Odd Creatures News
November 20, 2024
Top Headlines
Nov. 20, 2024 — Wings may be the obvious choice when studying the connection between dinosaurs and birds, but a pair of paleontologists prefer drumsticks. That part of the leg, they say, is where fibular reduction among some dinosaurs tens of millions of years ago ...
Nov. 19, 2024 — The Aztec skull whistle produces a shrill, screaming sound. A study shows that these whistles have a disturbing effect on the human brain. The Aztecs may have deliberately used this effect in sacrificial ...
Nov. 19, 2024 — Up until recently, habituation -- a simple form of learning -- was deemed the exclusive domain of complex organisms with brains and nervous systems, such as worms, insects, birds, and mammals. But a new study offers compelling evidence that even ...
Nov. 19, 2024 — Researchers study how Champatis roll and bounce down inclines. The authors released a heap of the seeds down an inclined plane while a camera recorded their descent to analyze their speed and the ...
Latest Headlines
updated 11:32pm EST
Nov. 18, 2024 — A newly discovered pterosaur fossil is shedding light on the evolutionary journey of these ancient flying reptiles. This complete specimen, named Skiphosoura bavarica, provides crucial insights into ...
Nov. 18, 2024 — An international team of researchers has achieved an unprecedented milestone: the creation of mouse stem cells capable of generating a fully developed mouse using genetic tools from a unicellular ...
Nov. 18, 2024 — Through the intricate study of lava tubes -- caves formed following volcanic eruptions when lava cools down -- an international team of researchers has uncovered clues about Earth's ancient ...
Nov. 16, 2024 — Some of the first human beings to arrive in Tasmania, over 41,000 years ago, used fire to shape and manage the landscape, about 2,000 years earlier than previously ...
Nov. 16, 2024 — Researchers have discovered that in a foraging ant's search for food, it will leave pheromone trails connecting its colony to multiple food sources when they're available, successfully creating the ...
Nov. 15, 2024 — Scholars for the first time identified chemical signatures of the components of a liquid concoction contained in a Bes mug. A new technique helped identify a sample flavored with honey, sesame seeds, ...
Nov. 14, 2024 — Two conflicting memories can both be activated in a worm's brain, even if only one memory actively drives the animal's behavior, finds a new ...
Nov. 15, 2024 — From the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro to the shoulders of pirates: parrots are synonymous with color for people across the world. In a new study, scientists uncover a 'switch' in the DNA of parrots ...
Nov. 15, 2024 — Attempts to obtain eggs and offspring using oocytes in ovary have been made for keeping desirable traits in livestock, preserving human fertility, ...
Nov. 14, 2024 — A new technique allows researchers to separate external and internal DNA to identify microbes colonizing the hostile environment of the Atacama ...
Earlier Headlines
Nov. 14, 2024 — Researchers have discovered meter-high chimneys on the floor of the Dead Sea. These are formed by the spontaneous crystallization of minerals from groundwater with an extremely high salt content ...
Nov. 14, 2024 — 'Cool' white lights -- such as those in modern car headlights -- endanger moths by causing them to fly erratically, new research ...
Nov. 14, 2024 — Scientists have advanced their NeuroMechFly model, simulating fruit fly movement in the real world. With integrated vision and smell, NeuroMechFly v2 helps us understand brain-body coordination, ...
Nov. 13, 2024 — A collection of perforated pebbles from an archaeological site in Israel may be spindle whorls, representing a key milestone in the development of rotational tools including wheels, according to a ...
Nov. 13, 2024 — Few questions have captivated humankind more than the origin of life on Earth. How did the first living cells come to exist? How did these early protocells develop the structural membranes necessary ...
Nov. 13, 2024 — Engineers have invented a protective coating for concrete pipes that could help drastically reduce the formation of fatbergs in ...
Nov. 13, 2024 — Researchers have developed a robot that identifies different plant species at various stages of growth by 'touching' their leaves with an electrode. The robot can measure properties such as ...
Nov. 13, 2024 — A 'one of a kind' fossil discovery could transform our understanding of how the unique brains and intelligence of modern birds evolved, one of the most enduring mysteries of vertebrate ...
Nov. 12, 2024 — Coral larvae reduce their metabolism and increase nitrogen uptake to resist bleaching in high temperatures, according to a new ...
Nov. 12, 2024 — A research team has succeeded in synthesizing simple, environmentally sensitive cells complete with artificial organelles. For the first time, the researchers have also been able to emulate natural ...
Nov. 12, 2024 — Roughly 90 million years ago, climatic conditions in Antarctica were suitable for resin-producing trees. Researchers have now made the southernmost discovery of amber in the ...
