Biology

To speak, perchance to think? A long-tailed macaque opens wide in Bali, Indonesia.

What's Really Keeping Monkeys From Speaking Their Minds? Their Minds

When it comes to language, primates have all the right vocal equipment. They just lack the brains

Obi the parrotlet

How a Goggle-Wearing Parrot Could Help Future Robots Fly

By flying through a haze and lasers, Obi the parrotlet helped researchers figure out how much lift birds produce

Spectacular Footage of a Butterfly Leaving Its Cocoon

The transition from caterpillar to butterfly is a process that consists of four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult

Showy traits, like the large antlers of these bull moose, can be detrimental to an animal's health.

Go Big or Go Generic: How Sexual Selection Is Like Advertising

When it comes to attracting mates, it pays to either go all out—or not try at all

The shipworm, scourge of sailors everywhere, is actually a kind of ghostly saltwater clam.

How a Ship-Sinking Clam Conquered the Ocean

The wood-boring shipworm has bedeviled humans for centuries. What's its secret?

Turtle grass may rely on tiny crustaceans as pollinators.

Meet the Newly Discovered Pollinators Under the Sea

The tiny crustaceans are challenging previous assumptions about how plants grow underwater

The Best Books About Science of 2016

Take a journey to the edge of human knowledge and beyond with one of these mind-boggling page-turners

The technique is sort of a combination of light microscopy, which bounces light off of objects, and electron microscopy, which bounces electrons off of objects.

A New Technique Brings Color to Electron Microscope Images of Cells

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have found a way to attach artificial color to biological structures

Two captive Przewalski’s horses at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's center in Fort Royal, Virginia

How Conservationists Use GPS to Track the Wildest Horses in the World

These horses' wildness makes them unique. It also makes them uniquely difficult for researchers to monitor and track

Stunning Slo-Mo Footage of Hummingbirds Hovering in Air

The hovering technique of a hummingbird is one of the most mesmerizing sights to witness

New Technique Could Supercharge Crop Production

Proteins inserted into tobacco plants improved yields by up to 20 percent

Why Do Insects Hate the Smell of Peppermint?

The stick bug primarily depends on its camouflage to avoid predators. But when enemies get too close, this insect deploys peppermint as a last resort

Spotted: one adventurous female panther.

Why Scientists Are Psyched About a River-Crossing Panther

This big cat is the first female thought to enter the area in over 40 years

Reptiles Can't Fly. But This One Glides Like a Pro

Draco, a type of lizard that lives in trees in Southeast Asia, has evolved flaps of skin on its flanks

A purplish-mantled tanager, a species the study suggests should be listed at vulnerable

Is the Endangered Species List Missing Hundreds of Species of Birds?

A new study suggests the IUCN's methods are underestimating the risks to many species, but the organization say the research is flawed

The Surprising Reason Birds First Grew Feathers

When birds first grew feathers 150 million years ago, their function was not necessarily to help with flight

Watch a Bombardier Beetle Mace a Praying Mantis

Praying mantises are adept at ambushing their prey with their specialized legs and swift reflexes

Dave

R.I.P., Dave the U.K.'s Largest Earthworm

Measuring 16 inches long and weighing an ounce, the worm pulled from a Cheshire garden has become a prized specimen at the Natural History Museum

The three-spine stickleback usually forages and builds its nest near the lake bottom. But in Enos Lake, it appears to have merged with a related species that spends its time near the surface.

Extinction or Evolution? The Answer Isn't Always Clear

The same factors that kill off some species cause others to evolve at lightning speed

That looks nutritious.

Everyone Poops. Some Animals Eat It. Why?

Consuming feces can benefit not only the health and microbiomes of some animals, but also their environments

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