New Scientist

Analysis of thousands of exchanges between the intelligent cetaceans suggests they combine short click patterns – similar to letters of the alphabet - into longer sequences

Head-bobbing seems to be a way for zebras to invite others to groom, graze or move together, suggesting sophisticated social and cognitive capabilities

A surprise discovery has revealed that female stink bugs have a small indent on their hind legs that they use for cultivating fungi before spreading it on their eggs

From Jurassic Park to The Martian, botanist James Wong explores the major science fiction films that get botany spectacularly wrong

DNA analysis of remains found at medieval sites has identified closely related strains of leprosy-causing bacteria in the bones of humans and a red squirrel

Simulations of the crust of early Earth show that cycles of pressure caused by geysers or tidal forces could have generated cell-like structures and even very simple proteins

Migrating flies can carry pollen hundreds or thousands of kilometres, and this could help plants adapt to climate change

Plants are often celebrated for the parts that are easy to see – flower, leaves, fruit – but scientists are uncovering the secrets of their more mysterious underground networks

Climate change could be fueling bumblebee population loss by making hives too hot to handle

A male Sumatran orangutan chewed the leaves of a plant used in Indonesian traditional medicine and placed them on a wound on his face

Digging sand or grit into clay soils is a drainage fix that has been around for years, but James Wong turns to nature to find a less backbreaking solution

From an orchid bee to a violet carpenter bee, these images show the insects in amazing detail

A bristly bump on some mantises’ chests is a never-before-seen “gustifolium”, which may have evolved to help the insects with their highly specialised lifestyles

Red foxes and Arctic foxes dive headfirst into snow at up to 4 metres per second to catch small rodents, and the shape of their snouts reduces the impact force

Commercial bowhead whaling ended in the early 20th century, but the industry’s lasting effects on the whales’ genetic diversity are leading to declines again

When alpacas mate, males deposit sperm directly into the uterus, a reproductive strategy not confirmed in any other mammals

The neurons in wasp brains that help them recognise hive mates are similar to those in the brains of primates, including humans

Intensive breeding since the 19th century has created thousands of varieties of rose, but a reduction in genetic diversity could leave them vulnerable to diseases and climate change

Targeted culling of crown-of-thorns starfish has resulted in parts of the Great Barrier Reef maintaining and even increasing coral cover, leading researchers to call for the programme to be dramatically scaled up

Using genomic data from more than 9500 species, biologists have mapped the evolutionary relationships between flowering plants