ScienceBiology

Escaped Boa Constrictor Slithers Its Way Into Goodwill Donations

Workers at a Goodwill sorting facility in Fort Worth, Texas were stunned to discover a live, albino red-tailed boa constrictor mixed in with donations on Thursday, NBC New York reported this week. NBC wrote that this particular reptile friend was found in a pile of clothing and could have come from any of Goodwill’s 38 … Continued

ScienceBiology

Extinct, 10-Foot-Tall Bird May Have Been Nocturnal

Less than a thousand years ago, a bird roamed Madagascar that stood as tall as an elephant. You may have heard of the elephant bird—it’s the largest bird species to ever live. New research has presented evidence that this famous extinct bird was nocturnal and had poor vision. The scientists reconstructed the shape of the … Continued

ScienceBiology

Man Shot by His Own Dog Proves That in Virtually Any Scenario, They Are Still Good Boys

In an incident that is somehow somewhat common, a man is claiming he survived being accidentally shot with a shotgun by his own dog, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News this week. Perhaps unsurprising to anyone who’s ever owned a dog, however, is the fact that the pup’s owner says he’s still a good boy. … Continued

ScienceBiology

Meet the ‘Halloween Genes’: Spook, Shadow, and Shade

Scientists who study Drosophila, the humble fruit fly, like to have some fun when naming newly identified genes and proteins. There’s the Sonic Hedgehog protein (which looks spiky under a microscope), the Ken and Barbie genes (when they’re mutated, fruit flies don’t develop external genitalia), and the hangover gene (which is key for alcohol tolerance). Nobel … Continued

ScienceBiology

Spooky Shrieking Bird Looks and Sounds Like Something Out of a Horror Movie

You walk alone through a foggy forest with nothing but your day bag and binoculars. Birds and insects call quietly as they fly above and creep below. Suddenly, you hear a piercing, metallic alarm like nothing else in nature, followed by an even higher squeal—it sounds like microphone feedback, and it only grows louder as … Continued

ScienceBiology

Australian Cops Perform CPR on Drowning Kangaroo

I know very little about Australia, aside from the fact that it’s basically a weirder United States with a feral cat problem. But I’m familiar enough to know that Australian police resuscitating a drowning kangaroo with CPR at the beach is about as Australian as it gets. The Agence France-Presse reports that Australian police were … Continued

ScienceBiology

Intriguing German Fossil Could Be an Entirely New Species of Archaeopteryx

The winged Archaeopteryx is one of the most famous dinosaurs known to science, yet arguments persist about its place in the evolutionary family tree. The reported discovery of an entirely new species of Archaeopteryx with distinctly bird-like characteristics suggests its relationship to modern birds is more meaningful than we realized. Critics, on the other hand, … Continued

ScienceBiology

Demand for Chocolate Labs Is Making Them Sick and Prone to Early Death

New research shows that chocolate Labrador retrievers are more likely to experience health problems and die younger compared to their black and yellow canine compatriots. A likely reason, say scientists, is a tightening genetic bottleneck caused by consumer demand. Chocolate-colored Labrador retrievers have a 10 percent shorter lifespan than black or yellow Labradors, according to … Continued

ScienceBiology

Watch These Serene Elephants Smash the Shit Out of Some Gourds

Every year leading up to its annual Halloween festivities, the Oregon Zoo kicks the party off with a grand display of gourd-smashing, officially titled the Squishing of the Squash. But lest you thought it was children or even people squashing the gourds, you would be mistaken. Instead, the zoo unleashes its resident elephants on the … Continued

ScienceBiology

New Clues May Explain Why This Fearsome Marsupial Lion Disappeared From Australia

New research suggests it was climate change—not human activity—that caused Thylacoleo carnifex, an Australian marsupial lion, to go extinct. For millions of years, Thylacoleo carnifex ruled the forests of Australia, but this predatory species disappeared around 35,000 to 45,000 years ago. Humans first appeared in Australia around 60,000 years ago, leading scientists to wonder if … Continued

