Biology

A persistent scientific mystery over the past century has been exactly how some animals seemingly have the ability to sense the Earth’s magnetic field. A team of researchers are suggesting the magnetic-sensing bacteria could be symbiotically generating this novel sense.

After only 162 years, the first complete dinosaur skeleton to be recovered has finally been properly reconstructed and studied. The 193-million-year-old remains of a Scelidosaurus spent over 150 years stored at the Natural History Museum in London.

A new experiment placing bacteria on the outside of the International Space Station (ISS) has found that micro-organisms can survive in space for years, or even decades. The study lends weight to the idea that life could travel between planets.

A new genomic study has homed in on exactly when and where modern penguins originated, suggesting the birds first appeared in Australian and New Zealand waters about 22 million years ago before later spreading south into the cooler Antarctic waters.

A few years ago researchers discovered bacteria in Antarctica that could survive on nothing but air. Now the team has found evidence of this handy ability in other cold desert locations. The finding could have implications for life beyond Earth.

Scientists at the University of Buffalo have made a discovery that could shake up what we know about the sense of smell in humans, with the breakthrough focusing on a new type of taste cell with the ability to respond to different stimuli.

All kinds of fascinating discoveries are waiting in the deep sea. Now scientists have pulled a new monster out of the waters off the Indonesian coast. The creature is a new species of “supergiant” isopod, a huge marine relative of the common pillbug.

Scientists in China have identified a key chemical that promotes the formation of devastating locust swarms, opening up new possibilities when it comes to controlling their behavior and limiting the environmental damage they cause.

Defined by their hollow bones and three-toed feet, the theropods were a group of dinosaurs that counted Tyrannosaurus rex among their ranks. A new member has now been added to the family, thanks to fossils discovered on Britain's Isle of Wight.

For some time now, paleontologists have known of a giant prehistoric crocodylian known as Deinosuchus. Now, however, it has been confirmed that the reptile was capable of killing and eating dinosaurs – with some help from its "banana-sized" teeth.

Amber has offered us all kinds of fascinating insights about long-gone creatures that once inhabited the Earth. Joining them is a rare 99-million-year-old fossil that shows an enigmatic “hell ant” clamping down on its cockroach-like prey.

Mysteries surrounding an ancient, long-necked reptile that lived 242 million years ago have finally been resolved. It's so difficult to understand from its fossils, at one time scientists weren't even sure if it swam in the sea or flew in the sky.