Pollen-starved bumblebees bite 'half-moons' into plants to make them bloom By Nicoletta Lanese Scientists don't yet know when or how the behavior evolved.
300,000-year-old remains of towering elephant species discovered in Germany By Laura Geggel The elephant likely died of old age, and stone tools nearby indicate it was scavenged.
Cold War satellites tracked missiles ... and marmots? By Nicoletta Lanese The historic images could fill gaps in the ecological record.
Baby pygmy hippo born at San Diego Zoo, conquers the internet with cuteness By Mindy Weisberger A tiny and very tubby baby pygmy hippo that was recently born at the San Diego Zoo is the zoo's first successful pygmy hippo birth in more than 30 years.
High-speed video shows every second of a praying mantis's lethal strike By Mindy Weisberger Researchers captured slow motion video of praying mantis strikes, revealing what makes these insects such effective predators.
T. rex was a deadly 'power-walker' By Mindy Weisberger The long legs of big tyrannosaurs like T. rex were for marathon walking, not sprinting.
'First species discovered on Twitter' is a parasitic fungus that dines on millipede genitals By Brandon Specktor Researchers discovered a new species while looking at Twitter photos. They have named the parasite Troglomyces twitteri.
One of the world's smallest cats chirps like a wee bird, first-ever audio recording reveals By Mindy Weisberger The voice of a Chilean wild cat called a güiña, the smallest wild cat in the Western Hemisphere, was recently recorded for the first time — and it sounds like a cheeping bird.
First animal 'buckyballs' discovered in 80-million-year-old sea lillies By Mindy Weisberger Buckyballs are geometric shapes previously only seen in nature at the molecular scale. Scientists recently found them in marine animals dating to the Cretaceous.
Here's how to tell a 'murder hornet' from other nasty wasps By Rafi Letzter A new paper gathers images of invasive Vespa hornet species worldwide, and offers clues to help identify them.
Ancient 'shapeshifting vampire demon' anchovy had saber tooth and fangs By Laura Geggel An anchovy cousin had fang-like teeth on the bottom jaw and one giant saber tooth on the top.
Ice Age giant sloths died in a pit of their own poop By Mindy Weisberger Tens of thousands of years ago, a feces-contaminated wallow may have caused the deaths of nearly two dozen giant ground sloths.
These invasive 'comb jellies' cannibalize their own babies every year By Brandon Specktor Comb jellies in the Baltic Sea eat their own larvae when the local food supply runs out every summer.
200 million-year-old fossil shows oldest 'squid attack' on record By Laura Geggel A squid-like creature was hunting for a meal about 200 million years ago, but it never got to gulp down its supper.
Gigantic new 3D map traces every neuron in a tiny mouse brain By Rafi Letzter A years-long Allen Institute for Brain Science project to map the entire mouse brain is complete, and you can explore it now.
Monstrous 'murder hornets' have reached the US By Mindy Weisberger Sightings of Asian giant hornets in the state of Washington raise concerns that the enormous insects may be settling in North America.
Ancient 'Tully monster' was a vertebrate, not a spineless blob, study claims By Laura Geggel The Tully monster is likely a vertebrate, a new chemical study finds.
We expel carbon dioxide as waste. Naked mole rats bathe their brains in it to prevent seizures. By Nicoletta Lanese The unique animals thrive underground but cannot handle the lack of carbon dioxide above.
1st known swimming dinosaur just discovered. And it was magnificent. By Stephanie Pappas A new Spinosaurus tail fossil shows that this hunter could slice through the water in pursuit of fish, becoming the first-known swimming dinosaur.
Ancient 'crazy beast' from Madagascar had mismatched body and teeth from 'outer space' By Stephanie Pappas The oldest complete mammal fossil from the Southern Hemisphere is puzzling scientists with its mismatched body, strange skull holes and teeth that look like they're "from outer space."
