5+ hour, 56+ min ago   (311+ words) Coastal communities are facing a hidden threat that is making rising seas far more dangerous: the land beneath them is sinking. New research shows that people in densely populated coastal regions experience an average relative sea-level rise of about 6 millimeters…...

4+ day, 6+ hour ago   (404+ words) Songbirds appear to have evolved through rare explosions of change separated by long periods of slower development. Many of those bursts lined up with major climate shifts, suggesting that environmental upheaval can reshape life in powerful ways....

1+ week, 3+ day ago   (246+ words) Fossils discovered in Japan more than two decades ago have finally been identified as a new genus and species of giant salamander. Limnospondylus ajimuensis lived around 3.5 million years ago in a warmer, wetter Kyushu and may have reached 1.1 meters in…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago   (280+ words) Researchers in the Gulf of California have documented a dramatic orca behavior never described before. In two separate encounters, one orca gripped a dead sunfish by the fin while another charged into it at high speed, blasting the carcass into…...

2+ week, 1+ day ago   (1082+ words) A newly identified branch of the marsupial family tree is adding a surprising twist to the history of Australia's most distinctive mammals. The finding suggests that their evolution was more complicated, and more mysterious, than scientists previously understood. Marsupials first…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago   (1023+ words) A major genomic analysis is changing scientists' understanding of koala evolution. The research indicates that koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) underwent a severe population decline about 100,000 years ago, well before humans reached Australia. Every koala alive today appears to descend from a…...

2+ week, 4+ day ago   (603+ words) Humans have earned a reputation as "super-predators" because they hunt, trap, and fish on a scale unmatched by other predators. These activities can reshape animal behavior across entire landscapes. However, new research led by the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago   (96+ words) The world's longest-running soil warming experiment has revealed an unexpected climate concern. After nearly four decades, researchers found that warming can cause microbes to break down stable soil carbon that scientists once believed was largely protected. That releases…...

3+ week, 2+ day ago   (312+ words) Scientists have discovered a previously unknown fossil goose that challenges a decades-old theory about the evolution of New Zealand's birds. The find suggests the country's giant flightless geese evolved from much more recent arrivals, revealing a…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago   (151+ words) A new study debunks the long-standing claim that baby rattlesnakes are more dangerous than adults. Researchers found that young rattlesnakes can control their venom just like adults, while adult snakes usually inject much more venom and cause more serious bites....