Odd Creatures News
May 22, 2025
Top Headlines
May 21, 2025 — New research shows that dentine, the inner layer of teeth that transmits sensory information to nerves inside the pulp, first evolved as sensory tissue in the armored exoskeletons of ancient ...
May 14, 2025 — have created a new type of insect cyborg that can navigate autonomously -- without wires, surgery, or stress-inducing electrical shocks. The system uses a small ultraviolet (UV) light helmet to steer cockroaches by taking advantage of their natural ...
May 21, 2025 — With its fascinating ability to regrow entire limbs and internal organs, the Mexican axolotl is the ideal model for studying regeneration. Scientists have now found a factor that tells cells which part of the arm to regenerate -- and used it to ...
May 22, 2025 — Research reveals that for C. elegans worms, the presence of dead members of their species has profound behavioral and physiological effects, leading them to more quickly reproduce and shortening ...
Latest Headlines
updated 10:57pm EDT
May 22, 2025 — Scientists have analyzed ancient DNA and compared more than 400 fossils from 17 natural history museums to figure out how and why extinct sloths got ...
May 22, 2025 — A new study proves that a type of genetic element called 'introners' are the mechanism by which many introns spread within and between species, also ...
May 21, 2025 — Clownfish have been shown to shrink in order to survive heat stress and avoid social conflict, research ...
May 21, 2025 — Large shifts in UV radiation at Lake Tahoe are associated with wet and dry climate extremes, finds a new ...
May 21, 2025 — Researchers developed a way to extend the shelf life of vegetables by injecting them with melatonin using biodegradable ...
May 20, 2025 — Imagine drawing on something as delicate as a living cell -- without damaging it. Researchers have made this groundbreaking discovery using an unexpected combination of tools: frozen ethanol, ...
May 19, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered the genetic underpinnings of one of the ocean's most bizarre animals: a branching marine worm named Ramisyllis ...
May 19, 2025 — Underwater or aerial vehicles with dimples like golf balls could be more efficient and maneuverable, a new prototype has ...
May 19, 2025 — A team was able to show that swimming movements are possible even without a central control unit. This not only explains the behavior of microorganisms, it could also enable nanobots to move in a ...
May 19, 2025 — Animal abduction: Biologists documented five male capuchin monkeys carrying at least eleven different infant howler monkeys -- a behavior never before seen in wild primates. Rise and spread: The ...
Earlier Headlines
May 19, 2025 — Researchers have shown that mice use chemical cues, including odors, to detect the social rank of an unfamiliar mouse and compare it to their own, using this information to determine their ...
May 16, 2025 — Scientists have decoded the atomic structure of Photosystem I from a 3-billion-year-old cyanobacteria lineage, offering a unique look at early oxygen-producing photosynthesis. The ancient nanodevice, ...
May 16, 2025 — Researchers have found that wild orangutans vocalize with a layered complexity previously thought to be unique to human communication, suggesting a much older evolutionary ...
May 15, 2025 — When trees and soil fungi form close associations with each other, both partners benefit. Many tree species have further enhanced this cooperation by forming a concurrent symbiosis with two different ...
May 15, 2025 — Many an orange cat-affiliated human will vouch for their cat's, let's say, specialness. But now scientists have confirmed that there is, in fact, something unique about ginger-hued domestic ...
May 14, 2025 — Scientists have found new evidence for how our fossil human relatives in South Africa may have used their hands. Researchers investigated variation in finger bone morphology to determine that South ...
May 14, 2025 — The origin of reptiles on Earth has been shown to be up to 40 million years earlier than previously thought -- thanks to evidence discovered at an Australian fossil site that represents a critical ...
May 14, 2025 — Scientists have now discovered the oldest ancestor for all the Australian tree frogs, with distant links to the tree frogs of South ...
May 14, 2025 — With coral reefs in crisis due to climate change, scientists have engineered a bio-ink that could help promote coral larvae settlement and restore these underwater ecosystems before it's too ...
May 14, 2025 — Archaeopteryx is the fossil that clearly demonstrated Darwin's views. It's the oldest known fossil bird, and it helps show that all birds -- including the ones alive today -- emerged from ...
May 13, 2025 — Scientists confirm CT scanning doesn't interfere with natural decomposition processes, opening new windows into understanding how fossils ...
May 13, 2025 — Palaeontologists have discovered a remarkable new 506-million-year-old predator from the Burgess Shale of Canada. Mosura fentoni was about the size of your index finger and had three eyes, spiny ...
May 13, 2025 — Fungi are considered a promising source of biodegradable materials. Researchers have developed a new material based on a fungal mycelium and its own extracellular matrix. This gives the biomaterial ...
