47 million years ago, nine pairs of turtles of the extinct species 'Allaeochelys crassesculpta' were fossilized while copulating. German paleontologists have found his remains in the Messel sites, a disused quarry near Frankfurt (Germany) where there used to be a lake and which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO more than 30 years ago.
Natural selection is not only useful to understand species evolve and adapt. Biologists from Imperial College London have used Darwin's principles to create a computer program that creates the perfect pop melody, according to PNAS magazine in its latest issue.
Researchers at St Andrews University (UK) have shown that non-sexual social interactions between men and women cause women's face temperatures to rise significantly. To reach this conclusion, the scientists used thermal imaging to record the temperature of the skin on the arms, palms, face, and chest.
We have all seen that when we place a pot far from the window, the plants tend to grow inclined towards the light, since they need it to photosynthesize and survive. Scientists have been researching this phenomenon for years and now a team from the Flanders Institute of Biotechnology and the University of Ghent (Belgium) has found that auxin, a plant hormone, has a lot to do with regulating the process.
Animal infanticide may seem cruel to us, but it is a strategy to maintain the survival of the species, according to a study published in the latest issue of the Journal of Theoretical Biology. Among the lions, when the males are stripped of their leadership, the young they had with the lionesses of the group are fiercely eliminated.
A team of researchers has managed for the first time to monitor the brain of a chicken embryo and has shown that higher brain activity, which allows the execution of complex tasks, begins long before the egg hatches. The study, which is published in the journal Current Biology, involves researchers from the Carlos III University of Madrid.
Letting Cristián Samper walk through the corridors of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC is like releasing a child in a candy store. A child who also has the access key to each of the cabinets. For almost a decade, this 46-year-old biologist and conservationist born in Costa Rica and raised in Colombia has been at the helm of the world's largest natural history museum.
How do domestic pigeons know to return home even if they are transported in a closed box thousands of miles away? It is not because they have iron-rich neurons in their beaks. As a new European study published in the journal Nature has shown, these metal-filled cells are not really neurons but white blood cells, more specifically macrophages.
Danni Büchner is invited to Sam Dylan's Halloween party. But the "Goodbye Germany" emigrant has no desire for many other party guests. And find clear words.
