Odd Creatures News
May 17, 2024
Top Headlines
May 17, 2024 — The spiny legged 308-million-year-old arachnid Douglassarachne acanthopoda was discovered the famous Mazon Creek ...
May 16, 2024 — Researchers have developed a method to investigate sperm whale communication by determining their vocal style, finding that groups living in close proximity can develop similar styles to each ...
May 16, 2024 — Sea otters are one of the few animals that use tools to access their food, and a new study has found that individual sea otters that use tools -- most of whom are female -- are able to eat larger prey and reduce tooth damage when their preferred ...
May 15, 2024 — What makes the oldfield mouse steadfastly monogamous throughout its life while its closest rodent relatives are promiscuous? The answer may be a previously unknown hormone-generating cell. Scientists discover the cells and hormones that inspire mice ...
Latest Headlines
updated 12:34pm EDT
May 15, 2024 — Scientists have discovered that colonies of gelatinous sea animals swim through the ocean in giant corkscrew shapes using coordinated jet propulsion, an unusual kind of locomotion that could inspire ...
May 16, 2024 — In a groundbreaking study an international team of scientists has investigated the evolutionary patterns behind the development of sabre teeth, with some unexpected results along the ...
May 15, 2024 — When tiger beetles hear a bat nearby, they respond by creating a high-pitched, ultrasonic noise, and for the past 30 years, no one has known why. In a new study, scientists lay the mystery to rest by ...
May 15, 2024 — The research cracks the code on the iconic baobab tree's origin story, revealing their surprising origins in Madagascar and incredible long-distance dispersals to Africa and Australia. The study ...
May 15, 2024 — The ability to regulate body temperature, a trait all mammals and birds have today, may have evolved among some dinosaurs early in the Jurassic period about 180 million years ago. The new study ...
May 13, 2024 — Molecular biologists provide exciting insights into the bristles of the marine annelid worm Platynereis dumerilii. Specialized cells, so-called chaetoblasts, control the formation of the bristles. ...
May 13, 2024 — The Giant Hummingbird of western South America is not one species but two, according to an international group of researchers. The northern population stays in the high Andes year-round while the ...
May 13, 2024 — Would you trust a robot to look after your cat? New research suggests it takes more than a carefully designed robot to care for your cat, the environment in which they operate is also vital, as well ...
May 1, 2024 — Scientists are harnessing cells to make new types of materials that can grow, repair themselves and even respond to their environment. These solid ...
May 3, 2024 — Researchers uncovered compelling evidence that Earth's magnetic field was in a highly unusual state when the macroscopic animals of the Ediacaran Period -- 635 to 541 million years ago -- diversified ...
Earlier Headlines
May 14, 2024 — Japanese washi paper is renowned for its aesthetic beauty and its wide-array of usages. Now, a group of researchers have made a green composite material from washi which boasts a 60% increase in ...
May 2, 2024 — A wild orangutan was observed applying a plant with known medicinal properties to a wound, a first for a wild ...
May 1, 2024 — A new documentary has recreated the face of a 75,000-year-old female Neanderthal whose flattened skull was discovered and rebuilt from hundreds of bone fragments by a team of archaeologists and ...
Apr. 30, 2024 — A study of body size in leaf-nosed bats of the Solomon Islands has revealed surprising genetic diversity among nearly indistinguishable species on different ...
Apr. 30, 2024 — A four-legged robot trained with machine learning has learned to avoid falls by spontaneously switching between walking, trotting, and pronking -- a milestone for roboticists as well as biologists ...
Apr. 29, 2024 — How did North America's saber-toothed cats hunt without breaking their unwieldy saber-like canines, which are vulnerable to sideways bending stresses? A paleontologist provides mechanical ...
Apr. 29, 2024 — Scientists have applied a data-driven approach to understanding firefly population dynamics on a continental scale. Key findings from this new study indicate that fireflies, part of the beetle order, ...
Apr. 29, 2024 — When hunting for mice in winter, red and arctic fox are known to plunge headfirst at speeds of 2-4 meters per second, but their sharp noses reduce the impact force in snow and protect them from ...
Apr. 29, 2024 — For most people, biting into a lemon would leave them puckered up and desperate to lose that sour flavor, but a new study revealed that roughly one in eight adults like intensely sour sensations. The ...
Apr. 29, 2024 — Scientists have developed a smart, reusable adhesive more than ten times stronger than a gecko's feet adhesion, pointing the way for development of reusable superglue and grippers capable of ...
Apr. 29, 2024 — Greening the way we eat needn't mean going vegetarian. A healthy, more realistic solution is to adopt a flexitarian diet where seafoods add umami to 'boring' vegetables. A ...
