Tiny tardigrades can survive conditions that would kill most other forms of life. By expelling their body’s water and transforming into a seemingly lifeless ball called a tun, they enter a state of dried-up suspended animation in which they can survive for decades without food and water and withstand extreme temperatures, pressures and even the … Read more
How far would you go to increase your life span by 500%? One ant species engages in brutal colony-wide brawls to replace recently deceased queens — and the victor not only gains the throne, but also gets a dramatic boost to their longevity. Upon the death of a queen, Indian jumping ants (Harpegnathos saltator) battle … Read more
Imagine a spider hanging from a silky thread, as still as a corpse, until its eight legs unexpectedly tremble. While this might sound like a horror movie, it’s actually a nightly experience for jumping spiders (Evarcha arcuate) who can reach rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the stage in which most dreaming occurs, a new study … Read more
For the first time, scientists have created mouse embryos in the lab without using any eggs or sperm and watched them grow outside the womb. To achieve this feat, the researchers used only stem cells and a spinning device filled with shiny glass vials. The experiment is a “game changer,” Alfonso Martinez Arias, a developmental … Read more
Could a brain ever exist on its own, divorced from or independent of a body? For a long time, philosophers have pondered such “brain-in-a-vat” scenarios, asking whether isolated brains could maintain consciousness when separated from their bodies and senses. Typically, a person’s experiences are characterized by a web of interactions between the human brain, body … Read more
If you look at an evolutionary diagram, you can see where Homo sapiens branched off from other primates. You can see where apples branched off from the rest of the rose family. But you won’t see where trees branched off from other plants. That’s because they never did. Trees are not a species, or even … Read more
Thousands of mysterious viruses that were recently discovered lurking in the world’s oceans may exert huge influence over the ecosystems, in part by “reprogramming” the hosts they infect, scientists reported. The new research, published Thursday (June 9) in the journal Science (opens in new tab), focuses on viruses that contain RNA, a molecular cousin of … Read more
Scientists have finally cracked a 41-year-old mystery about an ancient eggshell from a large, extinct terrestrial bird with a demonic nickname. In 1981, researchers in Australia discovered the charred remnants of numerous eggs from several cooking fires used by prehistoric humans, dating to about 50,000 years ago. Some of the eggs were identified as those … Read more
The “secret code” the brain uses to create a key type of memory has finally been cracked. This type of memory, called working memory, is what allows people to temporarily hold on to and manipulate information for short periods of time. You use working memory, for example, when you look up a phone number and … Read more
Salt crystals from Central Australia hold ancient microorganisms that became trapped 830 million years ago, new research finds. And there’s a chance that some of the microorganisms might still be alive. The single-celled organisms are locked in tiny fluid pockets — smaller than the width of a human hair — in halite, or salt, from … Read more