ScienceBiology

New Theory Explains Why Europe’s Original Dogs Vanished

The first farmers to arrive in Europe from the Middle East brought their dogs along with them, effectively wiping out the original population of European canines, according to new research. Starting around 11,000 years ago, Neolithic farmers who had established themselves in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East—what is now modern day Egypt, Syria, … Continued

ScienceBiology

Flesh-Eating, Piranha-Like Fish Terrorized Jurassic Seas Because of Course They Did

Piranha-like creatures capable of biting chunks of flesh from their victims appeared some 150 million years ago, according to new research. Introducing Piranhamesodon pinnatomus—the oldest known flesh-eating ray-finned bony fish, a family of fish that today includes trout, grouper, and cod. During the late Jurassic, around 150 million years ago, sharks (which are cartilaginous fish) … Continued

ScienceBiology

New Study Explores How Dogs Understand Human Language

If you’re a dog person who has suspected that your four-legged friend may know exactly what you mean when you use certain words or phrases—for example “toy,” or “car,” or maybe even “who’s the good boy?” (he is)—you may be correct. A new study by scientists at Emory University and published Monday in the journal … Continued

ScienceBiology

Ancient Steroid Suggests Sea Sponges Were One of Earth’s First Animals

Scientists from the University of California, Riverside, are claiming to have discovered the oldest known animal fossil—an ancient sea sponge that emerged between 660 million and 635 million years ago. New research published this week in Nature Ecology and Evolution describes a probable biomarker, or “chemical fossil,” linked to ancient sea sponges—a group of creatures … Continued

ScienceBiology

Drunk Pigeon Is All of Us, as Well as New Zealand’s Bird of the Year

New Zealand has some weird birds, and they know it. Sure, you’ve probably seen the Seussian kiwi, but what about the kākāpo, a flightless parrot that looks like a particularly friendly owl? Have you heard of the morepork, an owl so named because it sounds like it shouts “MORE PORK,” or the wrybill, the only … Continued

ScienceBiology

Security Camera Captures Five-Foot Python Falling From Bank Ceiling

What was probably a very boring meeting at a Chinese bank got a lot more exciting when a surprise reptilian guest dropped by. China News reports that a group of bank employees at the Xin Cheng branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Nanning were in the midst of a morning meeting … Continued

ScienceBiology

This Hilarious Optical Illusion for Birds Could Save Your Life

Birds and planes are a bad combination, but it’s not so easy to shoo our avian friends away from airport runways. Thankfully, scientists from France have stumbled upon an ingenious solution to the problem—an optical illusion that appears to scare the crap out of large predatory birds. In addition to their sharp talons, strong claws, … Continued

ScienceBiology

Ancestry Sites Could Soon Expose Nearly Anyone’s Identity, Researchers Say

Genetic testing has helped plenty of people gain insight into their ancestry, and some services even help users find their long-lost relatives. But a new study published this week in Science suggests that the information uploaded to these services can be used to figure out your identity, regardless of whether you volunteered your DNA in … Continued

ScienceBiology

Hungry Dinosaurs May Be the Reason Humans Need Sunscreen

What do blind cavefish, dinosaurs, and sunburnt humans have in common? A lot more than you may realize, according to a thought-provoking new study. New research published today in Current Biology shows that Somalian blind cavefish (Phreatichthys andruzzii) are missing an ancient DNA repair kit that protects many animals from the harmful effects of sunlight. This … Continued

ScienceBiology

Rare T. Rex Relative Discovered in New Mexico

They don’t look remarkable to the untrained eye. The skull bones are fragmentary, unrecognizable to most. The story of a fearsome tyrannosaur, who lived millions of years before T. rex, would remain lost to the ages had it not been for the fossil’s discovery in New Mexico by a dedicated team of dinosaur hunters. Digging … Continued