It was as heavy as four African elephants. The remains of a 26.5-million-year-old giant, hornless rhino — one of the largest mammals ever to walk Earth — have been discovered in northwestern China, a new study finds. The newly identified species, Paraceratherium linxiaense — named after its discovery spot inContinue Reading
Mouse sperm thrived despite six years of exposure to space radiation After being exposed to space radiation for three to six years on the space station, mouse sperm produced hundreds of healthy space pups (some pictured). Sperm appears to be unfazed by long stints in outer space. In theContinue Reading
26 February 2021, Brandenburg, Horst: A herd of cattle stands in a paddock on the outskirts of the village of Horst in the Elbe-Elster district of Brandenburg. Compare a wild boar with a domestic pig and you may notice a few key differences, including the fact that the pigContinue Reading
The cold never bothered them anyway. Tiny zombies that were frozen in Arctic permafrost for 24,000 years were recently brought back to life and have produced clones in a lab in Russia. These hardy creatures are bdelloid rotifers, or wheel animals, so-named for the wheel-like ring of tiny hairs thatContinue Reading
A small bone stiffened its lower jaw, bracing an otherwise flexible joint. The fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex had a tremendous bone-crushing bite. What made this possible was a stiff lower jaw. And that stiffness came from a boomerang-shaped bit of bone. A new study finds that this small bone braced whatContinue Reading
Who else is fond of a warm embrace? COVID-19 interrupted one of life’s most familiar acts: the warm, enveloping comfort of a hug. The pandemic taught us many things, some more important than others — but one of those is just how much many of us rely on these embracesContinue Reading
Hang in there, little guys! NASA is preparing to rocket around 5,000 tardigrades — those adorably pudgy “water bears —” and 128 glow-in-the-dark baby squid into space. The animals are heading to the International Space Station (ISS) next week as part of SpaceX’s 22nd cargo resupply mission. SpaceX is setContinue Reading
An increasingly virulent pathogen is turning hygienic cannibalism on its head. A virus that leaves bees with stubby, useless wings, bloated abdomens and sluggish brains before killing them off takes advantage of one of the pollinators’ nastier habits — a tendency to cannibalize their young, a new study found. TheContinue Reading
The walrus is now roughly 2,650 miles south of its usual habitat. The Arctic walrus that likely fell asleep on a drifting iceberg and woke up in Ireland, and then turned up weeks later in Tenby, Wales, has now appeared even farther south, in Cornwall, England. The walrus (Odobenus rosmarus),Continue Reading
It looks like a mop tangled in seaweed. When a bizarre, white-polka-dotted blob the size of a person’s palm washed ashore in North Carolina last December, rangers at Cape Lookout National Seashore weren’t sure what to make of it. So the rangers turned to the public for identification help, postingContinue Reading
