DNA Finds New Octopus Species Hiding in Plain Sight
Describing a new species for science is not quite as easy as it was in the days of 17th- or 18th-century naturalists. But that just means we have to look a little more closely.
How Scientists Uncovered Arctic Clues to a Past Where a Tiny Fern Changed the Planet
Researchers attempt to puzzle out how Earth got its ice caps
Seven New Species of Pill-Millipede Found in Madagascar
http://www.pensoft.net/news.php?n=394&SESID=5eebde6fd8471b050adfb405b7a280b9 http://www.pensoft.net/journals/zookeys/article/7730/integrative-revision-of-the-giant-pill-millipede-genus-sphaeromimus-from-madagascar-with-the%C2%A0description-of-seven-new-s
Where did all these Phorusrhacos come from?
If, as I have, you've spent copious time wandering the British countryside, visiting amusement parks and visitor attractions that feature life-sized `prehistoric animals', you'll surely have seen all those Phorusrhacos* models.
Earliest Skeletal Animals Built Coral Reefs
Reef-building in skeletal animals appeared much earlier in evolutionary history than previously thought, as far back as 548 million years ago
Multiple "Promiscuous" Gene Transfers Found to Occur in Complex Cells
Multiple independent gene transfers are now documented to occur in the evolutionary history of eukaryotic life, not just among prokaryotes
Funnel-Shaped Animals Invented Reefs Prior to Cambrian Explosion
Scientists have long thought of the Cambrian Explosion 541 million years ago as the flowering of complex life on Earth. Strangely shaped, large soft-bodied organisms were known to have lived in the period just prior — the Ediacaran — but they made few hard parts and scientists have debated whether any or how many were [...]
Jell-O Brains and DNA: High School Students Launch Innovative STEM Program
The following guest post is by Roy Rinberg, a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va. and an incoming freshman at New York University. He is co-founder of Project Building Excitement for Science and Technology (BEST), an afterschool program for junior high school students.
Malarial Mice Smell Better to Mosquitoes
Mice infected with the parasites that cause their type of malaria produce odorous compounds that attract mosquitoes, increasing the odds that the parasites will be spread to the next victims
"Super Bananas" Enter U.S. Market Trials
While testing crops are legal, it's unlikely farmers will be persuaded to convert to the new bananas without a way to physically sell the fruit
Comparative Biology: Naked Ambition
A subterranean species that seems to be cancer-proof is providing promising clues on how we might prevent the disease in humans
The Largest Extinction in Earth’s History May Have Been Caused by Microbes
A new theory proposes methane-spurting single-celled organisms were behind the Permian extinctions