Widespread volcanic eruptions around 202 million years ago had a profound effect on Earth’s climate, triggering a mass extinction event that killed off three-fourths of the planet’s species, including many…
Category: Life
Megatooth sharks may have been higher on the food chain than any ocean animal ever
Whenever paleontologist Dana Ehret gives talks about the 15-meter-long prehistoric sharks known as megalodons, he likes to make a joke: “What did megalodon eat?” asks Ehret, Assistant Curator of Natural…
Megatooth sharks may have been higher on the food chain than any ocean animal ever
Whenever paleontologist Dana Ehret gives talks about the 15-meter-long prehistoric sharks known as megalodons, he likes to make a joke: “What did megalodon eat?” asks Ehret, Assistant Curator of Natural…
50 years ago, eels’ navigation skills electrified scientists
Does the eel use electric fields to navigate? — Science News, June 24, 1972 Many species of ocean fish [such as American eels] migrate over large distances. Some of them…
Earth’s oldest known wildfires raged 430 million years ago
Bits of charcoal entombed in ancient rocks unearthed in Wales and Poland push back the earliest evidence for wildfires to around 430 million years ago. Besides breaking the previous record…
This giant bacterium is the largest one found yet
There’s a new record holder for biggest bacterium — and you don’t need a microscope to see it. The newfound species, Thiomargarita magnifica, is roughly a centimeter long, and its…
Vampire squid are gentle blobs. But this ancestor was a fierce hunter
Despite the scary name, modern vampire squid are docile denizens of the deep sea — but their Jurassic ancestors may have been a lot fiercer. Analyses of fossilized soft tissue…
Cats chewing on catnip boosts the plant’s insect-repelling powers
For many cats, a mere whiff of catnip can send them into a licking, rolling, plant-shredding frenzy. That destruction amplifies catnip’s natural defenses against insects and its appeal to cats,…
These tiny marsupials survived wildfires only to face extinction from feral cats
Few marsupials have gone from miraculous survival to the brink of extinction as quickly as the Kangaroo Island dunnart. In 2019 and 2020, devastating fires burned nearly 10 million hectares…
These tiny marsupials survived wildfires only to face extinction from feral cats
Few marsupials have gone from miraculous survival to the brink of extinction as quickly as the Kangaroo Island dunnart. In 2019 and 2020, devastating fires burned nearly 10 million hectares…
