Biology

Dinosaurs may be long extinct, but 2025 made it clear that they’re anything but settled science. New fossils, reanalyses of famous specimens and increasingly sophisticated tools have helped us learn more about how they lived, moved, fed and evolved.

Deep underground in a dark, sulfuric cave, scientists have made an incredible discovery – a giant communal spider web spanning more than 1,000 square feet, home to an estimated 110,000 spiders that defy nature to coexist in harmony.

In a breakthrough, scientists have transferred a courtship behavior from one species to another, triggering the recipient to perform this completely foreign act as if it was natural. It's a feat that has never been genetically engineered before.

A new study has found that the stride length of a dog’s front legs can be used to accurately diagnose their cognitive decline. Because a person’s change in gait can play a significant role in spotting early signs of Alzheimer's disease or dementia.

New research on a pterosaur fossil reveals secrets of the creature’s life, including microscopic inner structures of its bones and traces of its biology and diet. The findings show that molecular evidence can survive for more than 100 million years.

An experiment conducted by a team of researchers from Texas A&M University has revealed a healing sequence in mammalian physiology that rebuilds lost skeletal structure, albeit with less than perfect results.

The Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex) is known for its bone-crushing bite, gigantic size, and famously small forelimbs. But why these large, carnivorous theropod dinosaurs evolved tiny arms has long been debated.

In what must have been some of the most enjoyable experiments ever, scientists have studied nearly 50 dogs of all shapes and sizes to find a better way of assessing paw dominance – something we believe to be a predictor of behavioral issues.

What if the best-tasting morsel isn’t on your plate, but the one you steal? New research suggests “forbidden food” really may taste better.

One of the world's oldest turds has been given the royal science treatment, with ancient Arctic ground squirrel droppings offering a smorgasbord of DNA from other animals and plants dating back up to 700,000 years.

Bumblebees may be smarter than we give them credit for, with a new study showing the fuzzy insects demonstrate the cognitive plasticity required to solve problems they've never encountered before to reach a goal.

For captive animals, engaging in natural behavior is a pillar of the animal welfare framework. But when it comes to sex, one important behavior has been largely ignored, and sometimes even punished: masturbation.

For nearly 200 years, biologists felt they had seen it all when it came to nudibranch species, with only six types identified around the world. Then, scientists in Taiwan chanced upon another, the size of a grain of rice, that no one knew existed.

A deep-sea mystery that has stumped researchers for the past two-and-a-half years has a solution, with marine scientists finally determining the identity of a bizarre “golden orb” recovered from the Pacific in 2023.

Bus-sized cephalopods reminiscent of the legendary kraken may have sat at the top of the food chain, using their smarts to hunt down prey in the oceans of the Late Cretaceous.

The rules of biology have been torn up by a small fish in the Pacific that steals light-producing molecules it from its food to make it bioluminescent, providing an "invisibility cloak" it needs for protection. It's the only example of kleptoproteinism we know of.

Exactly how birds follow invisible maps around the globe has long eluded scientists – but in a first, scientists have discovered some surprising biological processes taking place inside pigeons that could change how we look at animal navigation.

It came from the depths. A severed foot that refused to die, regenerating in an act of survival unlike anything we’ve ever seen. It could be a great opening to a horror novel, but this discovery of a “real-life zombie” is no work of fiction.