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Our planet’s convoluted history of evolving life has spawned countless weird and wonderful creatures, but none excite evolutionary biologists – or divide taxonomists – quite like crabs. When researchers attempted to reconcile the evolutionary history of crabs in all their raucous glory just earlier this year, they arrived at the conclusion that the defining … Read more
By Michael Le Page The delta variant, viewed using an electron microscope Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library WE HAVE been watching evolution in action as one coronavirus variant after another emerges and triggers further waves of infections around the world. There is every reason to think this will continue during 2022 – and there is no … Read more
Until recently, one of the biggest myths in science was that all dinosaurs have been extinct for the past 65 million years. But thanks to new fossil discoveries that filled in our knowledge about avian dinosaurs, we now know that only some dinosaurs went extinct following an asteroid collision with Earth – others survived and gave … Read more
A summary of decades of research on a rather ‘out-there’ idea involving viruses from space raises questions on just how scientific we can be when it comes to speculating on the history of life on Earth. It’s easy to throw around words like crackpot, rogue, and maverick in describing the scientific fringe, but then … Read more
The ability to play is being spotted in some unexpected creatures, from swans to Komodo dragons. Are they really fooling around? And if so, why do they do it? Life 15 December 2021 By Michael Marshall Graham Carter AS I write, my kitten is having a funny 5 minutes – or rather a funny 2 … Read more
A newly discovered fossil shows that within just 3 million years of their first appearance on Earth, ichthyosaurs had evolved into 17-metre-long giants Life 23 December 2021 By Riley Black An artist’s impression of Cymbospondylus youngorum Stephanie Abramowicz Fossil remains of one of the ocean’s earliest giants have been unearthed in Nevada. Named Cymbospondylus youngorum, … Read more
Spiraling fractal branches draw connections between a staggering 2.2 million living species on Earth in the most comprehensive tree of life ever created. “It allows people to find their favorite living things, be they golden moles or giant sequoias, and see how evolutionary history connects them together to create a giant tree of all life … Read more
Omicron has become a global threat to public health thanks to a particularly dangerous set of mutations, but where did it come from? Health 17 December 2021 By Michael Le Page A technician at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in Durban, South Africa New York Times / Redux / eyevine We do not know … Read more
Theropod dinosaurs, including carnivores like T. rex and herbivores like Therizinosaurus, evolved deeper and stronger jaws over the course of the dinosaur age Life 16 December 2021 By Cameron Duke Theropods of the Late Cretaceous, including Gigantoraptor, Garudimimus and Neimongosaurus Gabriel Ugueto No matter whether they ate meat or plants, theropod dinosaur species had one … Read more
An image of the Apollo 17 moon rock troctolite 76535. (Image credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center) A lunar rock brought to Earth nearly half a century ago is revealing new information about the moon’s complex history. NASA’s Apollo 17 mission left the moon to return to Earth 49 years ago Tuesday (Dec. 14) and humanity hasn’t … Read more