Scientists have identified two proteins that can partially stimulate growth in amputated toes in mice, a discovery that puts us one step closer to one day being able to replace amputated limbs in humans. While bone growth has been achieved before, the new research demonstrates signs of joint growth as well – this shows a

When an earthquake struck near the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on September 28 last year, thousands of people lost their lives. Dragged out to sea, buried in mud, they were the victims of 2018’s most devastating earthquake. Satellite data has now revealed that the grinding sections of crust responsible for the 7.5 magnitude tremor unravelled

Magnetic north is not where it used to be. Since 2015, the place to which a compass points has been sprinting toward Siberia at a pace of more than 30 miles (48 kilometres) a year. And this week, after a delay caused by the month-long partial government shutdown in the United States, humans have finally

Once, about 300 million years ago, when southern Africa was joined at South America’s hip, this now arid region was covered in a wide expanse of glaciers. You wouldn’t know it today, looking out over the dry volcanic desert of the Twyfelfontein area in northern Namibia. But throughout its 4.5 billion year history, our planet

When dinosaurs roamed the Earth in ancient Patagonia, one particular type of dinosaur might have stuck out amongst the rest. Living 140 million years ago in the early Lower Cretaceous, the newly discovered herbivore Bajadasaurus pronuspinax had a thing for growing spikes. It was part of the Sauropod family, but looked a little like a small Brontosaurus crossed

The story of Archaeopteryx – a Late Jurassic dinosaur known as ‘the first bird‘ – begins with a single, fossilised feather. But like any great scientific tale, that is far from where it ends. Today, 158 years after the initial discovery, one of the world’s most famous birds remains up in the air. Scientists now

A researcher studying whales and dolphins was treated to an extremely rare sight in January: a baby humpback whale swimming with its mum, less than 20 minutes after being born. It’s the closest Lars Bejder had been to a live birth in around 25 years – and lucky for us, he captured the extraordinary experience

Bigger dogs, with larger brains, perform better than smaller pups on certain measures of intelligence, new research shows. Larger-brained dogs outperform smaller dogs on measures of executive functions – a set of cognitive processes that are necessary for controlling and coordinating other cognitive abilities and behaviors. In particular, bigger dogs have better short-term memory and

It’s unclear whether the initial incursion happened stealthily at night or brazenly during the day – though authorities are almost certain the invasion occurred by sea. And federal employees who returned from the month-long partial government shutdown decided that it was probably not worth the effort to relocate the roughly 90 individuals involved. That’s because

Since the 1980s scientists have spotted a link between naval sonar systems and beaked whales seemingly killing themselves – by deliberately getting stranded on beaches. Now, researchers might have revealed the horrifying reason why. In short, the sound pulses appear to scare the whales to death, acting like a shot of adrenaline might in a

The photo above is not depicting some ten-legged mutant bird as some of our Instagram commenters have suggested. It’s also not one of those hilarious birds with arms memes. He’s just one brave daddy bird hauling his four chicklings to safety. Comb-crested Jacanas (Irediparra gallinacea) are also known as lillytrotters or Jesus-birds for their ability to

Normally, after running a five-year experiment, scientists might pat each other on the back in earnest recognition of having finally made it to the end of an epic, demanding research effort. But if, after five long years, you’re still less than 1 percent of the way through your actual experiment, the back-patting and champagne will have

Quite a bit of news dropped on Friday, so you may have missed a hedgehog-related alert that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued early that afternoon. Those tiny, prickly, adorable mammals — which have jumped in popularity as household pets in recent years — may be carrying salmonella germs and spreading them to nearby humans, according to the

The name is not appetising: it’s called the groundcherry. It’s possible you haven’t heard of this fruit, but with some genetic tweaks, it could become a supermarket staple sooner than you think. That’s because scientists have used the groundcherry as an experimental test case to illustrate just how quickly CRISPR genome editing can speed up

The first time he saw them, on a freezing morning last January, George Howard thought the odd-shaped humps protruding from his iced-over swamp were tree stumps. But somehow that didn’t seem right. He strained his eyes. They were tree stumps with teeth? Howard panicked. He is, after all, the manager of the Swamp Park, which features an

Birds see a very different world to the one we’re familiar with, and now we can get a hint of what that looks like thanks to a specially designed camera that simulates birdo-vision. Apart from being fascinating, the resulting images also explain why birds can navigate so accurately through dense foliage. Behavioural biologist Cynthia Tedore