Nov. 12, 2024 — Researchers have discovered a remarkable new species of sea slug that lives in the deep sea. Nicknamed the 'mystery mollusc,' the nudibranch Bathydevius caudactylus swims through the ...
Nov. 11, 2024 — A study described the three-dimensional architecture of turtle genomes, which fold in a configuration unlike any other animal observed so ...
Nov. 11, 2024 — Research describes a computational model that captures the intricate muscular architecture of an octopus ...
Nov. 11, 2024 — A series of rocks hiding around Colorado's Rocky Mountains may hold clues to a frigid period in Earth's past when glaciers several miles thick covered the entire ...
Nov. 11, 2024 — Researchers have named two newly discovered freshwater snail species from Brazil after characters from The Lord of the ...
Nov. 11, 2024 — A new study on titan arum -- commonly known as the corpse flower for its smell like rotting flesh -- uncovers fundamental genetic pathways and biological mechanisms that produce heat and odorous ...
Nov. 8, 2024 — Highland deer mice and their lowland cousins ventured on a simulated seven-week ascent to 6,000 meters. By tracking how the mice responded to cold stress and progressively lower oxygen levels, the ...
Nov. 8, 2024 — New research reveals for the first time how a major Antarctic ice shelf has been subjected to increased melting by warming ocean waters over the last four decades. Scientists say the study -- the ...
Nov. 8, 2024 — Scientists believe individuals of the most recently discovered 'hominin' group (the Denisovans) that interbred with modern day humans passed on some of their genes via multiple, distinct ...
Thursday, November 14, 2024
- Spectacular Chimneys Discovered in the Dead Sea
- 'Cool' White Car Headlights More Likely to Dazzle Moths
- NeuroMechFly V2: Simulating How Fruit Flies See, Smell, and Navigate
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
- 12,000-Year-Old Stones May Be Very Early Evidence of Wheel-Like Technology
- On the Origin of Life: How the First Cell Membranes Came to Exist
- Anti-Fatberg Invention Could Help Unclog City Sewers
- Robot Identifies Plants by 'touching' Their Leaves
- Bird Brain from the Age of Dinosaurs Reveals Roots of Avian Intelligence
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
- Young Coral Use Metabolic Tricks to Resist Bleaching
- Synthetic Cells Emulate Natural Cellular Communication
- First Amber Find on the Antarctic Continent
- Remarkable New Swimming Sea Slug in the Deep Sea
Monday, November 11, 2024
- A New Wrinkle in Turtles: Their Genomes Fold in a Unique Way, Researchers Find
- A Milestone in the Study of Octopus Arms
- Was 'Snowball Earth' A Global Event? Study Delivers Best Proof Yet
- The Shellowship of the Ring: Two New Snail Species Named After Tolkien Characters
- Secret Behind the Corpse Flower's Famous Stench
Friday, November 8, 2024
- Study of Mountaineering Mice Sheds Light on Evolutionary Adaptation
- Measurements from 'lost' Seaglider Offer New Insights Into Antarctic Ice Melting
- New Insights Into the Denisovans: New Hominin Group That Interbred With Modern Day Humans
- Scarlet Macaw Parents 'play Favorites,' Purposefully Neglect Younger Chicks
- Elephant Turns a Hose Into a Sophisticated Showering Tool
- Chimpanzees Perform Better on Challenging Computer Tasks When They Have an Audience
- Deep-Sea Corals Are Home to Previously Unknown Bacteria With Extremely Small Genomes
Thursday, November 7, 2024
- Insect-Killing Fungi Find Unexpected Harmony in War
- Scientists Trained AI to Detect Faces in Pain, in Goats
- DNA Evidence Rewrites Story of People Buried in Pompeii Eruption
- Research Shows Caterpillar Fungus Can Slow Down Growth of Cancer Cells
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
- How Gophers Brought Mount St. Helens Back to Life in One Day
- Research Reveals How Stormy Conditions Affect Albatrosses' Ability to Feed
- The Egg or the Chicken? An Ancient Unicellular Says Egg
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
- Deaf Male Mosquitoes Don't Mate
- Researchers Develop Artificial Plants That Purify Indoor Air, Generate Electricity
Monday, November 4, 2024
- The Secrets of Baseball's Magic Mud
- Did the World's Best-Preserved Dinosaurs Really Die in 'Pompeii-Type' Events?