May 12, 2025 — Research shows microbial communities in echidna pseudo-pouches undergo dramatic changes while the animal is lactating, which could help in creating an environment for their young, known as puggles, ...
May 12, 2025 — Flamingos have developed an amazing variety of techniques to create swirls and eddies in the water to concentrate and eat brine shrimp and other organisms, a biologist found. They stomp dance to stir ...
May 12, 2025 — Originally from South America, the charismatic tegu made its way to the United States via the pet trade of the 1990s. But a recent discovery shows these reptiles are no strangers to the region -- ...
May 12, 2025 — Engineers have taught a simple submarine robot to take advantage of turbulent forces to propel itself through ...
May 9, 2025 — New research from a team of cognitive scientists and evolutionary biologists finds that chimpanzees drum rhythmically, using regular spacing between drum hits. Their results show that eastern and ...
May 9, 2025 — Researchers have developed two unique energy-efficient and cost-effective systems that use urea found in urine and wastewater to generate hydrogen. The unique systems reveal new pathways to ...
May 8, 2025 — A long period of drought in North America has been recognized by scientists for decades. A new study links the severe climate to a change in Earth's ...
Monday, May 19, 2025
Friday, May 16, 2025
- Light-to-Electricity Nanodevice Reveals How Earth's Oldest Surviving Cyanobacteria Worked
- Wild Orangutans Show Communication Complexity Thought to Be Uniquely Human
Thursday, May 15, 2025
- Dual Associations With Two Fungi Improve Tree Fitness
- Scientists Track Down Mutation That Makes Orange Cats Orange
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
- Dexterity and Climbing Ability: How Ancient Human Relatives Used Their Hands
- Fossil Tracks Show Reptiles Appeared on Earth Up to 40 Million Years Earlier
- Australia's Oldest Prehistoric Tree Frog Hops 22 Million Years Back in Time
- An Ink That Boosts Coral Reef Settlement by 20 Times
- UV Light and CT Scans Helped Scientists Unlock Hidden Details in a Beautifully-Preserved Fossil Archaeopteryx
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
- CT Scanning Helps Reveal Path from Rotten Fish to Fossil
- Palaeontologists Discover 506-Million-Year-Old Predator
- Researchers Develop Living Material from Fungi
Monday, May 12, 2025
- Echidna Microbiome Changes While Mums Nurse Puggle
- Flamingos Create Water Tornados to Trap Their Prey
- From Prehistoric Resident to Runaway Pet: First Tegu Fossil Found in the U.S.
- Submarine Robot Catches an Underwater Wave
Friday, May 9, 2025
- Chimpanzee Groups Drum With Distinct Rhythms
- Urine, Not Water for Efficient Production of Green Hydrogen
Thursday, May 8, 2025
- Waxing and Waning Prairie: New Study Unravels Causes of Ancient Climate Changes
- Robotic Dog Mimics Mammals for Superior Mobility on Land and in Water
- Scottish Shrimp Study Illuminates New Potential for Bait-Less Fishing
- All of the Biggest U.S. Cities Are Sinking
- Eco-Friendly Aquatic Robot Is Made from Fish Food
- AI-Designed DNA Controls Genes in Healthy Mammalian Cells for First Time
- Satellites Observe Glacier Committing 'ice Piracy'
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
- Feat of 'dung-Gineering' Turns Cow Manure Into One of World's Most Used Materials
- Is Virtual-Only Couture the New Clothing Craze?
- Triassic Fossil Reveals Nature's Best Jaw for Hunting Fast Fish
- Comb Jellies Reveal Ancient Origins of Animal Genome Regulation
- Cracking the Code: Deciphering How Concrete Can Heal Itself
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
- T. Rex's Direct Ancestor Crossed from Asia to North America
- Study of Velvet Worm Slime Could Revolutionize Sustainable Material Design
- New Drone-Assisted 3D Model Offers a More Accurate Way to Date Dinosaur Fossils
- Two New Crocodile Species Discovered
Monday, May 5, 2025
- Ancient Andes Society Used Hallucinogens to Strengthen Social Order
- How Are They Biting? High Speed Video Reveals Unexpected Jaw Movements in Reef Fish
- Saving the Asian 'unicorn' -- If It Still Exists
- Blue Tips Are Red Algae's Red Flags
- Ancient Poems Tell the Story of Charismatic River Porpoise's Decline Over the Past 1,400 Years
Friday, May 2, 2025
Thursday, May 1, 2025
- Rhythmically Trained Sea Lion Returns for an Encore -- And Performs as Well as Humans
- Ptero Firma: Footprints Pinpoint When Ancient Flying Reptiles Conquered the Ground
- Oceans Are Heating Faster in Two Bands Stretching Around Globe
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
- Zoo Life Boosts Object Exploration in Orangutans
- Juvenile Salmon Roam Between Salt and Fresh Water While Exploring Coast and Rivers, New Research Finds
- Geobiology: Iron, Sulfur, Heat -- And First Life
- Seasonal Changes Affect Alcohol Tolerance and Your Waistline
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
- Giant Croclike Carnivore Fossils Found in the Caribbean
- Palatable Versus Poisonous: Eavesdropping Bats Must Learn to Identify Which Prey Is Safe to Eat
- Will the Vegetables of the Future Be Fortified Using Tiny Needles?
