Plants & Animals News

November 1, 2025

Top Headlines

It Sounds Creepy, but These Scientific Breakthroughs Could Save Lives

Oct. 30, 2025 — From mini-brains to spider-inspired gloves and wolf apple coatings, scientists are turning eerie-sounding experiments into real innovations that could revolutionize health and sustainability. Lab-grown brain organoids may replace animal testing, ...

Scientists Just Found Out How Corals Rebuild Themselves on the Reef

Oct. 29, 2025 — Researchers at QUT uncovered how corals reattach to reefs through a three-phase process involving tissue transformation, anchoring, and skeleton formation. Differences among species reveal why some corals grow and attach faster than others. ...

Antarctic Robot ‘Lassie’ Uncovers Thousands of Icefish Nests Beneath Antarctic Ice

Oct. 29, 2025 — Beneath the ice of Antarctica’s Weddell Sea, scientists discovered a vast, organized city of fish nests revealed after the colossal A68 iceberg broke away. Using robotic explorers, they found over ...

Why Women Live Longer Than Men, Explained by Evolution

Oct. 28, 2025 — An international team of researchers led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, working with 15 collaborators around the world, has conducted the most comprehensive study yet of lifespan differences ...

Scientists Just Found a Surprising Twist in Earth’s Extinction Story

Oct. 27, 2025 — Extinction rates are not spiraling upward as many believe, according to a large-scale study analyzing 500 years of data. Researchers found that species losses peaked about a century ago and have decreased since, with different drivers shaping past ...

Scientists Turn Flower Fragrance Into a Mosquito Killer

Oct. 27, 2025 — A team of researchers has developed a floral-scented fungus that tricks mosquitoes into approaching and dying. The fungus emits longifolene, a natural scent that irresistibly draws them in. It’s harmless to humans, inexpensive to produce, and ...

Dinosaurs Were Thriving When the Asteroid Struck

Oct. 26, 2025 — Dinosaurs weren’t dying out before the asteroid hit—they were thriving in vibrant, diverse habitats across North America. Fossil evidence from New Mexico shows that distinct “bioprovinces” of dinosaurs existed until the very end. Their ...

Hippos Once Roamed Frozen Germany with Mammoths

Oct. 26, 2025 — New research shows that hippos lived in central Europe tens of thousands of years longer than previously thought. Ancient DNA and radiocarbon dating confirm they survived in Germany’s Upper Rhine Graben during a milder Ice Age phase. Closely ...

Snake Pee Might Hold the Secret to Ending Gout Pain and Kidney Stones

Oct. 25, 2025 — Reptiles don’t just pee, they crystallize their waste. Researchers found that snakes and other reptiles form tiny uric acid spheres, a water-saving evolutionary trick. This discovery could illuminate how to prevent gout and kidney stones in ...

“Lost” Giant Rat Found Alive in Papua Mountains After 30 Years

Oct. 23, 2025 — In the mist-shrouded mountains of New Guinea, a Czech researcher has achieved a world-first — capturing photos, video, and data of the elusive Subalpine Woolly Rat, Mallomys istapantap. Once known only from museum specimens, this giant, shaggy ...

Atlantic Dolphins Are Dying Much Younger. Scientists Sound the Alarm

Oct. 22, 2025 — Common dolphins in the North Atlantic are living significantly shorter lives, with female longevity dropping seven years since the 1990s. Researchers found this decline by analyzing stranded dolphins, revealing a 2.4% drop in population growth ...

How This Odd-looking Animal Outsmarted Aging

Oct. 20, 2025 — Naked mole-rats seem to have found nature’s cheat code for longevity. Scientists discovered that small tweaks in one of their proteins make it better at fixing DNA damage, helping the animals resist aging. Even fruit flies with the same changes ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:01am EDT

2 Million-Year-Old Teeth Reveal Secrets from the Dawn of Humanity

Nov. 1, 2025 — For decades, Paranthropus robustus has intrigued scientists as a powerful, big-jawed cousin of early humans. Now, thanks to ancient protein analysis, researchers have cracked open new secrets hidden ...

