Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, the nation’s largest protected area, stretches over half-a-million square miles of sea and land in Hawaii. It also includes wonderfully odd and stretchy critters, as a research team aboard the exploration vessel Nautilus observed Thursday. The Nautilus, operated by the nonprofit Ocean Exploration Trust, has been streaming excursions online since 2012. (The Nautilus team

The evidence is in. A mysterious creature that lived on Earth over half a billion years ago has now been proven an animal. A fossil from 558 million years ago was so well preserved, it still had fat molecules, conclusively laying to rest the debate about Dickinsonia‘s identity. Prior to the Cambrian explosion 541 million

Next time you bite into a slice of watermelon or a cob of corn, consider this: these familiar fruits and veggies didn’t always look and taste this way. Genetically modified foods, or GMOs, inspire strong reactions nowadays, but humans have been tweaking the genetics of our favourite produce for millennia. While GMOs may involve splicing

Ever wanted to see what happens when you give octopuses drugs? Scientists in the US have just lived that dream. They gave a solitary, asocial octopus species MDMA, aka ecstasy, and watched rapt as the cephalopods tried to hug all up on each other. The research, as weird as it may seem, actually yielded some

On Monday, a New Zealand family were just walking along a Northern Auckland beach when they stumbled across a bizarre, pink-colour blob that resembled a volcano shape. The creature, which turned out to be a species of huge jellyfish, has a white segmented outer body, with a colourful red inside, and looks just a bit

Hurricane Florence is causing a threat that many Carolinians may not be aware of – fire ants. Fire ants, which carry a dangerous sting, are an invasive species in the region and are especially adept at surviving massive flooding. The insects band together to create rafts that float upon the flood waters until they are

Early on the night of May 5, a team of scientists snuck out onto the white beaches of south Florida to attach a transmitter in the shell of a nesting leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). They nicknamed her Isla, and for months, members of the non-profit organisation Florida Leatherbacks, Inc. have been following this turtle as

In coming weeks, long after Hurricane Florence’s winds and rains have faded, its aftermath will still pose life-threatening hazards: snakes, submerged sharp objects, bacterial infections and disease-carrying mosquitoes. People are trapped by floodwaters and facing dwindling supplies of medicines, food and drinking water. Carbon monoxide poisoning is a danger as people crank up portable generators,

Before he heads to work, Jon Zawislak sometimes pops a ginger pill in his mouth to settle his stomach. He also prefers to stick to bland foods like pretzels and crackers before he gets to the office, because he wouldn’t want to hurl all over his desk. Zawislak is a Hurricane Hunter. He spends 8-hour

Hurricane Florence made landfall this morning near Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina, causing huge storm surges, heavy winds, strong winds, and intense flooding. According to The Washington Post, at least four deaths have already been linked to the storm, and an entire town was cut off by water. Just a few minutes before the now-Category

Hurricane Florence may affect the operations of several of the 16 nuclear reactors located in the Carolinas and Virginia, raising concerns about safety and power outages. Ted Kury, director of energy studies at the University of Florida’s Public Utility Research Center, explains why nuclear power stations must take precautions during big storms. 1. Keeping cores

Denver Zoo in the US has just welcomed a new resident: a teeny tiny member of one of the most elusive lemur families in the world, the aye-aye. The new arrival, born on 8 August to mum Bellatrix and dad Smeagol, has been named Tonks, a name just as adorable as she is. The birth

When plants are under attack – say, for instance, by an insect making a tasty leaf meal – their defence systems are raised in other parts. How do they know to do that? According to new research, plants use the same signalling molecules that animals use in their nervous system. Our green friends don’t have

As 1.7 million people on the US’s East Coast are being told to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Florence’s arrival, another strong storm is set to lash Southeast Asia. Super Typhoon Mangkhut, considered the strongest storm so far this season, is expected to make landfall in the Philippines on Saturday before advancing to southern China, Vietnam,

Hurricanes can cause immense damage due to the winds, waves and rain, not to mention the chaos as the general population prepares for severe weather. The latter is getting more relevant, as the monetary damage from disasters is trending up. The growing coastal population and infrastructure, as well as rising sea level, likely contribute to

