Life
Your face is mighty mite-y. And that’s a good thing
Tiny face mites live in our pores, getting food and shelter in return for eating our skin waste. A new study shows they can’t live without us.
Life
More Stories in Life
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AnimalsThe top side of an elephant’s trunk is surprisingly stretchy
Research on elephant trunks could inspire new artificial skins for soft robots.
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FossilsThis big dino had tiny arms before T. rex made them cool
A predecessor to Tyrannosaurus rex, Meraxes gigas had a giant head. But the muscularity of its puny arms suggests those limbs served some purpose.
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PlantsThis pitcher plant lures insects into underground deathtraps
Scientists didn’t expect the carnivorous, eggplant-shaped pitchers to be sturdy enough to grow embedded in the soil.
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ChemistryScientists Say: Pigment
From fruits to fur to fine art, many materials get their colors from compounds called pigments.
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AnimalsGophers might be farmers, a controversial study suggests
Pocket gophers air out and fertilize the soil in a way that amounts to simple farming, two researchers claim. But not everyone agrees.
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FossilsGreat white sharks may be partly to blame for the end of megalodons
Zinc levels in shark teeth hint that megalodons and great whites competed for food — and great whites won.
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MicrobesThis giant bacterium lives up to its name
The newly discovered Thiomargarita magnifica is about the size of your eyelash and is surprisingly complex.
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TechLike an octopus, this glove lets fingers grip slippery objects
The octopus-inspired suckers on each fingertip grab and release objects on demand.
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AnimalsWhy these jumping toadlets get confused mid-flight
The tiny pumpkin toadlet tumbles when it jumps. Its ear canals may be too tiny to help the animal track its motion through the air.