Japan’s New “samurai Jellyfish” Is Simply Stunning

Nov. 1, 2025 — Scientists in Japan have discovered Physalia mikazuki, a previously unknown species of Portuguese man-of-war, in northern waters for the first time. DNA and anatomical analysis confirmed it as ...

This Tiny Bat Hunts Like a Lion, but Better

Nov. 1, 2025 — Fringe-lipped bats from Panama hunt like miniature lions, using a “hang-and-wait” strategy to capture large, energy-rich prey. High-tech biologging revealed they spend most of their time ...

Scientists Find “living Fossil” Fish Hidden in Museums for 150 Years

Oct. 31, 2025 — Researchers have uncovered dozens of long-misidentified coelacanth fossils in British museums, some overlooked for more than a century. The study reveals that these ancient “living fossils” ...

Scientists Discover a Stunning New Golden-Tongued Lizard in China

Oct. 30, 2025 — A new species of mountain lizard, Diploderma bifluviale, has been discovered in the upper Dadu River Valley of China. Its distinct traits and isolated habitat highlight the hidden biodiversity of the ...

Humans Evolved Faster Than Any Other Ape

Oct. 29, 2025 — UCL scientists found that human skulls evolved much faster than those of other apes, reflecting the powerful forces driving our brain growth and facial flattening. By comparing 3D models of ape ...

Before Plants or Animals, Fungi Conquered Earth’s Surface

Oct. 28, 2025 — Fungi’s evolutionary roots stretch far deeper than once believed — up to 1.4 billion years ago, long before plants or animals appeared. Using advanced molecular dating and gene transfer analysis, ...

The Math Says Life Shouldn’t Exist, but Somehow It Does

Oct. 26, 2025 — Life’s origin story just became even more mysterious. Using mathematics and information theory, Robert G. Endres of Imperial College London found that the spontaneous emergence of life from ...

Living Computers Powered by Mushrooms

Oct. 26, 2025 — Scientists have found that mushrooms can act as organic memory devices, mimicking neural activity while consuming minimal power. The Ohio State team grew and trained shiitake fungi to perform like ...

A Hidden Temperature Law Governs All Life on Earth

Oct. 25, 2025 — In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists at Trinity College Dublin have identified a "universal thermal performance curve" that governs how all living organisms respond to temperature. This finding ...

How Algae Learned to Harness the Sun Without Getting Burned

Oct. 22, 2025 — Under the sea, green algae have evolved a clever way to handle too much sunlight. Scientists found that a special pigment called siphonein acts like a natural sun shield, protecting the algae’s ...

MIT Scientists Discover Hidden 3D Genome Loops That Survive Cell Division

Oct. 24, 2025 — MIT researchers discovered that the genome’s 3D structure doesn’t vanish during cell division as previously thought. Instead, tiny loops called microcompartments remain (and even strengthen) ...

A Hidden Gene Could Triple Wheat Yields

Oct. 19, 2025 — Researchers discovered the gene that gives a rare wheat variety its unusual “triple-grain” trait. When switched on, the gene helps wheat flowers produce extra grain-bearing parts. The finding ...

This Tiny Worm Uses Static Electricity to Hunt Flying Insects

Oct. 15, 2025 — A parasitic worm uses static electricity to launch itself onto flying insects, a mechanism uncovered by physicists and biologists at Emory and Berkeley. By generating opposite charges, the worm and ...

A 151-Million-Year-Old Fly Just Changed What We Know About Evolution

Oct. 15, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered a 151-million-year-old midge fossil in Australia that challenges long-held views about insect evolution. Named Telmatomyia talbragarica, the fossil shows freshwater ...

Scientists Finally Read the Hidden DNA Code That Shapes Disease

Oct. 18, 2025 — EMBL researchers created SDR-seq, a next-generation tool that decodes both DNA and RNA from the same cell. It finally opens access to non-coding regions, where most disease-associated genetic ...