- Fossil of Huge Terror Bird Offers New Information About Wildlife in South America 12 Million Years Ago
Thursday, October 31, 2024
- Echolocating Bats Use an Acoustic Cognitive Map for Navigation
- New Methods for Whale Tracking and Rendezvous Using Autonomous Robots
- Why Elephants Never Forget but Fleas Have, Well, the Attention Span of a Flea
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
- Alcohol Consumption Among Non-Human Animals May Not Be as Rare as Previously Thought, Say Ecologists
- Solar-Powered Animal Cells
- Into the Great Wide Open: How Steppe Pastoralist Groups Formed and Transformed Over Time
- Bones from Tudor Mary Rose Shipwreck Suggest Handedness Might Affect Collarbone Chemistry
- Sinuses Prevented Prehistoric Crocodile Relatives from Deep Diving
- It's Not to Be. Universe Too Short for Shakespeare Typing Monkeys
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
- Have We Found All the Major Maya Cities? Not Even Close, New Research Suggests
- Oceanographers Record the Largest Predation Event Ever Observed in the Ocean
- Beehive Fences Are Highly Effective in Reducing Human-Elephant Conflict, but Researchers Warn of Future Risks
- Weddell Seals in the Antarctic Strategically Time Their Most Extreme Dives to Maximize Foraging
- Fossil Hunters Strike Gold With New Species
- Dinosaurs Thrived After Ice, Not Fire, Says a New Study of Ancient Volcanism
Monday, October 28, 2024
- Keeping Fewer Friends Protects Aging Monkeys from Diseases
- Co-Culture System for Sustainable Cultured Meat Production
- Lab-Grown Pork Gets Support from Sorghum Grain
- Why Langurs Drink Salt Water
- Pythons Can Swallow Even Bigger Prey Than Scientists Realized
Friday, October 25, 2024
- Move Along, Moose: Study Reveals the 'most Canadian' Animals
- 'Well-Man' Thrown from Castle Identified from 800-Year-Old Norse Saga
Thursday, October 24, 2024
- Human Actions Likely Cause Insect Color Change
- Gut Bacteria Transfer Genes to Disable Weapons of Their Competitors
- Study of Chick Peeps Could Improve Understanding of Animal Emotions
- Unnoticeable Electric Currents Could Reduce Skin Infections
- Common Drug Shows Promise in Extending Lifespan
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
- 'Paleo-Robots' To Help Scientists Understand How Fish Started to Walk on Land
- Paleontologists Discover Colorado 'swamp Dweller' That Lived Alongside Dinosaurs
- With 'electro-Agriculture,' Plants Can Produce Food in the Dark and With 94% Less Land, Bioengineers Say
- Researchers Use the Sounds of Healthy Coral Reefs to Encourage Growth of a New Species of Coral Larvae
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Monday, October 21, 2024
- Evolution in Action: How Ethnic Tibetan Women Thrive in Thin Oxygen at High Altitudes
- Unexpected Beauty, Major Antimicrobial Power Boost as Phages Form Into Surprising Flower Shapes
- Rare Fossils of Extinct Elephant Document the Earliest Known Instance of Butchery in India
- Creating a Simplified Form of Life
- Plant Guard Cells Can Count Environmental Stimuli
- Scan Based on Lizard Saliva Detects Rare Tumor
Friday, October 18, 2024
Thursday, October 17, 2024
- Marine Bacterium: Catching Prey With Grappling Hooks and Cannons
- Soil's Secret Language: Researchers Decode Plant-to-Fungi Communication
- Plankton Balloon to Six Times Their Size in Newly Discovered Mode of Oceanic Travel
- Microplastics Detected in Dolphin Breath
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
- Out-of-This-World Simulation Key to Collecting Moon Dust
- Echoes from the Past: A Geological Mystery Unravelled on Easter Island
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
- Seven New Frog Species Discovered in Madagascar: Sounds Like Something from Star Trek
- Tube Sock-Like Skunk Covers More Ground Than Deer, Impacted by Winter Weather, Study Finds
- Male Mice Use Female Mice to Distract Aggressors and Avoid Conflict
- Simulated Mission to Mars: Survey of Lichen Species
Friday, October 11, 2024
Thursday, October 10, 2024
- Snowflake Dance Analysis Could Improve Rain Forecasts
- Fossils and Fires: Insights Into Early Modern Human Activity in the Jungles of Southeast Asia
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
- The New Fashion: Clothes That Help Combat Rising Temperatures
- Newly Discovered Late Cretaceous Birds May Have Carried Heavy Prey Like Extant Raptors
- Do Fungi Recognize Shapes?
- Viruses Are Teeming on Your Toothbrush, Showerhead
- Microscopic Study of Milk Teeth Reveals Mystery of Death of Iberian Culture Newborns Buried Inside Homes
- Over 160,000 New Viruses Discovered by AI
- A Matter of Taste: Electronic Tongue Reveals AI 'inner Thoughts'
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
- Stressed Bees Lack the Buzz in Life
- Mexican Jumping Beans Jump to Safety in a Dynamic World
- Asymmetric Placebo Effect in Response to Spicy Food
- New Species of Clearwing Moth from Guyana Discovered in Wales