Animals

How the Woolly Bear Caterpillar Does Something Pretty Amazing to Survive the Winter

Caterpillars can’t regulate their body temperatures, so they have to come up with a totally different strategy to make it through the coldest months of the year.

Kate Furby and Jeffery DelViscio

Animals

Bees ‘Buzz’ in More Ways Than You Might Think

A honeybee swarm has as much electric charge as a thundercloud, and the insects’ mass movements in the atmosphere might even have some influence on the weather.

Shayla Love and Jeffery DelViscio

Dinosaurs

‘Weird’ Dinosaur Prompts Rethink of Bird Evolution

A newly described fossil is as old as the “first bird,”  Archaeopteryx,  and represents a birdlike dinosaur that might have specialized in running or wading instead of flying...

Jude Coleman and Nature magazine

Animals

Why Do Cats Knead like They’re Making Biscuits?

Often nicknamed “making biscuits,” kneading is a good sign that your cat is happy, experts say

Meghan Bartels

Anthropology

Human Ancestors Nearly Went Extinct 900,000 Years Ago

A new technique for analyzing modern genetic data suggests that prehumans survived in a group of only 1,280 individuals

Anna Ikarashi and Nature magazine