New Research

Too Much Tech Could Be Causing Nearsightedness…But Not in the Way You Might Think

Forget eye strain—too much time indoors could cause myopia

It's a beetle invasion! These lady beetles (also known as lady bugs) are just one of Earth's family of beetles.

Beetle Species, Weirdly, Almost Never Go Extinct

The world is disproportionately filled with beetles—now, a new study suggests that’s because few species have ever been wiped out

Wikipedia Editing Shows That Different Countries Have Different Sets of Interests

New analysis shows that interests are local, not global

You Can Thank the Ancient Maya for Your Grocery Store’s Papaya

New research suggests the Mesoamerican civilization was responsible for first cultivating the hermaphrodite version of the plant favored by growers

Could Your Browser Make You a Better Employee?

The answer could be yes…if you use Firefox or Chrome

35-year old male chimp Frodo enjoying Mbula fruit he collected in Gombe National Park, Tanzania

Chimps Will Work Harder to Get Their Favorite Foods

An experimental setup shows that chimps will travel farther to get a more preferred reward

Watching Cooking Shows Could Make You Fat

Put down the remote—new research links cooking shows, higher BMI

This detail from Rome's Trajan's Column hints at what the Roman soldiers who built the fort recently discovered near Trieste may have looked like.

The Oldest Known Ancient Roman Fort Has Been Discovered in Italy

Researchers use laser scanners to identify a Roman military camp that may have initiated the settlement of the modern Italian city of Trieste

Parasites Linked to Cannibalism

A tiny creature makes shrimp more likely to eat their own

People Ate Pork in the Middle East Until 1,000 B.C.—What Changed?

A new study investigates the historical factors leading up to the emergence of pork prohibition

Researchers strapped electronics onto giant flower beetles to better understand how they direct themselves during flight.

Remote Controlled Bug-Bots Could be First Responders of the Future

Scientists studying how beetles steer themselves in flight gather research that may have implications far beyond understanding bug biology

This shot of a statue from the Louvre is one of the least-shocking anus-related image we came up with.

Science Is Still Unclear About the Evolutionary Origin of the Anus

A newly published scientific review attempts to “get to the bottom” of how animals acquired what some might call the most indecent part of the body

The slime mold, physarum polycephalum

Slime Mold Has an Uncannily Accurate Sense of Where Rome Built Its Roads

The strange organisms are remarkably good at mapping the most efficient route from place to place—and that's exactly what roads do

Replicas of English sailing ships on the James River — similar ships would have brought English colonists to Jamestown in 1607

Did the Age of Humans Begin in 1610?

Debate over when the Anthropocene began is starting to narrow in on a few dates — 1610, when the Old World met the New, is one promising candidate

A computer that passes the new test would be able to say which people in this scene from Pushkar, India, are carrying objects and which are riding bikes

Now the Turing Test Goes Visual

A proposed test would have computer programs not only pick out what is in a photo but what is happening

These coppery titi monkeys have a red beards similar to those sported by the newly discovered Milton’s titi monkey. The new species can be further identified by a light gray stripe across their foreheads and a bright orange tail.

Adorable Monkey New to Science Identified in Threatened Rainforest

Researchers in the Brazilian rainforest describe a previously undocumented species of titi monkey whose habitat faces man-made threats

An image of white-tailed eagle talons from the Krapina Neandertal site in present-day Croatia, dating to approximately 130,000 years ago. Scientists theorize that they may be part of a necklace or bracelet.

Neanderthal Jewelry Is Just as Fiercely Cool as You'd Imagine

A re-examination of a cave find indicates that the early human species sported eagle talons like some kind of prehistoric punk rockers

A mosaic of Enceladus collected by Cassini showing deep fissures or sulci

A Hint That a Saturnian Moon Could Have Hydrothermal Vents—And Support Life

Grains of silica from Saturn’s magnetosphere likely came from Enceladus and may mean the moon has hydrothermal vents

An artist's rendering of what the Aegirocassis benmoulae looked like.

Scary Lobster-Like Fossil Was Once One of the Earth's Largest Animals

One of the earliest arthropods was giant, weird-looking—and played a big role in the course of evolutionary history

A man butchers a whale in 1968

We Now Have a Toll of All the Whales Killed by Hunting in the Last Century

The whaling industry killed nearly 3 million for their oil, researchers estimate. But the true total is likely higher.

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