Apr. 29, 2024 — Dinosaurs were likely as smart as reptiles but not as intelligent as ...
Apr. 26, 2024 — Are mice clever enough to be strategic? A neuroscientist who studies learning in humans and animals, and who has long worked with mice, wondered why rodents often performed poorly in tests when they ...
Apr. 26, 2024 — Using environmental DNA analysis, an international team of researchers identified a collection of plants used in ceremonial rituals in the ancient Maya city of Yaxnohcah in Mexico. The plants, known ...
Apr. 25, 2024 — Different types of barley recruit distinct communities of soil microbes to grow around their roots by releasing a custom mix of sugars and other compounds, according to a new ...
Apr. 25, 2024 — Mice lacking an olfactory system have had their sense of smell restored with neurons from rats, the first time scientists have successfully integrated the sensory apparatus of one species into ...
Apr. 25, 2024 — How do birds fly in a coordinated and seemingly effortless fashion? Part of the answer lies in precise, and previously unknown, aerodynamic interactions, reports a team of mathematicians. Its ...
Apr. 24, 2024 — Cells constantly navigate a dynamic environment, facing ever-changing conditions and challenges. But how do cells swiftly adapt to these environmental fluctuations? A new study is answering that ...
Apr. 24, 2024 — Oncorhynchus rastrosus, a giant species of salmon that lived in the North American Pacific Northwest a few million years ago, sported a pair of front teeth that projected out from the sides of its ...
Apr. 24, 2024 — Every cuckoo is an adopted child -- raised by foster parents, into whose nest the cuckoo mother smuggled her egg. The cuckoo mother is aided in this subterfuge by her resemblance to a bird of prey. ...
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Thursday, May 2, 2024
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
- Researchers Parse Oddity of Distantly Related Bats in Solomon Islands That Appear Identical
- Trotting Robots Reveal Emergence of Animal Gait Transitions
Monday, April 29, 2024
- The Double-Fanged Adolescence of Saber-Toothed Cats
- Fading Lights: Multiple Threats to North America's Firefly Populations
- Long Snouts Protect Foxes When Diving Headfirst in Snow
- One in Eight Grown-Ups Love Extreme Tartness
- Scientists Develop Strong Yet Reusable Adhesive from Smart Materials
- Fixin' To Be Flexitarian: Scrap Fish and Invasive Species Can Liven Up Vegetables
- T. Rex Not as Smart as Previously Claimed
Friday, April 26, 2024
Thursday, April 25, 2024
- Barley Plants Fine-Tune Their Root Microbial Communities Through Sugary Secretions
- With Hybrid Brains, These Mice Smell Like a Rat
- How Do Birds Flock? Researchers Do the Math to Reveal Previously Unknown Aerodynamic Phenomenon
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
- Cells May Possess Hidden Communication System
- These Giant, Prehistoric Salmon Had Tusk-Like Teeth
- Color Variants in Cuckoos: The Advantages of Rareness
- Zebra Finch Chicks Don't Babble for No Reason
- Scientists Unveil Genetics Behind Development of Gliding
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
- Bioluminescence First Evolved in Animals at Least 540 Million Years Ago
- Squids' Birthday Influences Mating
- Frog Species Evolved Rapidly in Response to Road Salts
- Fossil Frogs Share Their Skincare Secrets
Friday, April 19, 2024
- Lemur's Lament: When One Vulnerable Species Stalks Another
- New Research Shines a Light on How Expert Mapmakers See the World Differently
Thursday, April 18, 2024
- Octopus Inspires New Suction Mechanism for Robots
- Data-Driven Music: Converting Climate Measurements Into Music
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
- First Evidence of Human Occupation in Lava Tube Cave in Saudi Arabia
- Paleontologists Unearth What May Be the Largest Known Marine Reptile
- Study Finds Iron-Rich Enamel Protects, but Doesn't Color, Rodents' Orange-Brown Incisors
- Making Crops Colorful for Easier Weeding
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
- Older Males out-Compete Young Males Outside Breeding Pairs, Bird Study Shows
- A Single Atom Layer of Gold: Researchers Create Goldene
- Can Animals Count?
Monday, April 15, 2024
- Unlocking the 'chain of Worms'
- Evolution's Recipe Book: How 'copy Paste' Errors Cooked Up the Animal Kingdom
- Even the Simplest Marine Organisms Tend to Be Individualistic
- Leptanilla Voldemort, a Ghostly Slender New Ant Species from the Dark Depths of the Underground
Thursday, April 11, 2024
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
- 'Teacher Toads' Can Save Native Animals from Toxic Cane Toads
- Do Some Mysterious Bones Belong to Gigantic Ichthyosaurs?
