Related topics: species · climate change

A new estimate of biodiversity on Earth

Anyone who has studied biology, watched a nature documentary, or, for that matter, simply enjoyed time in the outdoors, has likely been amazed by the variety of plant and animal life on our planet.

'Profound' evolution: Wasps learn to recognize faces

One wasp species has evolved the ability to recognize individual faces among their peers—something that most other insects cannot do—signaling an evolution in how they have learned to work together.

Details that look sharp to people may be blurry to their pets

Compared with many animals, human eyes aren't particularly adept at distinguishing colors or seeing in dim light. But by one measure at least—something called visual acuity—human eyes can see fine details that most animals ...

Animals laugh too, analysis of vocalization data suggests

Human laughter is common, but it's a somewhat mysterious part of our evolution. It's clear to evolutionary scholars that we laugh as a part of play, signaling our cooperation or friendliness. But how did laughter evolve? ...

Ancient die-off greater than the dinosaur extinction

Clues from Canadian rocks formed billions of year ago reveal a previously unknown loss of life even greater than that of the mass extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, when Earth lost nearly three-quarters of ...

page 2 from 40