20+ hour, 55+ min ago   (913+ words) New research suggests lake sturgeon may live for centuries, reshaping conservation plans for one of the Great Lakes’ rarest fish. Some of the lake sturgeon swimming in the Great Lakes may have been there before the United States existed. That…...

5+ day, 16+ hour ago   (996+ words) Sooty mangabeys bend the middle of their feet 46 degrees while climbing, matching the ankle bend of chimpanzees and informing debate over the last common ancestor. Climbing a bare tree trunk asks an ankle to bend further than walking ever does....

6+ day, 14+ hour ago   (1262+ words) Purussaurus bite marks on fossil bones show a 23-foot crocodile relative killed hoofed mammals weighing up to 4,000 pounds in ancient South America. Saltwater crocodiles in northern Australia hunt horses, cattle, and feral water buffalo. They are the largest crocodiles alive…...

6+ day, 21+ hour ago   (1055+ words) Ancient DNA reveals that the American cheetah was actually closer to pumas, ranged into Arctic Yukon, and may have regularly eaten fish. For a long time, the extinct animal known as the American cheetah seemed to have a simple story....

2+ week, 14+ hour ago   (1073+ words) Analysis of dodo bird skulls has helped scientists understand how they observed and interacted with the world before their extinction. Call someone a dodo and nobody asks what you mean. The bird showed little fear of the people who landed…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago   (803+ words) A new study could reshape human evolution by placing Australopithecus and Paranthropus within an expanded genus Homo. Some of the best-known names in human evolution – including Australopithecus and Paranthropus – may be due for retirement. A new study argues that these…...

3+ week, 5+ day ago   (1011+ words) Early humans may have spread across the Americas by specializing in giant prey such as mammoths, ground sloths, and gomphotheres. Near the end of the last Ice Age, the ancestors of Indigenous peoples spread from Alaska and the Yukon to…...

3+ week, 6+ day ago   (859+ words) Antarctica helps set the temperature far beyond its own coastline, reflecting sunlight, driving deep ocean currents, and storing enough ice to raise global sea level by more than 190 feet. New research suggests several of those functions have started to shift,…...

4+ week, 1+ day ago   (986+ words) Saxifraga candelabrum is a newly confirmed carnivorous plant. Its sticky hairs trap small insects, while its flowers attract them with scent. Carnivorous plants are famous for dramatic traps, but catching an insect is only part of the story. To qualify…...