Monday, April 28, 2025
- Social 'hippie' Spiders Don't Believe in Labels: Study Challenges Long-Held Assumptions About Animal Personalities
- Elephant Instead of Wild Boar? What Could Have Been in Europe
- Family First: Scientists Reveal Long-Tailed Tits' Remarkable Family Bonds
- Geoengineering Technique Could Cool Planet Using Existing Aircraft
- New Research on Bird Behavior Suggests That Evolution May Repeat Itself
- Anatomy of a 'zombie' Volcano: Investigating the Cause of Unrest Inside Uturuncu
- Evolution of Pugs and Persians Converges on Cuteness
- 'Extremely Rare Event': Bone Analysis Suggests Ancient Echidnas Lived in Water
Friday, April 25, 2025
Thursday, April 24, 2025
- Tiny New Species of Snail Named After Picasso
- Female Bonobos Keep Males in Check -- Not With Strength, but With Solidarity
- The Oldest Ant Ever Discovered Found Fossilized in Brazil
Wednesday, April 23, 2025
- New and Surprising Traction Trait in Sculpin Fish
- Skeletal Evidence of Roman Gladiator Bitten by Lion in Combat
- Scientists Have Found a Way to 'tattoo' Tardigrades
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
- New Species of Electricity-Conducting Organism, Name It After Tribe
- Better Feed, Fewer Burps: Scientists Target Dairy Gas Emissions
Monday, April 21, 2025
- More Americans Are Using Psilocybin -- Especially Those With Mental Health Conditions, Study Shows
- How Activity in Earth's Mantle Led the Ancient Ancestors of Elephants, Giraffes, and Humans Into Asia and Africa
- What If Mother Earth Could Sue for Mistreatment?
- Wild Chimps Filmed Sharing 'boozy' Fruit
Thursday, April 17, 2025
- Extreme Drought Contributed to Barbarian Invasion of Late Roman Britain, Tree-Ring Study Reveals
- Personality Test for Bees
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
- Strongest Hints Yet of Biological Activity Outside the Solar System
- Sunscreen, Clothes and Caves May Have Helped Homo Sapiens Survive 41,000 Years Ago
- New Giant Virus Isolated
- Holiday Flights Could Carry Fewer Passengers as World Warms
- A Step Toward Harnessing Clean Energy from Falling Rainwater
- Living Fungus-Based Building Material Repairs Itself for Over a Month
- Bite-Sized Chunks of Chicken With the Texture of Whole Meat Can Be Grown in the Lab
Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
- First Confirmed Footage of a Colossal Squid -- And It's a Baby!
- Scientists Find Evidence That Overturns Theories of the Origin of Water on Earth
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
- Studying How Seals Adapt to Extreme Environments Could Lead to Benefits in Human Reproductive Health
Monday, April 14, 2025
- Scientists May Have Solved a Puzzling Space Rock Mystery
- Footprints of Tail-Clubbed Armored Dinosaurs Found for the First Time
Thursday, April 10, 2025
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
- Sink or Swim: The Fate of Sinking Tectonic Plates Depends on Their Ancient Tectonic Histories
- Prehistoric Rhinos Lived in Super-Herds
- Do 'optimistic' Versus 'pessimistic' Medical Detection Dogs Perform Differently?
- With New Database Researchers May Be Able to Predict Rare Milky Seas Bioluminescent, Glowing Event
- Mediterranean Hunter Gatherers Navigated Long-Distance Sea Journeys Well Before the First Farmers
- Mammoth Genetic Diversity Throughout the Last Million Years
- 8 Million Years of 'Green Arabia'
- Scientists Discover That Fruit Fly Larvae Can Sense Electric Fields
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
- Life Recovered Rapidly at Site of Dino-Killing Asteroid: A Hydrothermal System May Have Helped
- New Research Finds Fluorescence in Feathers of Long-Eared Owls
- In Guatemala, Painted Altar Found at Tikal Adds New Context to Mysterious Maya History
- Dinosaurs' Apparent Decline Prior to Asteroid May Be Due to Poor Fossil Record