Odd Creatures: Plants & Animals
July 16, 2025
Top Headlines
July 16, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered a surprisingly simple “tissue code”: five rules that choreograph when, where, and how cells divide, move, and die, allowing organs like the colon to remain flawlessly organized even as they renew every few days. ...
July 12, 2025 — A cat named Pepper has once again helped scientists discover a new virus—this time a mysterious orthoreovirus found in a shrew. Researchers from the University of Florida, including virologist John Lednicky, identified this strain during unrelated ...
July 11, 2025 — Blue sharks possess a secret hidden in their skin: a sophisticated arrangement of microscopic crystals and pigments that create their brilliant blue appearance — and may allow them to change color. Scientists have discovered that these ...
July 10, 2025 — Climate change is silently sapping the nutrients from our food. A pioneering study finds that rising CO2 and higher temperatures are not only reshaping how crops grow but are also degrading their nutritional value especially in vital leafy greens ...
July 8, 2025 — High heat and heavy metals dampen a bumblebee’s trademark buzz, threatening pollen release and colony chatter. Tiny sensors captured up-to-400-hertz tremors that falter under environmental stress, raising alarms for ecosystems and sparking ideas ...
July 8, 2025 — Feral water buffalo now roam Hong Kong s South Lantau marshes, and a 657-person survey shows they ignite nostalgia, wonder, and worry in equal measure. Many residents embrace them as living links to a fading rural past and potential conservation ...
July 7, 2025 — Danish and Welsh botanists sifted through 400 studies, field-tested seed mixes, and uncovered a lineup of native and exotic blooms that both thrill human eyes and lure bees and hoverflies in droves, ...
July 6, 2025 — Kenyan fig trees can literally turn parts of themselves to stone, using microbes to convert internal crystals into limestone-like deposits that lock away carbon, sweeten surrounding soils, and still yield fruit—hinting at a delicious new weapon in ...
July 6, 2025 — Immersing stressed volunteers in a 360° virtual Douglas-fir forest complete with sights, sounds and scents boosted their mood, sharpened short-term memory and deepened their feeling of nature-connectedness—especially when all three senses were ...
July 2, 2025 — Locked-down Hungarians who gained or lost pets saw almost no lasting shift in mood or loneliness, and new dog owners actually felt less calm and satisfied over time—hinting that the storied “pet effect” may be more myth than mental-health ...
June 27, 2025 — Zooplankton like copepods aren’t just fish food—they’re carbon-hauling powerhouses. By diving deep into the ocean each winter, they’re secretly stashing 65 million tonnes of carbon far below ...
June 26, 2025 — South Australia’s tiny pygmy bluetongue skink is baking in a warming, drying homeland, so Flinders University scientists have tried a bold fix—move it. Three separate populations were shifted ...
Latest Headlines
updated 3:00pm EDT
July 15, 2025 — High in Fiji s rainforest, the ant plant Squamellaria grows swollen tubers packed with sealed, single-door apartments. Rival ant species nest in these chambers, fertilizing their host with ...
July 11, 2025 — In a bold step toward sustainable space travel, scientists are engineering a radically small, protein-rich rice that can grow in space. The Moon-Rice project, led by the Italian Space Agency in ...
July 10, 2025 — Male guppies that glow with more orange aren’t just fashion-forward — they’re also significantly more sexually active. A UBC study reveals that brighter coloration is linked to virility and is ...
July 10, 2025 — What if humans didn’t have to suffer the slow-burning fire of chronic inflammation as we age? A surprising study on two types of lemurs found no evidence of "inflammaging," a phenomenon long ...
July 9, 2025 — Long-tailed macaques given short videos were glued to scenes of fighting—especially when the combatants were monkeys they knew—mirroring the human draw to drama and familiar faces. Low-ranking ...
July 8, 2025 — Hovering fish aren’t loafing—they burn twice resting energy to make micro-fin tweaks that counteract a natural tendency to tip, and body shape dictates just how costly the pause is. The discovery ...
July 7, 2025 — Scientists have decoded the sea spider’s genome for the first time, revealing how its strangely shaped body—with organs in its legs and barely any abdomen—may be tied to a missing gene. The ...
July 2, 2025 — Wild orcas across four continents have repeatedly floated fish and other prey to astonished swimmers and boaters, hinting that the ocean’s top predator likes to make friends. Researchers cataloged ...
