Biology

A mysterious marine epidemic has killed billions of sea stars from North America’s Pacific coast. After more than a decade of unanswered questions, scientists have finally traced the disaster to a single bacterial species.

Right now, groups of Icelanders are taking to the streets late at night, armed with cardboard boxes and torches, in search of the white bellies of baby puffins. This annual tradition has become one of the most fascinating rescue missions on the planet.

Wouldn't it be great if the plants in your home could do more than just sit there looking pretty? Researchers in China have found a way to upgrade succulents into soft glowing night lights in a range of hues, with the use of nanoparticles.

Unearthed in southern Patagonia, a remarkably intact skeleton has been found to be a new species of crocodyliform: A fearsome hypercarnivore that roamed the Earth 70 million years ago, using its blade-like teeth to tear up pray – including dinosaurs.

If you've noticed that you're hearing birdsong longer into your day than you used to, your observation fits with a study examining millions of hours of tweets and warbles. But just why are our feathered friends holding longer concerts?

In a breakthrough, scientists have transferred a courtship behavior from one species to another, triggering the recipient to perform this completely foreign act as if it was natural. It's a feat that has never been genetically engineered before.

We've long known how the nerve endings in our skin detect cold and swiftly relay the information to our brains, but we haven't understood exactly how it works. Scientists have now solved the puzzle, unlocking the mystery of this temperature pathway.

A groundbreaking study has traced the 66-million-year history of primates to overturn conventional thought that our ancestors came from tropical forests. The earliest members of our family tree, scientists say, were actually cold-climate survivors.

Forget flowers and chocolate – in the spider world, courtship survival is the ultimate gift. Scientists have discovered a new genus of tarantula and its defining feature is a supersized sperm-delivery arm nearly four times the length of their body plate.

Leopard seals may be one of Antarctica’s most fearsome predators, but these vocalizers sing with the structured charm of a nursery rhyme. In a new study, researchers discovered that the underwater vocal patterns of these mammals resemble human song.

Tracing the potato’s deep ancestry, researchers have revealed a surprising origin story: modern potatoes emerged from natural interbreeding between tomato relatives and a wild-potato-like species about nine million years ago.

Humpback whales may look like gentle giants, but each year they undertake nature's most extreme crash diet, shedding 36% of their mass in less than two months. New insights into their epic annual swim has identified just how huge their fat loss is.

They’ve been crawling across the seafloor for 500 million years, but some sea stars have amassed such a population they're eating entire reefs alive. Now, a discovery about their spine-speaking chatline gives us a leg up in this ecological arm's race.

Back in 2010, one bold chimp at a sanctuary in Zambia started a curious trend: she stuck a blade of grass in her ear ... and left it there. No reason. Then more chimps started copying her, and blades of grass appeared in other parts of their body.

The first known cases of accidental choking have been discovered, dating back 150 million years, when some ambitious fish got more than they bargained for while picking off algae from squid-like carcasses. It's history's oldest mealtime misadventure.