’s a way to ‘train’ animals to be wary of these predators, so they are no longer easy

Scientists have uncovered an incredible specimen in Myanmar that has given us a glimpse of life from 100 million years ago – a piece of amber containing the remarkably preserved remains of an ancient bird hatchling. Inside the amber, you can make out the head, tail, and neck of the bird, but it’s the wings

Tyrannosaurus rex was an odd animal, a predator with teeth the size of bananas, a massive head and tiny arms. Given that many dinosaurs had feathers, could T. rex have been even weirder – a giant carnivore with a downy coat? A new study in the journal Biology Letters crushes any tyrant chicken dreams: T.

They sprouted up in abundance after heavy rains, poking up through California lawns and forests, appearing harmless to some of those who found them – as though they’d make a good meal. And so they do, at first. The ‘death cap’ mushroom is said to be delicious. A new federal report detailed what came after consumption

Species that share similar kinds of brain anatomy have been caught using different neural circuits to perform identical behaviours, and it challenges a basic assumption on the relationship between behaviour and neurology. The team is yet to figure out why this strange overlap exists among species, but the discovery points to how important behaviours can be

You can find them in many places around the world – tall, lean conifers that can’t seem to grow straight. And now scientists have figured out that the direction these Cook pines (Araucaria columnaris) lean is always towards the equator, but they’re not quite sure why. Scientists have measured these trees across five continents and,

A security camera recorded four black-clad gunmen as they rushed into a Netherlands supermarket. The camera watched them wave a gun in the face of a female employee. It watched her quietly hand over the money. Later, Marie Lindegaard, a scientist at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement, reviewed this crime and 21 other

We humans think we’re so special. To determine what sets us apart from the rest of the animal world, scientists investigate features that might be uniquely human, such as self-awareness or language. But every now and then, a new finding throws the narrative, leaving us to wonder what those truly unique human traits really are.

For years, tourists visiting the picturesque Uluwatu temple in Bali have been warned about a local gang of marauding macaques who expertly snatch loose items you might have about your person, and then barter them back for food. Sunglasses, flip-flops, hats, and even jewellery – everything is fair game, and temple staff have become experts at

Researchers have completed the world’s first scan of a living cell membrane down to a nanoscale level, revealing details that could finally resolve a longstanding debate on how they function. The technique used to create this incredible image could fundamentally change how nanoscale structures are studied in living things.   The research was carried out

If you ever had the misfortune of being hunted by a snake, in spite of everything, you could consider yourself lucky – at least it’s not an entire nest of serpents teaming up to run you down and devour your flesh. While scientists have never really been sure if snakes consciously coordinate their hunts – or

The first part of a now-viral video shows a sea lion swimming near a dock in Steveston, a seaside community on Canada’s western coast. The sound of cameras clicking can be heard in the background as onlookers marvelled at its size. The animal swims closer to the dock after grabbing a piece of food that

It’s been 37 years as of last Thursday since the Mount St. Helens volcano in the US state of Washington exploded, taking 57 lives and destroying hundreds of square kilometres of forest, bridges, and homes. The US Geological Survey (USGS) has been keeping an eye on the volcano’s activity ever since, and says while it’s

Perhaps it’s global warming or climate confusion. Maybe it’s just really hard for a 17-year cicada to count down the years while he’s buried underground. Why this is happening is a total question mark, but a small fraction of the 17-year cicadas – the ones we’re supposed to see in 2021 – are creeping out of their zombie

A new study on how genes function across the living world has added weight to the hypothesis that life on Earth was capturing energy from chemical reactions before it was copying its codes. The result throws fuel onto the original evolutionary ‘chicken and egg’ debate that asks, which came first, replicating RNA or metabolism?  

Scientists estimate that there are fewer than 30 vaquita porpoises left in the wild, and if serious conservation efforts aren’t enacted now, the species could reach extinction by 2018. If you’ve never seen one of these creatures before, it’s for good reason – these incredibly rare mammals are only found in the upper Gulf of

On Wednesday, the Weather Channel posted a video of a digging clam to its Facebook page with the caption, “This bizarre video of a clam digging in sand has gone viral.” Never has an invertebrate prophecy been so self-fulfilling. The digging clam wracked up about 5 million views and counting. Commenters took to the clam with gusto, debating what sort of

Scientists think they’ve filled an important gap in whale evolution – the fossilised remains of a specimen that lived around 36.4 million years ago, and is thought to be one of the first whales to use large, sieve-like combs called baleen instead of teeth to filter their food. Today, baleen whales (or mysticeti) are among the

Drone footage has captured something no one’s ever seen before – wild narwhals using their bizarre tusks to hunt Arctic cod by hitting and stunning them, making them easier to consume. The behaviour addresses a biological mystery that’s spanned decades – why these rare and elusive whales have evolved an extra-long left canine tooth that

Before being assembled into something recognisable at a museum, most dinosaur fossils look to the casual observer like nothing more than common rocks. No one, however, would confuse the over 110 million-year-old nodosaur fossil for a stone. The fossil, being unveiled today in Canada’s Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, is so well preserved it looks like