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Crocodiles can reproduce without males – and maybe dinosaurs could too

6 June 2023

An egg laid by a female American crocodile with no access to males developed into a fully formed fetus in the first known case of "virgin birth" in a crocodilian


Our attempts to kill cockroaches forced them to evolve new sex moves

28 March 2023

Some male cockroaches have adapted their mating strategy to succeed with females that have developed a distaste for the sugar used in both poisonous baits and gifts from males


Two orcas

Orca mothers forgo future offspring to care for their full-grown sons

8 February 2023

Female orcas in the north Pacific hunt and share food with their adult male offspring, and this seems to limit their chances of having more calves


Great bustards

Bustards may use plants to treat STIs during the breeding season

23 November 2022

Male great bustards seek out two toxic plants during the birds' breeding season, and extracts from these plants have been found to kill common pathogens in the lab


Archaeological sediment from Abu Hureyra in Syria being

Hunter-gatherers kept animals for food before they farmed crops

14 September 2022

Ancient dung hints that 12,000 years ago, a population of hunter-gatherers in what is now Syria kept animals like sheep or gazelles around – probably for food


Indo-Pacific sponge Chelonaplysilla sp.

Sponges can ‘sneeze’ and other sea creatures eat their mucus

10 August 2022

Despite having no nerves or muscles, sea sponges slowly contract to squeeze sand and debris out of the openings they feed through


Illustration of Qikiqtania wakei in the water

A fish that evolved to stand up on land went back to living in water

20 July 2022

A fossil from 385 million years ago named Qikiqtania wakei shows that a descendant of early land animals lost its adaptations for land and became a more efficient swimmer


A snapping shrimp (Alpheus heterochaelis) at night

Snapping shrimps have helmets to ward off shock waves from their claws

5 July 2022

Snapping shrimps seem immune to the shock waves their claws produce to kill or stun other animals – and it is all thanks to their head gear


Circulating breast cancer cells. Fluorescence light micrograph of a cluster of circulating tumour cells (CTCs, red) and white blood cells (green) from the blood of a patient with breast cancer. CTCs are an important focus of cancer research because they provide a key target for new treatments. By identifying the molecular adaptations and genetic mutations that allow CTCs to spread (metastasize), it may be possible to develop strategies to block metastatic cancer on a patient-by-patient basis.

Breast cancer is more likely to spread during sleep

22 June 2022

Tumour cells appear to circulate in the blood more during the night, hinting that therapies should be targeted to maximise their impact at night


A spotted snow skink

Lizard can switch from female to male before birth, but not vice versa

31 May 2022

Some offspring of the spotted snow skink, a lizard found in Tasmania, are born anatomically male but are genetically female


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