Tiny fossils found in 1.7 billion-year-old mud yield clues to the evolution of complex life
Stored in an open-air warehouse in tropical Darwin, Australia, are dozens of trays containing cylindrical cores…
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Ebola outbreak: WHO declares emergency, US restricts travel, American infected
There are four virus strains known to cause Ebola disease in humans, and three have caused…
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We found hundreds of huge ancient mass graves hidden in the Sahara desert
We have been on a years-long campaign of satellite remote sensing of the vast desert landscapes…
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Squeak up! I can’t hear you: pilot whales are shouting to hear themselves over ship noise
In the Strait of Gibraltar – a famous marine road connecting the Mediterranean and the Atlantic…
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Why you can’t love all animals and still eat meat
Was Billie Eilish right when she told Elle magazine that you can’t say you love all…
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Is Richard Dawkins right about Claude? No. But it’s not surprising AI chatbots feel conscious to us
In recent days, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins wrote an op-ed suggesting AI chatbot Claude may be…
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What is hantavirus, the disease that has killed 3 cruise ship passengers?
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which affects the lungs, is mainly found in the United States. If a…
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Poland’s elk debate: Should hunting be allowed? | Focus on Europe
Elk are largely a protected species in Poland. But for hunters and drivers, the growing population…
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America’s animal shelter workers are struggling
As animal shelters in the US become overcrowded, it’s not just the pets that suffer. Animal…
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£20m mystery gift buys London Zoo new hospital where you can watch vets work
ZSL says most of the procedures on display will be routine, such as weight and dental…
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Ancient bones show dogs have been woven into human life for nearly 16,000 years
Odin was a kelpie. Attentive and protective, with a happy smile and an endless hope for…
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The latest world climate report is grim, but it’s not the end of the story
Oceans and ice The annual State of the Climate report, published today by the World Meteorological…
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Oil, petrol, gasoline: a chemical engineer explains how crude turns into fuel
As the US–Israel war on Iran escalates, so too does the global oil crisis. The effective…
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Animals can talk over huge distances – but humans might be changing their range
Animals are noisy. And their noises can travel a long way. But making sounds can be…
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Hunting for elusive “ghost elephants”
[embedded content] Deep in the Angolan Highlands lurks a rumored new species of elephant. Conservationist and…
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Maybe you shouldn’t own small pets #shorts
We hate to break it to you, but your small pet is probably miserable. Each year,…
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New fossil reveals the weird ‘tooth cushions’ of an apex predator from 425 million years ago
If correct, then Megamastax is the closest known form to the common ancestor of the ray-finned…
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The strange animals that control their body heat
Similarly, in response to an accidental flooding event in the lab, researchers observed a highly unusual…
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Delving into ‘deep time’: what NZ’s ancient past reveals about its present
We know Aotearoa New Zealand is home to many geographically and biologically special features. Yet few…
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Research roundup: 6 cool stories we almost missed
The team lightly swabbed samples from the artifacts’ surfaces and were able to recover human Y-chromosome…
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Great white sharks grow a whole new kind of tooth for slicing bone as they age
A great white shark is a masterwork of evolutionary engineering. These beautiful predators glide effortlessly through…
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Red flowers have a ‘magic trait’ to attract birds and keep bees away
For flowering plants, reproduction is a question of the birds and the bees. Attracting the right…
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Yes, feral cats and foxes really have driven many Australian mammals to extinction
Where cats and foxes are abundant, there should be fewer native mammals. Lethal control is, unfortunately,…
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4 shark bites in 48 hours: how what we do on land may shape shark behaviour
Beachgoers in Australia are on high alert following four shark incidents in New South Wales in…
