Some of you will know that I'm putting together a giant textbook on the vertebrate fossil record… and, oh god, it isn't easy. If you want sneak-peeks on how things are going, please consider supporting me at my patreon page...
The newly identified gene is found in modern-day humans, Neandertals and Denisovans, but not in chimps
The optimal length to keep eyes wet is a third of the width of the eye
Flow sensors on the bodies of many fishes act like a hydrodynamic antenna, picking up signals about the flow of water around them. Gretchen Cuda Kroen reports
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I think we can all agree that dogs are great at everything. Except being bad friends, they're terrible at that. They're especially great at having jobs, and increasingly, researchers are realising their potential as wildlife scouts to help them track down the struggling species that (understandably) are doing their best to stay hidden...
Findings from a large, randomized trial suggest early exposure may decrease risk by as much as 86 percent
In addition to fuel, nectar from various plant species contains chemical compounds that reduce the numbers of a common gut parasite in bumblebees. Christopher Intagliata reports
I'm a big fan of palaeognaths - the terrestrial bird group that includes the mostly big, flightless ratites and the chicken-sized, flight-capable tinamous.
Scientists believe that idealizing one's partner can work as a self-fulfilling prophecy, where illusion eventually becomes reality. That is to say, people can help to create the partners they wish they had, by exaggerating their virtues and minimizing their faults in their own minds...
For thousands of years a thin bridge of sand and rock connected mainland India with the island of Sri Lanka. The 30-kilometer stretch known as Rama's (or Adam's) Bridge disappeared centuries ago—probably after a cyclone in the year A.D...
To look at a rock sponge, which usually has all the visual appeal of a potato, you would never guess that inside lies the Notre Dame of animal skeletons.
Via bizarre and unexpected circumstances I recently* found myself secretly and furtively attending a lecture by Brian J. Ford. Ford is a British author and researcher who dabbles widely in matters of science and science communication...
What birds can teach us about animal intelligence
The tropical plant Genlisea is a tiny, homely rosette of simple green leaves. If you dig up its roots, you will find what look like an unremarkable bunch long, pale underground roots.
Disappointed by James Watson's decision to sell his Nobel Prize medal, Lior Pachter, a computational biologist who works on genomics at the University of California Berkeley, wrote an entry on his private blog in early December protesting the decision...
Genetics research sheds light on a long human relationship
This 2007 photograph of a fire ant brandishing her stinger is among the most heavily circulated images from my collection. Since several people have asked how I managed to coax the animal into such a dramatic pose, I bring you the following recipe...
To a human, two billion years is an unfathomable interval. But that, a team of European, Gabonese, and American scientists now say, is how long ago a recently discovered hoard of fossils suggests Earth’s first big life evolved — large enough to see with the naked eye, and in a spectrum of forms that tease [...]..
The Mongolian leader left a strong footprint in the Y chromosomes of his modern descendants, but he was not the only one
The ease with which certain sounds are produced in different climes plays a role in the development of spoken languages. Christopher Intagliata reports
