Animals

Animals

Tick, tick, tick. In a first, a shark is heard making noise

The undersea world can host a symphony of fish grunts, hums and growls. Now add tooth-clacking sharks to the score.

Health & Medicine

Three U.S tick species may trigger a mysterious red-meat allergy

This little-known allergy, known as alpha-gal syndrome, is potentially deadly. Here’s what we know about it — and how to avoid the tick bites that seem to cause it.

Animals

Sheep, llamas and goats fall for optical illusions too

These findings could help reveal when and why falling for optical illusions evolved in animals.

Brain

Parakeets talk using brain areas similar to ours

Brain activity during vocalizing in small parrots — called budgerigars or parakeets — shows a similar pattern to what’s seen in people.

Animals

Freshwater fish are in trouble: Here’s how we can help them

Human activities threaten the survival of many freshwater fish species. Research is now pointing to how we can best overcome those threats.

Animals

Some iguanas may have rafted across the Pacific 30 million years ago

The iguanas' epic 8,000-kilometer trip — one-fifth of Earth’s circumference — may be the longest made by a flightless land vertebrate.

Fossils

Could Spinosaurus swim? That would make it a game changer

Spinosaurus fossils are challenging the longstanding claim that ancient dinosaurs were never fully aquatic. And some paleontologists still aren’t convinced.

Animals

Some fish have legs that can taste prey underfoot

Taste buds on those legs may explain why northern sea robins are so good at finding food that is buried in the sandy seafloor.

Animals

Scientists Say: Exoskeleton

This plate armor provides protection to insects, spiders and more. But that benefit comes with tradeoffs.

Animals

Can this ‘woolly mouse’ help bring back extinct mammoths?

Scientists created mice with woolly mammoth–like traits. But that doesn’t mean we’re close to bringing back woolly mammoths.

Animals

Dire wolves or not, these pups could help counter extinction

Some question if these are just gene-tweaked gray wolves. Still, the tech behind the new "dire wolves" might help some living at-risk species avoid extinction.

Materials Science

A beautiful blue butterfly wing offers a new way to study cancer

Once a morpho butterfly wing is placed atop a thin slice of tissue, shining polarized light through it can help reveal how likely breast cancer is to spread.