Nature

More than 40,000 years ago, the landscape of southwestern Australia was replete with giant kangaroos. One of these extinct kangaroos, known as a short-faced kangaroo, boasted a single-toed clawed foot (modern-day roos have three toes), weighed more than 260 pounds (118 kilograms), and munched on plants. According to a new study published in the journal

During the age of the dinosaurs, the skies of North America were home to some of the largest flying animals the world has ever seen. New research now suggests there were at least two types of giant winged reptile living on the continent at the same time. Re-analysing a jumble of pterosaur fossils found in Alberta,

Sixty-six million years ago, Earth had a very bad day indeed. A giant asteroid up to 81 kilometres (50 miles) across smashed into the coast of what is now Mexico near Chicxulub – an event thought to have triggered a wave of extinction that killed 75 percent of all life on Earth. Now, thanks to

When it comes to knowing what kinds of minerals we might find inside the Moon, we’ve literally just scraped the surface. For one small team of Earth scientists from the US and Canada, that’s enough to suggest there’s treasure hiding deep below.  Mining for riches is the last thing that’s on the researchers’ minds, though.

When they started to film, scientists on the exploration vessel Nautilus could barely contain themselves. Way out in the Pacific Ocean, over 750 metres deep (2,500 feet), their remotely operated vehicle had stumbled upon one of the spookiest creatures they’d ever seen. At first, as they watched the dancing ghost-like entity, there were only questions:

Scientists have discovered what could be some of the very earliest animal trails left on the surface of Earth. The finding dates back to around half a billion years or so, and it could finally reveal more about this distant part of history, and the very first moving organisms. What makes the finding particular special

One of the most famous and beloved cryptids in all the world is Scotland’s Loch Ness Monster. Reports describe a large, long-necked beast like a plesiosaur, yet Nessie has remained curiously elusive to scientific searches. Multiple sonar scans of the loch have come up blank. But there’s more than one way to skin a monster,

Scientists thought the Wilmington blind‐thrust fault that runs deep under the Los Angeles region had been dormant since the Late Pliocene era, millions of years ago. But a new study reveals that it’s very much alive, and capable of generating the kind of 6.4-magnitude earthquakes that could cause serious damage in such a populous area.

Despite its popular image of teeth and claws and thunder, Tyrannosaurus rex was no hot-head. New research indicates that the two mysterious holes in the top of the dinosaur’s skull likely helped regulate temperatures inside its head. Previously, these holes – called the dorsotemporal fenestra – were thought to be filled with muscles that helped

You’ve probably heard before that Earth has witnessed five mass extinctions. It’s a number plucked straight from the fossil record, but that’s not the whole picture, not even close. Evidence from ancient rocks reveals the oldest die-off in our planet’s history most likely occurred among single-celled organisms more than 2 billion years ago. A recent

Baby loggerhead turtles have a lot standing between them and adulthood. The rolling hills of sand outside the comfort of their nests, not to mention the birds, sharks and other animals looking for a meal. Two heads on one body only makes the journey that much harder. A sea turtle patrol on Hilton Island in

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are well above the path of Hurricane Dorian, but that isn’t stopping them from keeping a close eye on the storm – and sharing their unique vantage point with the rest of the world. On Monday, NASA astronaut Nick Hague tweeted a terrifying photo of the hurricane he’d

Hurricane Dorian has been unleashing an impressive lightning storm as it continues on its tragically destructive way. Looping together satellite images from the end of August, meteorologist Dakota Smith has put together a spectacular show of flashing lights within and around the storm’s swirling eye. “I created the loop mainly to visualise how incredible hurricanes

Dogs are a weird bunch. They range in size from bearish behemoths like Newfoundlands to pipsqueaks like Milly, a Chihuahua who measures less than four inches tall and holds the Guinness record for World’s Shortest Dog. Some breeds are fast runners. Others are jumpers, swimmers or diggers. Bloodhounds specialize in sniffing, while greyhounds hunt primarily

An eerily calm photo taken Sunday shows the eye of Hurricane Dorian, one of the most powerful storms ever seen in the Atlantic. US Air Force pilots known as hurricane hunters are flying regular reconnaissance missions into Dorian, which strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane early Sunday as it tore through the northern Bahamas. Garrett

For the first time in centuries, compasses in Greenwich are about to point directly at true north: an epic coincidence of time and magnetism that hasn’t taken place for some 360 years. This serendipitous occurrence – which is set to occur within the next fortnight – serves as a startling reminder of how Earth’s magnetic

