Category: Biology

Language is one of the most defining features of humanity. It allows us to share ideas, create culture, and pass down knowledge across generations. But when did human language, as…

When we think about the dazzling palette of colors in the animal kingdom, our minds often turn to birds of paradise flaunting iridescent feathers, or butterflies sporting kaleidoscopic wings. Even…

For decades, the image of megalodon has loomed large in our collective imagination—a monstrous version of today’s great white shark, a bulked-up, torpedo-shaped beast with an endless appetite for destruction.…

For over 140 years, Mixodectes pungens, a small arboreal mammal from the early Paleocene epoch, remained an enigma. First described in 1883 by the renowned paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope, this…

In a remarkable twist of fate, a dusty slab of rock that had sat quietly in an Australian school for nearly two decades has been revealed to contain one of…

The Triassic period, spanning from approximately 252 to 201 million years ago, represents one of the most transformative times in the history of life on Earth. Following the largest mass…

A remarkable discovery in northern Spain has given archaeologists and paleoanthropologists an exciting glimpse into the early human past. A partial fossil of a human ancestor, specifically a fragment of…

A groundbreaking study recently revealed that the Turpan-Hami Basin in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region acted as a refugium, or a “life oasis,” for terrestrial plants during the end-Permian mass…

An international team of researchers has resolved long-standing questions about the evolutionary history of mollusks, one of the most diverse and ecologically significant groups of animals on the planet. The…

A groundbreaking study led by researchers from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in collaboration with partners in Africa and the UK, has unveiled a novel approach to reducing the transmission…

The efficient architecture of our joints, which grants our skeletons both flexibility and durability, traces its origins back to some of the most ancient jawed fish ancestors. A significant study…

In a groundbreaking study, researchers from the University of Trento, the University of Lincoln, the University of London, and the University of Vienna have shown that rats possess the ability…

A groundbreaking study led by an international team of researchers, including faculty from Binghamton University, State University of New York, sheds new light on the evolutionary history of Neanderthals and…

When most people think of Antarctic animals, penguins are likely the first creatures that come to mind. However, there’s a much smaller, lesser-known survivor in the harsh environment of Antarctica—the…

When it comes to finding a good meal, leaf-eating insects don’t hesitate to follow their favorite food, even across vast distances and millions of years. Recent research by scientists at…

Sixty-six million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous Period, an asteroid struck near the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, marking the end of the age of non-bird dinosaurs. The…

Our bodies are host to a vast number of microorganisms, especially in the gut, where trillions of bacteria play a crucial role in maintaining health. Over recent decades, scientific research…

Soft tissue preservation in fossils does not seem to depend upon the species, age or burial environment of the fossils in question, according to new research from North Carolina State…

We’ve all experienced the discomfort of a sore throat at one time or another, and many of us are familiar with strep throat, a common bacterial infection caused by Streptococcus…

Evolution is typically portrayed as a gradual process that builds greater complexity over time. New genes are acquired, and biological systems become increasingly intricate as species adapt to their environment.…