Biology

Permian period petroleum helped to preserve minute scraps of pebbly hide that probably belonged to a lizardlike creature

Enigmatic octopuses that have been newly discovered in the waters off Costa Rica add to a growing registry of deep-sea dwellers

Wandering albatrosses navigate thousands of miles using “the voice of the sea.”

A huge cache of ancient genomes spanning tens of thousands of years reveals the roots of traits in modern Europeans

A dinosaur skull first discovered in the 1980s was originally catalogued as a T. rex. Now some scientists argue it represents a new species of tyrannosaur and could shed light on where the massive animals originated

The massive ancient ape Gigantopithecus blacki disappeared in a mystery that scientists are eager to crack

By locking together traits that work well together, supergenes provide striking evolutionary advantages. But they can also be costly because they make it nearly impossible to purge bad mutations

Annie Montague Alexander went on paleontology expeditions most women could only dream of in the early 1900s

Dogs are good for you, science says. 

In the digital age, some scientists argue the emojisphere should better represent Earth’s biosphere—tardigrades, flatworms and all

As climate change makes the planet hotter, some animals might become more active at night to escape the midday heat

New research on asexuality shows why it’s so important for doctors and therapists to distinguish between episodes of low libido and a consistent lack of sexual attraction