Manta rays usually like to swim on their own, but that doesn’t mean these creatures are complete loners. Despite their reputation as solitary fish, a five-year-long study in Indonesia suggests manta rays are more social than we give them credit for. Reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi) are known to congregate at feeding and cleaning sites, but

It was supposed to be extinct by now. The invasive tumbleweed Salsola ryanii only popped up on scientists’ scopes in 2002, but early research concluded it was nothing to worry about. A 2008 study predicted S. ryanii wouldn’t easily adapt, nor be able to expand its range. Those predictions have not aged well. Since the

We’re sure you have your favourite animal. It may even be a really smart one. But corvids – such as crows, magpies and ravens – really are something special. In fact, they’re some of the most intelligent animals in the world. And here we’ve gathered some of the finest examples of just how clever these

Across the Caribbean this week, island residents docked boats, emptied grocery stores, and boarded up buildings in preparation for Hurricane Dorian, which became a Category 1 storm on Wednesday. Meanwhile, high up in Earth’s orbit, satellites belonging to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) watched the hurricane form and churn. The storm has passed

Amongst all of Earth’s abundant life, microorganisms have proven time and time again that they can live just about anywhere. Now, we have more evidence to add to the pile: living microbes have been found some 2.4 kilometres (1.5 miles) below the surface in a Canadian mine, a long way away from sunlight and clean air.

“Why don’t we nuke them?” President Donald Trump asked during a White House briefing about hurricanes, according to an Axios report. Trump was advocating for a nuclear solution to the tropical storms that hit the southeastern US, according to Axios [although Trump has since denied the comment]. Sources who heard the president’s private remarks told

An international team of scientists trying to save the northern white rhino from extinction has just announced another significant victory. Yesterday we reported that 10 eggs had been successfully harvested from the two surviving females Najin and Fatu. Now, scientists have revealed that of those eggs, seven were successfully matured and artificially inseminated using a technique

There are only two of them now: Najin, and her daughter, Fatu. This small family unit is all that remains of an entire subspecies – the last northern white rhinos on the planet. But even now, with just two females left, there is vibrant hope to keep this critically endangered animal alive, researchers say –

Echidna’s are one of Australia’s cutest and weirdest animals. The spiky creatures lay eggs even though they’re mammals, they eat termites but they’re not related to anteaters, and they evolved from an ancestor shared with the duck-billed platypus. And now we’ve learned they also have one of the most impressive bushfire strategies we’ve ever heard

Palm tree-like Cycads are flowering and could possibly reproduce in the UK for the first time in human history – and experts think that climate change could be the cause. While Cycads (or more specifically Cycas revoluta) flower in several parts of the world, they only bloom like this in very warm climates. Not, usually,

A mother panther walks into frame and pauses. She looks around, ears alert. One of her cubs appears and looks healthy and strong. Then her other cub stumbles into the frame and falls to the ground. The young cat doesn’t have full control of its hind legs – as if a neurological disease, or even

How do you study the evolution of brains, without any ancient brains to study? It’s not a simple proposition, so it’s no surprise that scientists are excited to have scanned the very well-preserved skull of a 20-million-year-old monkey species, Chilecebus carrascoensis. “Human beings have exceptionally enlarged brains, but we know very little about how far back

Scientists have discovered evidence of a massive distributed reservoir of methane formed by chemical reactions deep inside the ocean floor. Abiotic methane – created in reactions that don’t involve organic matter or living creatures – has long been known to exist buried in the seabed and released via deep-sea vents, but the origins of the

It’s one of the deepest unknowns in geophysics: the hidden movements of Earth’s innermost core. While we think of the ground beneath our feet as terra firma, that reassuring rigidity only extends so far. Deep below the planet’s surface, Earth’s super-hot inner core sits within a molten liquid outer core, detached from the overlying mantle

Early Earth grew up in a chaotic time. As our planet tried to find its place in a relatively young Solar System about 4.5 billion years ago, it was under constant attack from waves of comets, whizzing asteroids, and even some failed proto-planets. The Late Heavy Bombardment period was the absolute zenith of all this

When scientists ran DNA analysis on a sediment core taken from the floor of the Arctic ocean back in 2010, they found something surprising. A previously unknown organism belonging to the strange domain of microbes called Archaea appeared to have genomic characteristics associated with a totally different domain – Eukaryota. They named their discovery Lokiarchaeota,

