Few insects have a more gruesome lifestyle than Darwin wasps. Rather than simply hunting other animals, these parasitic wasps lay their eggs on or inside living hosts, including caterpillars, beetles and spiders. Their larvae ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 6, 2026
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180
The genus Picea (spruce) is widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere and is a dominant component of boreal and montane forests. Understanding the evolutionary processes that have shaped diversification and regional ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 6, 2026
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12
Why does a quenda have a short, sturdy snout, while its relative the bilby has such a remarkably long one? New research led by Murdoch University's Harry Butler Institute suggests millions of years of adaptation to different ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 6, 2026
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8
A new study has revealed how the repurposing of an ancestral gene saved the embryos of cod's ancestors from extinction, enabling them to form the large populations that, millions of years later, would change the course of ...
Evolution
Nov 5, 2026
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69
There are no woodpeckers on the Hawaiian Islands, but a little yellow bird called the 'akiapōlāʻau (Ah-key-ah-pole-ah-ow) has evolved an unusual beak to drill into branches to find food.
Evolution
Nov 5, 2026
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37
What did the algae that gave rise to the first land plants look like? A research team led by the University of Göttingen and including the universities of Maastricht and Innsbruck and Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 5, 2026
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30
Over the past 100,000 years, hooved mammals that migrate have experienced a higher rate of extinction compared to nonmigratory species, according to a study being published Nov. 5 in the journal PLOS Biology by Joel Abraham ...
Evolution
Nov 5, 2026
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17
Human feet are much stiffer than those of other primates, which means they limit midfoot bending during walking. The evolutionary reasons for this are not entirely clear. One idea is that the features that stiffen the foot ...
The genital structures of male hawkmoths are lifesavers. By rubbing specialized scales on their genitals against parts of their abdomen, the nocturnal insects emit ultrasonic sounds that can potentially scramble the acoustic ...
In all likelihood, the Neanderthals had flat feet. But it was not a defect at all. Instead, it was the consequence of a precise functional strategy to reduce impact stress under heavy loads and maximize stability on mountainous ...
Evolution
Nov 4, 2026
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