Is devolution possible? Two verified experts answered this question on independent fact-checking platform Metafact.io. Both answered ‘yes’. You can read one answer below. The short answer is “yes,” but that needs to be explained, because the concept of “devolution” is very misleading and makes assumptions about evolution that simply aren’t true (it’s not a term that

The markets of Southeast Asia are common places to find the fossils of insects, embedded in amber millions of years old. But last year, gemologist Brian Berger found something much more rare and astonishing. The piece he bought features an insect inclusion, except it’s not preserved in amber – the lithified resin of ancient trees

In the water, it’s getting harder to breathe. Suffocating dead zones with little or no oxygen are pervading the world’s oceans, rivers, and streams. This phenomenon – which has exploded in recent decades – poses an extinction-level nightmare for marine populations already beset by a complex interaction of human-made menace. When it comes to these

Lake Mercer, a subglacial lake deep below the Antarctic Ice, sat untouched by humans for millennia – until now. Scientists accidentally discovered the lake in 2007, when they were examining satellite imagery of Antarctica’s ice sheet. Then on December 26, 2018, they finally reached it. To explore the 50-foot-deep subglacial lake, researchers from a project called SALSA

Unless you live in the tropical rainforests of South or Central America, most of the sloths you’ll encounter will be two-toed sloths (Choloepus sp.). This is because they are able to eat quite a varied diet and are therefore relatively easy to keep in captivity. Their relatives, the three-toed sloths (Bradypus sp.), on the other

There really isn’t a whole lot you can do to avoid being eaten when you’re trapped inside an egg and your parents are nowhere to be found. Still, the embryo of the pharaoh cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis) gives it everything it’s got. Researchers have found that when faced with a common predator, the unborn cephalopod does

The flowers are listening, according to new research – well, in a sense, at least. Scientists have found evidence that plants can actually hear the buzz of passing bees and produce sweeter nectar in response to entice the flying insects in. And flowers are technically their ‘ears’. Based on observations of evening primroses (Oenothera drummondii), the

Sometimes we don’t know what’s weirder: nature’s strange creations or the ridiculous names we humans give them. That is certainly the case with the Sarcastic Fringehead (Neoclinus blanchardi). If you happen to spy one skulking away in whatever shell, rocky crevice or piece of rubbish they can find, they’re typically seen as a dull brown

A frog by the name of Romeo, thought to be the last of his species, is no longer fortune’s fool. Defying the stars, this lonely amphibious bachelor has at last found his Juliet. Known as the world’s loneliest frog, for ten years Romeo has burned, he has pined, but he has not perished. His story

Like a brain, an ant colony operates without central control. Each is a set of interacting individuals, either neurons or ants, using simple chemical interactions that in the aggregate generate their behaviour. People use their brains to remember. Can ant colonies do that? This question leads to another question: what is memory? For people, memory

Nature is filled with astonishing and sometimes terrifying phenomena. Case in point: this footage of spiders seemingly raining from the sky. Filmed in Minas Gerais in southern Brazil, these spiders are Parawixia bistriata, a rare ‘social’ spider that works together to build giant, fine webs up high. And contrary to how it might look, don’t worry,

To properly navigate across the face of our planet, we need to use guidance from its magnetic field. And for that, we need to keep an accurate track of what that field is doing. With that in mind, every five years scientists refresh a standardised model of the detailed wiggles and warps of Earth’s magnetic

We usually think of whales as serene, gentle creatures, but a new study on an ancient species paints a different picture. Around 35 million years ago, in the late Eocene, a giant whale roamed the oceans, feasting on large fish and, the new evidence suggests, other smaller whales. Yikes. Discovered in 2010, this 15 metre

When we look at the way an object moves, humans are able to use this context to infer weight – whether it is light or heavy. Now, New Caledonian crows have demonstrated the same skill – accurately gauging the weight of an object based on how it moves in a breeze. They could be the

What makes a species monogamous? New research has uncovered evidence of a universal genetic code that underlies monogamy in vertebrates. For hundreds of millions of years, animals have been ‘doing it’. But not all of these wild hook-ups represented the same thing – even to animals that look incredibly similar. Some species, like the furry little prairie

As we try to monitor and manage the delicate balance of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, we’re beginning to realise that we have a lot to learn about the contributing factors involved. Case in point: we just found out that leaf-cutter ants create tiny little ‘factories’ in the jungle, with air vents that push out

