The 10 strangest space structures discovered in 2021

Orbiting more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) over Earth and separated by tens of millions of light-years from many of the interstellar objects it studies, the Hubble Space Telescope takes “working remotely” to a new extreme. Even as the world below grappled with another pandemic year, weird and wonderful space discoveries flooded in from above, … Read more

The Largest Known Flying Animal Was Even Weirder Than We Thought

The pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus northropi is the largest known flying animal to have ever existed, living on Earth more than 67 million years ago. Now new research on the creature and its newly discovered smaller relative, Quetzalcoatlus lawsoni, gives us a better idea of how Q. northropi flew and got airborne to begin with.   Our knowledge of Q. … Read more

Shocking Fossil Reveals Car-Sized Millipedes Scuttled on Earth 326 Million Years Ago

If creepy crawlies make you uncomfortable, be glad you weren’t living in the Carboniferous period (around 100 million years before the dinosaurs arrived) in what is now Northumberland in the UK.   Scientists have made an astonishing discovery along this part of the coast of northeast England: a 326 million-year-old fossil, showing traces of the … Read more

Newly Discovered Transparent Cave Snail Has Long Rows of Intimidatingly Spikey Teeth

When you think of snails, sharp jagged teeth are not usually what comes to mind. But you might have to reconsider because these squishy mollusks have terrifying lickity-bits when you look close enough under the microscope.   Snails use their weird-as-heck toothed-tongues called a radula to lick through all sorts of surfaces to feed, including grinding through … Read more

Fourteen new species of shrew discovered on an Indonesian island

By Chen Ly Crocidura caudipilosa, one of the newly discovered species of shrew Kevin Rowe Fourteen new species of shrew have been discovered during a decade-long survey of small mammals on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Shrews are a diverse group of small mammals that can be found almost anywhere in the world. Despite their … Read more

Australian wildlife: Newly discovered millipede has a record-breaking 1306 legs

A millipede with 1306 legs has smashed the world record after being discovered 60 metres underground in Australia   Life 16 December 2021 By Alice Klein A 10-centimetre-long female Eumillipes persephone millipede with 1306 legs Paul Marek, Virginia Tech A millipede with over 1300 legs has smashed the world record for the most limbs, … Read more

First-Ever ‘True’ Millipede With 1,306 Legs Discovered Deep Underground in Australia

Although the name millipede comes from Latin for “thousand feet”, before now no species has been found with more than 750 legs. After the discovery of a new millipede with 1,306 legs however, this arthropod is finally living up to its name.   The new species is Eumillipes persephone – emillipes translating as “true-thousand-foot”, with … Read more