ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATEIn the world of dinosaurs, not everything was as it seems. The most advantageous appendages may have just been for show-and-tell, to ward off unassuming predators, and some of the most evolutionarily superb tricks may never be revealed in the fossils we find today. And with the endless wonder of discovering an entirely unique world, unlike our own, paleontologists, like children, keep learning in the hopes of one day adding their own discovery into the dialogue. The only difference is that one of these differences was recently discovered in a new species of dinosaur related to the Tyrannosaurus rex, but this discovery really was made by a child—seven-year-old Diego Suárez.
For bees jonesing for their next fix, fate could be a little messy with their newest addictions. In a new study published this week in the journal Nature, researchers conducted experiments to find out just how new pesticides are affecting bee foraging behavior. And what they found is that humans aren’t the only ones addicted to small bits of nicotine—bees crave it too.
After more than a year in Santa Monica Mountains a young puma known as “P-32” has decided to leave its nest in search of its sister and safer terrain. Only weeks after his sister made the trip across the 101 Freeway, the young male dashed across the Freeway near Thousand Oaks retreating into the Simi Hills earlier this month and now researchers with the National Park Service believe that “P-32” will have a better shot at a normal life out of the Santa Monica Mountains.
Researchers studying the feeding habits of sperm whales ended up finding more than they could have expected when they came across on the second ever known specimen of an incredibly rare and very small shark dubbed the "Pocket Shark." The first pocket shark was discovered 36 years ago near Peru but hasn't been seen since.
Yellowstone may be one of the most pristine places you can visit filled with streams, grasslands, wildlife and more, but underneath the surface you will find one of the largest volcanoes on the planet. According to a team of researchers from the University of Utah, the supervolcano is larger than originally believed and it is growing.
It seems when it comes to saving endangered species, there is a giant inequality in the investment of resources with species that aren't considered as cute or "charismatic" receiving more funding compared to species that simply aren't.
It’s no real big secret that researchers still don’t know much about what lies deep within the ocean’s unreachable depths. And thus it is ever evident that marine ecologists also do not known a lot about life at the lower depths. But with a new study published this week in the journal Current Biology, researchers now reveal that even the creatures they have found and studied in detail may house some strange secrets of the vast oceans, as well.
With the death of three endangered sperm whales last week, the news this week surrounding conservation efforts has been rather bleak. But with the snap of a flash and a near-perfect picture moment, researchers in the Congo’s newest national park are turning the tide. And the announcement of a long-lost species comes with even better news—it appears that there’s a baby on-board too for the field researchers’ record-breaking findings.
With the death of three endangered sperm whales this week, the news this week surrounding conservation efforts has been rather bleak. But with the snap of a flash and a near-perfect picture moment, researchers in the Congo’s newest national park are turning the tide. And the announcement of a long-lost species comes with even better news—it appears that there’s a baby on-board too for the field researchers’ record-breaking findings.
A story that should have celebrated the birth of another whale into the world ended in tragedy Monday, after the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission made the decision to put two sperm whales down. Though often rapid response units are able to successful push whales back out to shore after a brief beaching, the circumstances surrounding the beaching led local officials to make the life-or-death decision.
A new study published in the journal Palaeontology has revealed some interesting new details about the process of reproduction in Mosasaurs, the large marine lizards that once populated the waters about 65 million years ago.
News this week revealed a frightening new addition to the fossil record—a “Terror Bird” species known more scientifically as Llallawavis scagliai (aka Scaglia’s Magnificent Bird). But in spite of its massive size and terrifying stance, this top-tier predatory may not have been the most well-adapted hunter that it could be… That is, unless it was hunting in packs.
Think that you don’t have what it takes to start a career in paleontology, even though your fascination with dinosaurs never ends? Well never fear, news this week reveals that you’re never too old, or too young, to start on the hunt for dinosaurs. And 4-year-old Wylie Brys, of Mansfield, Texas, is proving this sentiment true.
Think that we’ve found just about every prehistoric species that there is to find? You’d be terrifyingly wrong if you said yes. In fact, adding a new view on the diversity of some unlikely large predators that predate humans, a new fossil this week revealed another species of South American “terror birds” known as Llallawavis scagliai.
While researchers have long believed that the circumstances and the molecular structures involved in the creation of our Sun and of our Earth were unique, it appears that far off in space there may be another solar system brimming with potential for life someday. Utilizing the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) researchers with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory have detected for the first time ever the complex organic molecules necessary to create life in a protoplanetary disk surrounding an infant star only a million years into its formation.
When it comes to ecological modeling, often the devil is in the details. But with so many complex theories at play, and so many realistic, natural variants it becomes an almost impossible task to decipher exactly it is that the researchers are trying to show us. This time the researchers made it easy for us.
While researchers have long believed that the circumstances and the molecular structures involved in the creation of our Sun and of our Earth were unique, it appears that far off in space there may be another solar system brimming with potential for life someday. Utilizing the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) researchers with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory have detected for the first time ever the complex organic molecules necessary to create life in a protoplanetary disk surrounding an infant star only a million years into its formation.
Just when we thought that scientists have found all the species they were going to, a new species of lizard dubbed the dwarf dragon has been discovered in the Andes Mountains of South America.
Many endangered species like the Giant Tortoises of the Galápagos islands share a similar fate with the introduction of human beings to their natural landscape. With humans so too come the pets and the plants that invade their space. And more often than not it means that these endangered species either die off or adapt to avoid competition or costly meals. But for some, in very rare conditions, it means that the species can thrive even better than it could on its sparse local sources for food. And in a new study published this week in the Biotropica, researchers say that after a four year study, tracking the movement and foraging behavior of giant tortoises, it appears that they are seeking out sweeter treats of invasive flora and fruits instead of their local fare.
When it comes to invasive flora, most conservation ecologists know that the ramifications that come with these primary producers often appear much higher in the food chain. Some animals are unequipped to utilize the plants for food, while others simply find the energy spent foraging for it is far too much for the energy gained. And it’s a dynamic that often leads some species to coevolve. But looking into one of the first Darwinian subjects, Galápagos Giant Tortoises, some researchers have found that the unique species may be getting far more out of the invasive flora than they once thought—enough to even change their foraging behavior altogether.