The Cordillera del Cóndor between Ecuador and Peru is positively lush with life, but due to the mountain range’s inaccessibility and decades of border disputes, it’s only been in recent years that scientists have been able to get there to check it all out. They have been making absolutely amazing discoveries – the most recent

In the depths of the Pacific Ocean, where the water runs cold dark and cold, temperatures are continuing to fall – and it’s all because of a period of significant cooling that began in the 16th century. Although global ocean surface temperatures are on the rise, it seems the message hasn’t gotten through to the

Scientists have fixed a natural flaw in photosynthesis, and as a result have boosted plant productivity by an incredible 40 percent compared to wild relatives. Photosynthesis is the chemical reaction that lets plants turn sunlight and carbon dioxide into food, and this new hack could result in enough calories to help feed another 200 million people

On Dec. 22 at 9:03 pm local time, a 64-hectare (158-acre) chunk of Anak Krakatau volcano, in Indonesia, slid into the ocean following an eruption. This landslide created a tsunami that struck coastal regions in Java and Sumatra, killing at least 426 people and injuring 7,202. Satellite data and helicopter footage taken on Dec. 23

Nathaniel ‘Coyote’ Peterson knows his stings. From scorpions to bullet ants, the YouTube celebrity endures intense pain in the name of education, if not a few million clicks. But recently he discovered a new contender for the most agonising of insect weapons, and it’s not one he’d expected. Peterson’s channel Brave Wilderness currently has close

Marsel van Oosten slipped and stumbled over logs, struggling to lug his camera gear through the verdant mountain forests of China. Undeterred, he pressed on, finally capturing a stunning photo of a pair of golden snub-nosed monkeys, an eye-catching shot that would win him £10,000. Breathtaking photos of the natural world can bring attention to

After months of fruitless searching, one of the most endangered birds on the planet has finally been spotted once more. It’s not particularly flashy, nor large. Stresemann’s Bristlefront is a medium-sized, long-tailed bird with distinctive bristles on its forehead – but scientists think there are only a handful of these creatures left in the world.

The sky was clear and the Moon had risen high, but Captain W.J. Watson of the British ship Charles Bal noticed that the Java Sea had “suddenly assumed a milky-white appearance. Watson commented that the sky that night – 22 August 1883 – took on a pinkish hue, “as when the Aurora is showing faintly.”

At least 222 deaths have been reported in Indonesia on Sunday after a tsunami struck the Sunda Strait without warning, the latest disaster to befall a Pacific nation repeatedly stricken this year. As of late Sunday, Indonesian government officials reported more than 843 injured and 28 still missing. The cause remains unclear, but 1-meter high

For centuries, Peruvian locals have talked about a river in the Amazon that burns so hot it can kill. According to legend, Spanish conquistadors foolishly ventured into the rainforest in search of gold, and the few men that returned told stories of poisoned water, man-eating snakes, and a river that boiled from below. For Peruvian

Well, 2018 is almost at an end, and just when you think things can’t get any stranger, we now have the first footage of a lizard breathing underwater. No, not a salamander or newt, an actual land-dwelling lizard, Anolis oxylophus. These incredible creatures are a type of small lizard called river anoles, and while scientists knew

The holidays can be a lonely time for many of us. But if you’re in need of some Christmas cheer, don’t worry, nature is here for you. In the dark depths of the ocean 2,600 metres (8,500 feet) below the surface, there lives an ethereally beautiful creature known as a smallspine spookfish (Harriotta haeckeli). And

A gelatinous, single-celled life form has just solved an increasingly complex problem that many researchers use to test algorithms. Even more impressive is the fact that, as the problem got harder, the slime mould amoeba actually solved the problem in a totally different – and arguably more efficient – way than most algorithms. The result suggests

As macabre as it seems, it’s not exactly a secret that in some species of shark the unborn dine on their siblings while still developing in the womb. But it turns out we don’t know the half of it. A new kind of ultrasound device has provided biologists with a detailed view of this common

Off the coast of southern Tasmania, Australia, in the submerged mountains of a protected marine park, scientists have turned up more than 100 unnamed species from the deep sea. Each of these creatures or corals is as fascinating and bizarre-looking as the next. There are lobsters with awkwardly long arms, worms with iridescent rings of

A white Christmas is not usually part of the Australian experience, but this holiday season, the weather outside has been frightful indeed. On what would’ve usually been a hot and sweaty December afternoon, Sydneysiders were instead entertained with a deluge of hard, icy rocks, cascading from the heavens in a variety of remarkable shapes and