July 2, 2025 — Female chimpanzees that forge strong, grooming-rich friendships with other females dramatically boost their infants’ odds of making it past the perilous first year—no kin required. Three decades ...
June 29, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered a surprising new way that urea—an essential building block for life—could have formed on the early Earth. Instead of requiring high temperatures or complex catalysts, ...
Earlier Headlines
June 27, 2025 — A groundbreaking study suggests that the famous Cambrian explosion—the dramatic burst of diverse animal life—might have actually started millions of years earlier than we thought. By analyzing ...
June 26, 2025 — Urban wildlife is evolving right under our noses — and scientists have the skulls to prove it. By examining over a century’s worth of chipmunk and vole specimens from Chicago, researchers ...
June 26, 2025 — Cats overwhelmingly choose to sleep on their left side, a habit researchers say could be tied to survival. This sleep position activates the brain’s right hemisphere upon waking, perfect for ...
June 26, 2025 — Poachers are using a sneaky loophole to bypass the international ivory trade ban—by passing off illegal elephant ivory as legal mammoth ivory. Since the two types look deceptively similar, law ...
June 25, 2025 — Two newly discovered viruses lurking in bats are dangerously similar to Nipah and Hendra, both of which have caused deadly outbreaks in humans. Found in fruit bats near villages, these viruses may ...
June 25, 2025 — The shift from lizard-like sprawl to upright walking in mammals wasn’t a smooth climb up the evolutionary ladder. Instead, it was a messy saga full of unexpected detours. Using new bone-mapping ...
June 25, 2025 — Leafcutter ants live in highly organized colonies where every ant has a job, and now researchers can flip those jobs like a switch. By manipulating just two neuropeptides, scientists can turn ...
June 24, 2025 — Exploration for deep-sea minerals in the Clarion Clipperton Zone threatens to disrupt an unexpectedly rich ecosystem of whales and dolphins. New studies have detected endangered species in the area ...
June 24, 2025 — Southern resident killer whales have been caught on drone video crafting kelp tools to groom one another—an unprecedented behavior among marine mammals. This suggests a deeper social and cultural ...
June 23, 2025 — In a remarkable twist of science, researchers have transformed a fungus long associated with death into a potential weapon against cancer. Found in tombs like that of King Tut, Aspergillus flavus was ...
June 20, 2025 — In a twist on conventional wisdom, researchers have discovered that in ocean-like fluids with changing density, tiny porous particles can sink faster than larger ones, thanks to how they absorb salt. ...
June 20, 2025 — Even after 20 million years of evolutionary separation, two tiny worm species show astonishingly similar patterns in how they turn genes on and off. Scientists mapped every cell s activity during ...
June 19, 2025 — Researchers investigating the enigmatic and antibiotic-resistant Pandoraea bacteria have uncovered a surprising twist: these pathogens don't just pose risks they also produce powerful natural ...
June 18, 2025 — New research is shaking up our understanding of evolution by revealing that some species may not evolve gradually at all. Instead, scientists discovered that certain marine worms experienced an ...
June 17, 2025 — Beetles that can see the color red? That s exactly what scientists discovered in two Mediterranean species that defy the norm of insect vision. While most insects are blind to red, these beetles use ...
June 17, 2025 — A massive, extinct salamander with jaws like a vice once roamed ancient Tennessee and its fossil has just rewritten what we thought we knew about Appalachian amphibians. Named Dynamognathus ...
June 17, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered that fish biofluorescence a captivating ability to glow in vivid colors has ancient roots stretching back over 100 million years. This trait evolved independently in reef ...
June 16, 2025 — A lifelong fascination with nature and fieldwork led this researcher to the world of ethnobiology a field where ecology, culture, and community come together. Investigating how local people relate to ...
June 16, 2025 — Sea anemones may hold the key to the ancient origins of body symmetry. A study from the University of Vienna shows they use a molecular mechanism known as BMP shuttling, once thought unique to ...
June 14, 2025 — Ten thousand years after mastodons disappeared, scientists have unearthed powerful fossil evidence proving these elephant cousins were vital seed spreaders for large-fruited trees in South America. ...