A careful inspection of super-deep diamonds has revealed what geologists have long suspected: Hiding somewhere in our planet’s interior, there exists a vast reservoir of primordial magma, undisturbed for more than 4 billion years. The location, the size and the contents of this ancient reservoir are still up for debate, but thanks to these diamonds,

Around 54 million years ago, in the early Eocene, there lived a tiny crane fly. It may not have been a particularly remarkable crane fly while it was alive, but after it died, geological processes turned it into something magnificent: a fossil so brilliantly preserved, we can make out the individual cells of its compound

Ah, New Zealand. The ancient home of enormous parrots. And, apparently, penguins that would tower menacingly over them. Researchers have found the remains of a beast that would have stood nearly as tall as a human, one of the biggest penguins to ever waddle the Earth. Paleontologists have named the penguin Crossvallia waiparensis, and it

Some people don’t like sharing their food – we all have a friend who gets cranky when you steal a chip from their plate. For wild animals, this makes sense, because any food shared is energy lost that could otherwise have been used to pursue more food. So it was a big surprise to discover

Deep in the Gulf of Alaska, ocean explorers have filmed an unusual see-through squid with saucer-like eyes, iridescent organs and a bright orange crown. Looking at its face, the bizarre creature somehow looks more like a bird than a fish. “It’s a cockatoo #squid (Cranchiidae)!” NOAA recently tweeted along with the video. “Pretty, huh?” It’s a cockatoo

The aptly named goliath frog is the biggest species of frog in the world, and scientists now say it’s the first African amphibian we know of to engage in ‘nest-building’ activity – something that may actually be responsible for their gigantic size. The nests that these frogs build are small, protected ponds for their young

The human species has done some incredibly smart things. We’ve revealed gravitational waves. We’ve discovered and confirmed 118 chemical elements. We have a whole spacecraft taking beautiful photos of Jupiter. But humans can also be stupid. Especially when it comes to the way we treat living, breathing, animals. And so, as many news organisations have

Glowing catsharks that lurk the briny depths have a fluorescence mechanism never seen before in another organism. And that glow could be conferring some serious perks – such as the ability to pick out other sharks among the many fluorescent things on the seafloor. “Studying biofluorescence in the ocean is like a constantly evolving mystery

New research suggests Earth’s most recent magnetic field reversal took longer to complete than previously thought: around 22,000 years in total. Figuring out why this particular flip was so drawn out will let us better understand this mysterious process, and maybe even help us to prepare. It’s a fact geologists know about our planet: every

A collection of bird bones sat in lab storage for more than a decade, believed to be the remains of an ancient eagle. Little did scientists know what was hiding in the fossils: “Squawkzilla.” Heracles inexpectatus was discovered by scientists in New Zealand, according to a study published Wednesday. At about 3 feet (1 meter) tall,

Sometimes the discovery of a new dinosaur species doesn’t require an extensive archaeological dig – it just needs a closer analysis of the dino bones already sitting in the collection of a university. That’s turned out to be case with the newly described Ngwevu intloko. The new species, now named “grey skull” in the South African

If there’s one thing seagulls are famous for, it’s their pro-grade pilfering. They steal your snacks, nick your nosh, purloin your pudding, and liberate your lunch. No morsel is safe in the range of a seagull’s beady, greedy eye. But, as scientists in the UK have discovered, there’s a way you can hold them off:

When Grandma Fish was just a tiny fry, the Titanic was yet to set sail. Humans had yet to reach the South Pole. The First World War wasn’t even a rumble on the horizon, the first public radio broadcast yet to spill its arias into New York City. As new dating techniques have revealed, one

Baby jumping spiders have vision that’s almost as extraordinarily good as the grown-ups, scientists have discovered – despite the baby spiders being around a hundredth of the size. A new study reports on how this feat of biological engineering is achieved. The teeny tiny spiderlings pack the same number of light-capturing photoreceptors into their four pairs

There are some strange things down there, in the ocean depths, where crushing pressures and low light make for some bizarre adaptations. It’s not easy for humans to get down there, but remote-controlled submarines have, in recent years, been slowly revealing to us the strange wonders at the bottom of the sea. Like this: for

Bottlenose dolphins are attentive and flexible parents: The very survival of their calves depends on it. And in some rare cases, their adopted offspring, too. For the first time ever, scientists have witnessed a mother dolphin caring for the orphan of another species as though it were hers. For more than three years, researchers in French