Biology

Scientists at Yale University have found new evidence that could help explain how modern birds evolved to have beaks, according to a new study published in the journal Nature. It is well known that modern gulls evolved from dinosaurs like velociraptor and T. Rex. However, researchers have never been able to fully compile how the feathered animals … [Read more...] about Analysis Sheds Light on How Birds Evolved Beaks

Ancient humans may be the reason mammals have significantly shrunk in size over the past 125,000 years, according to a new study in the journal Science. This research comes from scientists at various U.S. universities, who discovered the trend by analyzing fossils going back 65 million years. They found that size did not play a role in mammalian survival until humans came … [Read more...] about Humans Likely Caused Mammals to Shrink, Study Reports

Scientists say they have engineered an enzyme that can consume plastic. The plastic-eating enzyme could help combat pollution, write Kate Kelland and Stuart McDill for The Wire. Researchers from Britain’s University of Portsmouth and the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory discovered the enzyme while studying the structure of a naturally … [Read more...] about Scientists Make Improvements to a Plastic-Eating Enzyme

A group of researchers at Harvard University are attempting to clone woolly mammoths in an attempt to bring the extinct animals back to life. Mammoths roamed across many parts of the world during the last Ice Age before completely disappearing roughly 10,000 years ago. Though they have long been dead, their genetic makeup was extremely close to modern-day Asian … [Read more...] about Cloned Woolly Mammoths Could Soon Become a Reality

Animal growth is much more constricted in water than it is on land, a factor that explains why whales and other large sea life have not evolved to be bigger than they are. For years, researchers wondered why whales, despite their huge size, stopped growing larger over time. To shed light on that, a group of researchers from Stanford University studied both whales and elephant … [Read more...] about Aquatic Life Can Only Grow So Big

Przewalski's horses -- a unique equine species from Mongolia -- are not as wild as scientists previously thought they were, according to a new study published in the journal Science. Previously, scientists believed that Przewalski's horses were the last truly wild horse on Earth. However, it turns out that they are the descendants of the first horses humans … [Read more...] about There Are No More Truly Wild Horses, Study Reports

Cheetahs are successful hunters, not just because of their blinding speed, but because of a special organ inside their ear, according to new research in the journal Scientific Reports. While cheetahs are known for their ability to outrun prey, they can also sprint without moving their head. That helps them track as they chase, a unique trait that comes from their … [Read more...] about Cheetah’s Evolved Ears Help Them Hunt

The unique features of mantis shrimp may have implications for new ultra-strong materials, according to a new paper outlined in the journal Advanced Materials. Mantis shrimp are fierce underwater predators that are commonly called smashers because of the way they use their club-like arms to break open hard-shelled prey. However, while the impact of slamming into a hard … [Read more...] about Mantis Shrimp Could Inspire Ultra-Strong Materials

Researchers from San Francisco State University and Yale University may have finally discovered how flowering plants were able to quickly dominate ecosystems across the world, a new study in PLOS Biology reports. The rapid spread of flowering plants across the world is something Charles Darwin -- who referred to it as an “abominable mystery” -- struggled to understand during … [Read more...] about Small Genomes Helped Flowering Plants Expand Across Earth

DNA taken from the skull of an ancient, six-week-old baby could help shed light on how early humans first populated the Americas, a new study published in the journal Nature reports. The remains come from an 11,500-year-old child, who researchers unearthed from a burial pit in central Alaska. The girl -- known as “sunrise girl-child” -- is significant because she belonged to … [Read more...] about Ancient Infant DNA Reveals How Humans First Moved to the Americas

Though humans and sharks are incredibly different creatures, both shared a common ancestor roughly 440 million years ago, a recent study published in the journal Royal Society B: Biological Sciences reports. This discovery comes from a group of researchers at the University of Chicago, who analyzed fossils from a shark that lived during the Devonian … [Read more...] about Common Ancestor of Sharks and Humans Existed 440 Million Years Ago, Study Reports

The ground squirrel has adapted to be less sensitive to cold than its non-hibernating cousins, according to a new study published in the journal Cell Reports. This new finding comes from researchers at Yale University, who found that the unique tolerance is linked to a specific cold-sensing protein in the sensory nerve cells of the ground squirrels and another hibernator, the … [Read more...] about Special Protein Helps Ground Squirrels Resist the Cold

Researchers at Imperial College London have used an inkjet printer to turn cyanobacteria into solar cells, a study published in the journal Nature Communications reports. Cyanobacteria are unique micro-organisms that have been on the Earth for billions of years. They are photosynthetic organisms that use sunlight to create energy. Though that energy is a food source for the … [Read more...] about Bacteria-Printed Solar Cells are Able to Generate Electricity