For nearly 40 years, Daniel Portnoy has been chasing a microscopic fugitive. The culprit is…
Category: Biology
Scientists Found a 300 Million Year Old Tyrant Digger That Chose Plants Over Prey
Long before forests rustled in the wind and long before mammals roamed the Earth, life…
Your Chin Might Actually Be a Biological Accident Rather Than an Evolutionary Tool
In the opening line of The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett introduces Sam Spade with a…
Scientists Uncover Evidence of a Giant Predator Hiding in Taiwan’s Ancient History
In the tropical jungles and wetlands of much of Asia, pythons are almost expected. They…
Scientists Discover an Ancient Sharkansas Hidden Beneath the Earth
For most of history, sharks have left behind only whispers of their existence. A tooth…
The Ultimate Sacrifice Where Mother Cells Empty Their Entire Souls to Create Life
At the very start of life, before there is an organism, before there is even…
The Harmless Fungi in Your Garden May Be One Small Shift Away From Becoming Human Pathogens
For most of their existence, fungi live unnoticed lives. They break down fallen leaves, recycle…
This 125 Million Year Old Fossil Just Revealed a Dinosaur Feature Never Seen Before
For two centuries, the dinosaur group known as Iguanodontia has felt familiar to science, studied,…
Scientists Have Found a Way to Force Bacteria to Unlearn Their Resistance to Drugs
For decades, antibiotics have been medicine’s most dependable weapons. They turned once-fatal infections into routine…
Humans Evolved to Survive Fire and It Permanently Altered Our DNA
For most living creatures, fire is an absolute boundary. It is something to flee, a…
This Hidden RNA Molecule Is the Secret Glue Holding Your Cells Together
Inside every living cell, there is a constant hum of activity so familiar to biologists…
This 400 Million Year Old Fish Brain Is Rewriting the Story of Human Evolution
Over 400 million years ago, a world of strange, armored fish thrived in the warm,…
This New Dinosaur Was No Bigger Than a House Cat but It Is Rewriting History
The bones were astonishing the moment they emerged from the rock. Not because they were…
Your Body Might Be Slowing Down Its Own Healing to Save Your Life
Anyone who has watched a scraped knee linger or a pulled muscle take its time…
Exoskeletons: The Technology Turning Humans into Super-Hulks
The idea of amplifying human strength has haunted the human imagination for centuries. Myths speak…
Meet the 5 Centimeter Amphibian That Outlasted the Dinosaurs for Millions of Years
One hundred and fifty million years ago, the Late Jurassic world was loud with giants.…
Meet the Million Year Old Kākāpō Relative That Might Have Actually Flown
Near Waitomo on Aotearoa’s North Island, a quiet cave has been holding its breath for…
The Universe Was in a Huge Hurry to Grow Up and This New Discovery Proves It
In the deep darkness of the early universe, only about a billion years after everything…
Scientists Found an Ancient Brain Rhythm That Links Your Sleep to 300 Million Year Old Reptiles
Sleep feels intimate and personal, something that happens quietly behind closed eyes. Yet beneath that…
9 Planets Where It Rains Diamonds, Glass, and Acid
Rain is one of the most intimate experiences we have with a planet. On Earth,…
10 Biggest Stars in the Known Universe
When we look up at the night sky, most stars appear as tiny pinpricks of…
5 Future Technologies That Will Extend the Human Lifespan
Human beings have always been haunted by time. Every wrinkle, every gray hair, every slowing…