Anatomy

By examining the fossils of ancient creatures, scientists are able to see the origins of features that make mammals different from other animals.

How to Make a Mammal in Nine Evolutionary Steps

From the formation of inner ear bones to the rise of hair to cover our bodies, these developments made us distinct from other animals

Scurvy, or vitamin C deficiency, is easy to treat with supplements and dietary changes.

Is Scurvy Making a Comeback? Two Recent Cases Highlight How the Illness Can Appear in the Modern World

Scurvy diagnoses in Australia and Canada suggest doctors should consider testing for vitamin C deficiency in patients experiencing poverty, food insecurity and social isolation

Two comb jellies have fused together and are being probed by a pipette.

These Frankenstein-Like Sea Creatures Can Actually Fuse Their Bodies Together

Two comb jellies can merge their digestive and nervous systems and even sync their bodily functions, according to new research. The discovery could have implications for human medicine

Elephants' wrinkly trunks might serve a purpose and reveal whether the individual prefers to bend the handy appendage to the right or the left.

How an Elephant's Wrinkles Reveal Whether It Is Right- or Left-Trunked

A new study sheds light on the muscular, dexterous appendage, suggesting trunk wrinkles are more important than many people realize

A green-crowned brilliant hummingbird feeds on a cactus flower in Costa Rica. 

Uncovering the Secrets Behind Hummingbirds' Extreme Lifestyle

Here's how the aerial acrobats are able to survive on a nearly all-sugar diet, fly higher than many helicopters can and migrate over the open ocean

Researchers mapped all 139,255 neurons in the brain of an adult fruit fly, which are linked by more than 50 million synapses.

Scientists Unveil the First-Ever Complete Map of an Adult Fruit Fly's Brain, Captured in Stunning Detail

The brain diagram, called a connectome, could revolutionize researchers' understanding of the human brain, which has many parallels with a fruit fly's

A new study suggests that coyotes, like the ones seen here, have the same face muscle as dogs that's used to make pleading "puppy eyes."

Coyotes Might Make 'Puppy Eyes,' Suggesting the Facial Expression Evolved for More Than Just Cuteness

The wild canines have the same muscles used by domestic dogs to create the wide-eyed, pleading look that captures humans' hearts

The vagus nerve sprawls from the brain through the body, innervating our organs and managing life support and emotion.

Everything You Wanted to Know About the Longest Nerve in the Body

Like a highway system, the vagus nerve branches profusely from your brain through your organs to marshal bodily functions, including aspects of the mind such as mood, pleasure and fear

Benjamin Franklin lived in London for much of the time between 1757 and 1775.

Why Were There So Many Skeletons Hidden in Benjamin Franklin's Basement?

During restorations in the 1990s, more than 1,200 pieces of bone surfaced beneath the founding father's London home

Charlotte is a round stingray, a species named for its circular, disk-shaped body.

'Pregnant Virgin' Stingray Won't Give Birth After All—Here's Why

Charlotte, a female round stingray in North Carolina who has gathered a legion of online fans, is no longer pregnant due to a "rare reproductive disease"

The bladder and the brain are involved in determining when we need to urinate.

How Do We Know When to Pee?

The basic urge is surprisingly complex and can go awry as we age

African wild dogs might use facial expressions to communicate with each other as they hunt in packs on the savanna.

Wild Dogs Have Muscles for 'Puppy Eyes,' Suggesting the Cute Expression Did Not Evolve Just for Humans

African wild dogs have the same well-developed eye muscles that domestic dogs use to make their signature pleading faces, a recent study finds

The world’s quietest room registers a background sound of -24.9 dBA.

In the Earth’s Quietest Room, You Can Hear Yourself Blink

Background noise in the custom-built chamber is actually measured in negative decibels, which means it’s below the threshold of human hearing

The mummified head, reconstructed by a forensic sculptor, belonged to a woman who lived in Egypt during the region's Greco-Roman period, between 332 B.C.E. and 395 C.E.

See the Reconstructed Face of a Mummy Stored in a High School Library Since 1915

A forensic artist hopes the sculpture will help humanize the mummy, which appeared at Australia's Grafton High School under mysterious circumstances

The otherworldly form of the octopus has inspired millennia of fear and awe from humans.

Ten Wild Facts About Octopuses: They Have Three Hearts, Big Brains and Blue Blood

These bizarre creatures have been around for hundreds of millions of years, and for humans, they’ve inspired horror, admiration and culinary prestige

Hand washing is one of the simplest ways to prevent disease transmission.

The Dirty Secret About How Our Hands Spread Disease

The human hand is an incredible tool—and a deadly threat

Roger Federer hits a forehand shot at Wimbledon. The tennis great has called his racket an extension of his arm.

How Did Humans Evolve to Use Everyday Tools?

An anthropologist explains why we experience many objects, from tennis rackets to cars, as extensions of our bodies

Charlotte, a round stingray, was determined to be pregnant, despite not having a male ray companion for at least eight years.

A Female Stingray That Hasn't Had a Mate in Eight Years Is Mysteriously Pregnant. Is a Shark the Father?

Though the round stingray, named Charlotte, shares her aquarium tank with two male sharks, experts say it is impossible for a shark to impregnate a ray

Fabrizio Fidati, a 57-year-old amputee, uses the MiniTouch device with his prosthetic to accurately sort cubes of different temperatures.

In a First, a Prosthetic Limb Can Sense Temperature Like a Living Hand

The advance may help users feel a greater sense of human connection through touch

Temperature varies from person to person and it differs throughout the day.

What's Really the Average Human Body Temperature?

Long thought to be 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the measurement is highly personal and varies depending on time of day, among other factors, new research finds

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