Monday, April 8, 2024
- Toothed Whale Echolocation Organs Evolved from Jaw Muscles
- Mediterranean Marine Worm Has Developed Enormous Eyes
Thursday, April 4, 2024
- Finds at Schöningen Show Wood Was Crucial Raw Material 300,000 Years Ago
- Researchers Envision Sci-Fi Worlds Involving Changes to Atmospheric Water Cycle
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
- Giant Phage Holds Promise as Treatment for Lung Infections
- Plastic-Free Vegan Leather That Dyes Itself Grown from Bacteria
- We've Had Bird Evolution All Wrong
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
- Elastocaloric Cooling: Refrigerator Cools by Flexing Artificial Muscles
- Last Chance to Record Archaic Greek Language 'heading for Extinction'
- AI Writing, Illustration Emits Hundreds of Times Less Carbon Than Humans, Study Finds
Thursday, March 28, 2024
- Genomic Research May Help Explain Cancer Resistance in Tasmanian Devils
- Ancient DNA Reveals the Appearance of a 6th Century Chinese Emperor
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
- Rock-Wallaby Bite Size ‘packs a Punch’
- Scientists Extract Genetic Secrets from 4,000-Year-Old Teeth to Illuminate the Impact of Changing Human Diets Over the Centuries
- Secrets of the Naked Mole-Rat: New Study Reveals How Their Unique Metabolism Protects Them from Heart Attacks
- Milk on Ice: Antarctic Time Capsule of Whole Milk Powder Sheds Light on the Enduring Qualities--and Evolution--of Dairy Products Past and Present
- A Solar Cell You Can Bend and Soak in Water
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
- Researchers Show That Introduced Tardigrade Proteins Can Slow Metabolism in Human Cells
- Scientists on the Hunt for Evidence of Quantum Gravity's Existence at the South Pole
- Two Coral Snakes Recorded Battling for Prey in a Scientific First
Monday, March 25, 2024
- Uncovering the Mystery of Dorset's Cerne Giant
- Bees Use Antennae to Decode Hive Mates' Dances in the Dark
- A Self-Cleaning Wall Paint
- Wild Bird Gestures 'after You'
- New Archive of Ancient Human Brains Challenges Misconceptions of Soft Tissue Preservation
Friday, March 22, 2024
- Research Uncovers a Rare Resin Fossil Find: A Spider That Aspires to Be an Ant
- Signs of Life Would Be Detectable in Single Ice Grain Emitted from Extraterrestrial Moons
- Tudor Era Horse Cemetery in Westminster Revealed as Likely Resting Place for Elite Imported Animals
Thursday, March 21, 2024
- Researchers Name Prehistoric Amphibian Ancestor Discovered in Smithsonian Collection After Kermit the Frog
- Heat to Blame for Space Pebble Demise
- Decoding the Plant World's Complex Biochemical Communication Networks
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
- Deep Earth Electrical Grid Mystery Solved
- Across Oceans and Millennia: Decoding the Origin and History of the Bottle Gourd
- In Flies, a Single Brain Cell Can Drive Multiple Movements of the Body
- Eyes Open and Toes out of Water: How a Giant Water Bug Reached the Island of Cyprus
- Study Reveals 'cozy Domesticity' Of Prehistoric Stilt-House Dwellers in England's Ancient Marshland
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
- Fairy Circles: Plant Water Stress Causes Namibia's Gaps in Grass
- Why Do Tree Frogs Lay Their Eggs on the Ground?
Monday, March 18, 2024
- Tanks of the Triassic: New Crocodile Ancestor Identified
- Backyard Insect Inspires Invisibility Devices, Next Gen Tech
- Genetic Basis for the Evolution of Hair Discovered in the Clawed Frog
Friday, March 15, 2024
- DNA Origami-Based Vaccines Toward Safe and Highly-Effective Precision Cancer Immunotherapy
- Protein Fragments ID Two New 'extremophile' Microbes--and May Help Find Alien Life
Thursday, March 14, 2024
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
- What Kinds of Seismic Signals Did Swifties Send at LA Concert?
- Sonic Youth: Healthy Reef Sounds Increase Coral Settlement
- Milk to the Rescue for Diabetics? Cow Produces Human Insulin in Milk
- Who Knew That Coprophagy Was So Vital for Birds' Survival?
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
- Scientists Propose New Theory That Explains Sand Ripples on Mars and on Earth
- Cheetahs' Unrivalled Speed Explained by Their 'sweet Spot' Size, Finds Imperial Study