They’re Smaller Than Dust, but Crucial for Earth’s Climate

Oct. 10, 2025 — Coccolithophores, tiny planktonic architects of Earth’s climate, capture carbon, produce oxygen, and leave behind geological records that chronicle our planet’s history. European scientists are ...

Ancient Humans in Italy Butchered Elephants and Made Tools from Their Bones

Oct. 12, 2025 — Researchers in Italy discovered 400,000-year-old evidence that ancient humans butchered elephants for food and tools. At the Casal Lumbroso site near Rome, they found hundreds of bones and stone ...

Scientists Unlock Nature’s Secret to a Cancer-Fighting Molecule

Oct. 9, 2025 — Researchers have cracked the code behind how plants make mitraphylline, a rare cancer-fighting molecule. Their discovery of two critical enzymes explains how nature builds complex spiro-shaped ...

Scientists Shocked as Birds Soaked in “forever Chemicals” Still Thrive

Oct. 8, 2025 — Tree swallows in polluted U.S. regions are accumulating high levels of “forever chemicals.” These durable pollutants, used in firefighting foams and consumer products, are found everywhere from ...

Scientists Discover Orchids Sprouting from Decaying Wood

Oct. 8, 2025 — Kobe University researchers found that orchids rely on wood-decaying fungi to germinate, feeding on the carbon from rotting logs. Their seedlings only grow near deadwood, forming precise fungal ...

Glowing Shark and Hidden Crab Found Deep Off Australia

Oct. 8, 2025 — In a stunning glimpse into the mysteries of the deep, scientists have uncovered two new marine species off Western Australia—a glowing lanternshark and a tiny porcelain crab. The discoveries, made ...

Birds Around the World Share a Mysterious Warning Cry

Oct. 6, 2025 — Birds across the globe independently evolved a shared warning call against parasites, blending instinct and learning in a remarkable evolutionary pattern. The finding offers a rare glimpse into how ...

From Gentle Giants to Ghostly Hunters, Sharks Face an Unseen Peril

Oct. 4, 2025 — New research reveals that deep-sea mining could dramatically threaten 30 species of sharks, rays, and ghost sharks whose habitats overlap with proposed mining zones. Many of these species, already at ...

Hidden for 70 Million Years, a Tiny Fossil Fish Is Rewriting Freshwater Evolution

Oct. 4, 2025 — Researchers in Alberta uncovered a fossil fish that rewrites the evolutionary history of otophysans, which today dominate freshwater ecosystems. The new species, Acronichthys maccognoi, shows early ...

Scientists Uncover a Mysterious Jurassic Lizard With Snake-Like Jaws

Oct. 2, 2025 — A strange Jurassic lizard discovered on Scotland’s Isle of Skye is shaking up what we know about snake evolution. Named Breugnathair elgolensis, the “false snake of Elgol” combined hook-like, ...

Before They Sucked Blood, Leeches Were Ocean Hunters

Oct. 1, 2025 — A 430-million-year-old fossil has rewritten leech history, showing they are at least 200 million years older than previously believed. Unlike today’s bloodsucking leeches, their ancient ancestors ...

Saturn’s Icy Moon Enceladus Just Revealed Stunning New Clues to Life

Oct. 2, 2025 — Fresh analysis of Cassini data has revealed new complex organic molecules inside ice grains spewing from Enceladus. These discoveries strengthen the case that the moon’s underground ocean hosts ...

The Billion-Year Reign of Fungi That Predated Plants and Made Earth Livable

Oct. 1, 2025 — Fungi may have shaped Earth’s landscapes long before plants appeared. By combining rare gene transfers with fossil evidence, researchers have traced fungal origins back nearly a billion years ...

Dolphins May Be Getting Alzheimer’s from Toxic Ocean Blooms

Oct. 11, 2025 — Dolphins washing up on Florida’s shores may be victims of the same kind of brain degeneration seen in humans with Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers discovered that cyanobacterial toxins—worsened ...