Chimpanzee pee reveals how our primate cousins are getting drunk on fermented fruit
A urinalysis shows that these apes ingest significant amounts of alcohol, providing new clues to how alcohol influences the animals’ behavior
Baby butterflies keep the beat to fool ants into taking care of them
These caterpillars rely on ants to tend them, and they use a surprisingly complex sense of rhythm to make it happen
‘Mind-blowing’ baby chick study challenges a theory of how humans evolved language
Newborn chicks connect sounds with shapes just like humans, suggesting deep evolutionary roots of the “bouba-kiki” effect
Humans Made Poisoned Arrowheads Thousands of Years Earlier Than Previously Thought
The use of poison on arrows marked a revolution in human hunting technology—new evidence suggests it happened tens of thousands of years earlier than previously known
These Hummingbirds Joust Like Medieval Knights—Even to the Death
The sharp, elongated bills of green hermit hummingbirds aren’t just fine-tuned for feeding; they also allow males to joust like knights over mates
Before Flowers Existed, These Plants Lured Insects with Heat
New research on strange cycad plants offers a glimpse into the prehistoric origins of pollination
Ancient humans were making fire 350,000 years earlier than scientists realized
Making fire on demand was a milestone in the lives of our early ancestors. But the question of when that skill first arose has been difficult for scientists to pin down
The incredible, unlikely story of how cats became our pets
Two new studies dig into the long, curving path that cats took toward domestication
Mysterious Fossil Foot Belonged to Ancient Human That Lived Alongside ‘Lucy’
Newly identified bones tie the mysterious Burtele foot to a new Australopithecus species that lived alongside Lucy more than three million years ago
This fossil is rewriting the story of how plants spread across the planet
An enigmatic group of fossil organisms has finally been identified—and is changing the story of how plants took root on land
These birds learned to tweet like R2-D2. Listen to the uncanny results
This lovable Star Wars droid is helping to shed light on why some bird species are better at mimicking sounds than others
Raccoons Are Showing Early Signs of Domestication
City-dwelling raccoons seem to be evolving a shorter snout—a telltale feature of our pets and other domesticated animals