Life
All Stories
How Tasmanian devils are evolving to fight back against extinction
Devil facial tumor disease, or DFTD, has cut the Tasmanian devil population by 90 percent. Now, some devils have evolved to resist the virulent cancer.
Why do people prefer dogs over cats? They’re more controllable, study finds.
The ancient Egyptians worshiped cats as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.
Why people (and chimps) throw temper tantrums
Primatologist Frans de Waal explains the primal instinct that unites humans and chimpanzees.
▸
3 min
—
with
Why the ocean you know and love won’t exist in 50 years
Can sensitive coral reefs survive another human generation?
▸
3 min
—
with
A pleasure to burn: Why do people like spicy foods?
Spicy foods are enjoyed the world over, but scientists don't know why people partake in culinary masochism.
‘Micro snails’ we scraped from sidewalk cracks help unlock details of ancient Earth’s biological evolution
Scientists discovered microbes that have lived on Earth for millions of years.
Scientists map great white shark genome, revealing clues about cancer and healing wounds
Can learning about the great white shark help protect us from cancer?
Behold, close-ups of the sand from around the cosmos
Think you've seen sand? You haven't seen sand.
Chimp gestures and human language are underpinned by same mathematical principles
Are these two laws universal throughout nature?
My childhood was deadly. Education saved me.
With encouragement from parents, a child can bloom in their education.
▸
4 min
—
with
Famous fossil is not an Archaeopteryx feather after all
Lasers solve the mystery of the missing quill.
Study: Much of the surface ocean will shift in color by end of 21st century
Climate-driven changes in phytoplankton communities will intensify the blue and green regions of the world’s oceans.
Oldest animal ever discovered by scientists
Chinese scientists find a 600-million-year-old creature.
Your body’s full of stuff you no longer need. Here’s a list.
Evolution doesn't clean up after itself very well.
The culprit in millions of bat deaths since 2006? A ‘vampire’ fungus.
White-nose syndrome is nearly as lethal to bats as the Black Plague was for humans.
When should we stop trying to save the patient and focus on saving the organs?
A definition of death is surprisingly malleable, leading to complications when it comes to organ donation.
Researchers have identified an area of the dog brain dedicated to processing human faces
The dogs' ability to recognise and process human faces surpasses even that of monkeys. This newly-identified brain region may be the reason why.
Your dog’s personality is rooted in its breed’s DNA, study finds
A new study has identified specific genes that seem to play an integral part in characterizing the behavior of dog breeds.
Why be buried or cremated when you could become a tree?
You can become a tree or even the soil supporting it.
Pablo Escobar’s hippos: Why drug lords shouldn’t play God
Let the countdown begin! History and science (and danger) come together in our 10th most popular video of 2018.
▸
10 min
—
with
Organic farming is ‘much worse’ for the climate than conventional food production, researchers say
More farm space equals more carbon.
New software could save 745 species in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest without hurting agribusiness
"This is a great example of a forest restoration plan which is both good for the people and good for nature," one researcher said.
Organisms living inside the Earth far outnumber all the humans, reveals study
Researchers find an amazing amount of often-weird forms of life below the planet's surface.
The truth about panda sex
Zoologist Lucy Cooke explains why humans are totally wrong about panda sex, and why captive breeding backfires.
▸
10 min
—
with
We can assess the health of coral reefs by the sounds algae make
Tiny bubbles talk photosynthesis.
A close-up look at the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Alaska today
Anchorage was rocked by back-to-back earthquakes on Friday morning, prompting a tsunami warning.