Sea turtles contend with a contagious disease that causes debilitating tumors. Genetic analysis is helping researchers figure out precision medicine-based treatments for the turtles.
For roboticists looking to nature for inspiration on how animals see the world, there’s a tension between mimicking biology and capitalising on the advances in camera technology.
Everybody does it, but why? Scientists aren’t really sure if exhaustion, stress or some other social factor is at the root of yawning – and how it can be so contagious.
It’s becoming harder and harder for animals to find human-free spaces on the planet. New research suggests that to try to avoid people, mammals are shifting activity from the day to the nighttime.
In Asia, human hair is sold and recycled into products, but in the West it is treated with either disgust or veneration. A new exhibition explores our bizarre attitudes to hair.
Dehumanizing insults have become more common in political discourse. Psychology research has shown that they can prime us for violence – and even change our brains.
In choosing not to ban the live export trade even in the hottest northern months, the federal government is allowing animals to be put in conditions where they cannot possibly escape suffering.
Here’s some advice on taking selfies with wild animals: don’t. It’s not fun for the animal, and can have serious knock-on effects for their health. And you could be injured (or worse).
Ecology is in the midst of a technological revolution. From tiny sensors that can be fitted to animals, to swarms of remotely-piloted drones, researchers have a host of new ways to study the natural world.
Biologists are finding new evidence that these ocean invertebrate grazers don’t just ingest whatever they catch. They can actually be picky eaters – and their choices might influence ocean food webs.