Friday, June 27, 2025
Thursday, June 26, 2025
- Skull Study Shows Chicago's Rodents Are Rapidly Evolving
- Why Cats Prefer Sleeping on Their Left Side—and How It Might Help Them Survive
- New Test Unmasks Illegal Elephant Ivory Disguised as Mammoth
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
- New Viruses Discovered in Bats in China Could Be the Next Pandemic Threat
- Mammals Didn't Walk Upright Until Late—here's What Fossils Reveal
- Scientists Reprogram Ant Behavior Using Brain Molecules
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
- Mining the Deep Could Mute the Songs of Sperm Whales
- Killer Whales Use Seaweed Tools in Never-Before-Seen Grooming Behavior
Monday, June 23, 2025
Friday, June 20, 2025
- Gravity, Flipped: How Tiny, Porous Particles Sink Faster in Ocean Snowstorms
- Frozen in Time: Transparent Worms Keep Genes in Sync for 20 Million Years
Thursday, June 19, 2025
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
- These Beetles Can See a Color Most Insects Can’t
- Monster Salamander With Powerful Jaws Unearthed in Tennessee Fossil Find
- Rainbow Reefs Revealed: The Secret 112-Million-Year Saga of Glowing Fish
Monday, June 16, 2025
- Cluck Once, and the River Shakes: Inside the Amazon’s Giant Snake Saga
- 600-Million-Year-Old Body Blueprint Found in Sea Anemones
Saturday, June 14, 2025
- Fruit-Eating Mastodons? Ancient Fossils Confirm a Long-Lost Ecological Alliance
- Africa's Pangolin Crisis: The Delicacy That's Driving a Species to the Brink
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Friday, June 13, 2025
Thursday, June 12, 2025
- Something More Toxic Than Gators Is Hiding in the Swamps
- Pincer Plot Twist: How Female Earwigs Evolved Deadly Claws for Love and War
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Sunday, June 15, 2025
- Tiny Wasp’s Shocking Reproductive Trick May Transform Global Agriculture
- 83% of Earth’s Climate-Critical Fungi Are Still Unknown
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Friday, June 6, 2025
Friday, June 27, 2025
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Saturday, June 7, 2025
Thursday, May 29, 2025
- Long Shot Science Leads to Revised Age for Land-Animal Ancestor
- Birds Nested in Arctic Alongside Dinosaurs
- Could 'pausing' Cell Death Be the Final Frontier in Medicine on Earth and Beyond?
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
- Nearly Five Million Seized Seahorses Just 'tip of the Iceberg' In Global Wildlife Smuggling
- Europe's Most Complete Stegosaurian Skull Unearthed in Teruel, Spain
- Chemists Recreate How RNA Might Have Reproduced for First Time
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Monday, May 26, 2025
Friday, May 23, 2025
- Mystery of 'very Odd' Elasmosaur Finally Solved: Fiercely Predatory Marine Reptile Is New Species
- Earliest Use of Psychoactive and Medicinal Plant 'harmal' Identified in Iron Age Arabia
Thursday, May 22, 2025
- The Scent of Death? Worms Experience Altered Fertility and Lifespan When Exposed to Dead Counterparts
- An Artificial Protein That Moves Like Something Found in Nature
- Scientists Have Figured out How Extinct Giant Ground Sloths Got So Big and Where It All Went Wrong
- 'Selfish' Genes Called Introners Proven to Be a Major Source of Genetic Complexity
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
- Shrinking Nemo: Clownfish Survive Heatwaves by Shrinking
- Can Plants Hear Their Pollinators?
- Why Some Spiders Are More Venomous Than Others
- Toothache from Eating Something Cold? Blame These Ancient Fish
- A New Technology for Extending the Shelf Life of Produce
- Hand2: Positional Code That Allows Axolotls to Regrow Limbs Found
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Monday, May 19, 2025
- A Head and a Hundred Tails: How a Branching Worm Manages Reproductive Complexity
- How to Swim Without a Brain
- Capuchin Monkeys Develop Bizarre 'fad' Of Abducting Baby Howlers
- Mice Use Chemical Cues Such as Odors to Sense Social Hierarchy
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
- 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
- Light-Driven Cockroach Cyborgs Navigate Without Wires or Surgery
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.
Friday, May 9, 2025
Thursday, May 8, 2025
- Robotic Dog Mimics Mammals for Superior Mobility on Land and in Water
- Scottish Shrimp Study Illuminates New Potential for Bait-Less Fishing
- Eco-Friendly Aquatic Robot Is Made from Fish Food
- AI-Designed DNA Controls Genes in Healthy Mammalian Cells for First Time
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
- Feat of 'dung-Gineering' Turns Cow Manure Into One of World's Most Used Materials
- 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
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
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