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Updated: 22 hours 18 min ago

David Attenborough's latest explores the lives of an orangutan family

Wed, 08/21/2024 - 13:00
The veteran presenter adds authority to Secret Lives of Orangutans, a film about a family of endangered orangutans in Sumatra. File this new entry in his vast oeuvre under lovable but lightweight
Categories: Fossils

How shrinking populations could help to save our planet

Wed, 08/21/2024 - 13:00
Our ability to exert conscious control over our family sizes is unique – and can be transformational, says Christopher Wills
Categories: Fossils

We now know that life began on Earth much earlier than we thought

Wed, 08/21/2024 - 07:20
A big rethink of our planet’s early years adds to growing fossil, chemical and DNA evidence that Earth was only a few hundred million years old when life began
Categories: Fossils

Why the underground home of the world’s weirdest wildlife is in danger

Mon, 08/19/2024 - 11:30
Up to 100,000 extraordinary species, from spiders and beetles to salamanders and fish, live in subterranean caves and cracks. They aren’t as safe down there as we thought
Categories: Fossils

Spiders use fireflies as flashing lures to catch more prey

Mon, 08/19/2024 - 11:00
Male fireflies caught in an orb-weaver spider’s web start flashing in an unusual pattern, a deadly deception that seems to attract additional victims for the spider
Categories: Fossils

Stunning photos of life above and below water

Fri, 08/16/2024 - 04:30
See the incredible shots that have won this year's BMC Ecology and Evolution and BMC Zoology Image Competition
Categories: Fossils

Listening to worms wriggle can help us monitor ecosystem health

Fri, 08/16/2024 - 00:00
The noises made by organisms like ants and worms as they move around in the soil can be used to assess whether an ecosystem is in good shape
Categories: Fossils

The surprising way sunflowers work together to get enough light

Thu, 08/15/2024 - 11:30
Scientists have known for centuries that sunflowers wobble in seemingly random ways as they grow – but it seems that those movements actually optimise how much light each plant gets
Categories: Fossils

A cheaper alternative to activated charcoal for your terrarium

Wed, 08/14/2024 - 13:00
Is it worth including activated charcoal in your terrarium’s potting mix? James Wong isn’t convinced by this pricey product
Categories: Fossils

An engrossing history of teeth shows their complex role in evolution

Wed, 08/14/2024 - 13:00
From birds and bats to horses and great apes, Bill Schutt's seriously fun history of teeth, Bite, explains their role in both shaping evolution and our understanding of it
Categories: Fossils

If we could talk to whales, what might they say?

Wed, 08/14/2024 - 13:00
This week, we journey to the early 2030s, when machine learning first allowed us to communicate with sperm whales. Rowan Hooper tells us what they have to say
Categories: Fossils

Top astrobiologist explores the possibilities of alien life

Wed, 08/14/2024 - 13:00
It's time to expect the unexpected, says Natalie Cabrol, one of the world's top astrobiologists and author of an authoritative book on the hunt for life's origins – and ET
Categories: Fossils

Largest genome sequenced so far is 30 times bigger than a human's

Wed, 08/14/2024 - 11:00
The South American lungfish has a whopping 180 gigabases of DNA in each cell, compared with 6 gigabases in human cells
Categories: Fossils

Consumer insecticides are useless for fighting cockroach infestations

Wed, 08/14/2024 - 10:00
Lab-reared German cockroaches are susceptible to consumer insecticide sprays, allowing manufacturers to pass US regulatory tests, but insects taken from real-world infestations are able to shrug off the products
Categories: Fossils

How crocodiles were taught to stop eating deadly toxic cane toads

Wed, 08/14/2024 - 07:31
Invasive cane toads have decimated native freshwater crocodile populations in northern Australia, as the predators don't know they should avoid the toxic amphibians
Categories: Fossils

Endangered skates saved from extinction by hatching in captivity

Mon, 08/12/2024 - 19:30
The Maugean skate (Zearaja maugeana) is only found in one habitat in Australia, which is under threat from human activity. Now the species has been saved from extinction by hatching in captivity
Categories: Fossils

Has the mystery of life’s 'handedness' finally been cracked?

Mon, 08/12/2024 - 11:14
All living creatures use only the left or right-handed forms of certain molecules, and now we might understand why
Categories: Fossils

We now know how kestrels stay perfectly still while hovering

Fri, 08/09/2024 - 03:00
Two nankeen kestrels have been filmed flying in a wind tunnel to learn how the raptors keep their heads in a fixed position under turbulent conditions
Categories: Fossils

A surprisingly wide range of bacteria live inside microwaves

Thu, 08/08/2024 - 00:00
Microwaves in homes, offices and laboratories have been found to host diverse microbiomes, highlighting the importance of regular cleaning
Categories: Fossils

Leeches use their whole bodies to entomb and eat ultra-fast worms

Wed, 08/07/2024 - 14:28
Blackworms are ultra-fast swimmers, and they tangle up into worm balls to protect themselves from predators – but leeches have an ingenious method of catching them called “spiral entombment”
Categories: Fossils

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