Alexander Gerst, a German astronaut orbiting Earth from 250 miles (402 kilometres) up, has a warning for humans on the planet below him. “Watch out, America!” Gerst, who joined the crew of the International Space Station in June, said Wednesday in a tweet featuring pictures he took of Hurricane Florence. “This is a no-kidding nightmare coming

In their latest trip to the Atacama Trench, one of the deepest points in the Pacific Ocean, a team of scientists repeatedly lowered a device called a deep-sea lander overboard and watched as it sank into the cold, dark waters. The lander – essentially a high-tech trap outfitted with bait, monitors and underwater cameras –

In the freezing desolation of Antarctica, life is not easy for the Adélie penguin, threatened by the deluge of snow and beset by harsh winter winds. But a newly discovered graveyard of hundreds of ancient, mummified penguins in East Antarctica shows their hardship may be even more punishingly severe in the hotter world all species

Are oranges called oranges because they’re orange? Or is orange called orange because of oranges? Hmm. Either way, a bizarre phenomenon witnessed in Australia could mean we need to do a big rethink on oranges and associated vernacular, after a specimen of the fruit inexplicably turned purple last week. On Tuesday, Queensland resident Neti Moffitt

[embedded content] Dolphins have refined their precision killing over millions of years of evolution, roaming oceans in pods to funnel fish into their jaws. That daily ritual usually occurs far from land. But this week, something far more rare happened. Hundreds of common dolphins in a ‘superpod’ sliced through slate-gray waters off Monterey Bay, California while

For decades, scientists have estimated that the Siberian unicorn – a long-extinct species of mammal that looked more like a rhino than a horse – died out some 350,000 years ago. But a beautifully preserved skull found in Kazakhstan in 2016 has completely overturned that assumption. Turns out, these incredible creatures were still around as recently

When somebody mentions anaesthetics, we probably think straight away of pain relief, but there’s a lot more going on in these complex chemical compounds than the simple negation of discomfort. While there’s a range of chemicals that can induce anaesthesia in humans, just how these unrelated compounds trigger a lack of consciousness remains somewhat unclear.

One of the world’s deadliest spiders is among the thousands of bugs and reptiles that were recently stolen from the Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion, according to authorities. Security cameras caught several people leaving the museum on August 22 with 80 to 90 percent of the collection housed in plastic containers, from tarantulas to geckos.

A pair of new imaging techniques is set to make waves in the study of vertebrate biology. The first has solved an “impossible” problem. The second is the discovery of fluorescence in protein previously used for staining bones, allowing structures to be observed in finer detail than ever before. Combined, the two techniques have been

Leafy sea dragons, foot-long fish with flowy and fernlike fronds, typically lead what appears to be a very chill existence. In their native Australian waters, they float with the current, avoiding predators by looking more like stray seaweed than flesh. To fill their bellies, they suck tiny crustaceans off the ocean floor through a columnar

Sharks are some of the most notorious meat-eaters on the planet. And for a long time, scientists assumed that the vast majority of these marine creatures were solely carnivorous. The ocean, however, is full of surprises. Scientists have now discovered that one of the most common sharks in the world is actually an omnivore. A

Tropical Storm Gordon is centered 50 miles (80 kilometres) off the coast of Fort Myers, Florida on Monday evening, dumping rain on the peninsula and whipping its shores with maximum winds up to 50 miles per hour (80 km/h). Heading northwest at 17 miles per hour (27 km/h), the National Hurricane Center predicts Gordon could

If you happen to be visiting one of Utah’s many remote mountain lakes, don’t be alarmed if you suddenly see more fish in the sky than in the water. It’s not a trick of the eye. It’s the state’s latest attempt at trout restoration. The US state of Utah is well-known for excellent trout fishing in

The mystery behind how birds navigate might finally be solved: it’s not the iron in their beaks providing a magnetic compass, but a protein in their eyes that lets them “see” Earth’s magnetic fields. These findings come courtesy of two papers – one studying robins, the other zebra finches. The fancy eye protein is called

The Lizard King cometh. No, not Jim Morrison. The REAL Lizard King – an Asian water monitor named “Bamboo” that’s been chilling in a South Florida neighborhood and appears to be unstoppable, or at least untrappable. The 6-foot, 100-pound (1.8-metre 45-kilogram) monstrosity has been thwomping around in the Broward County town of Davie since Monday

The small, tropical fish known as a cleaner wrasse has just joined the ranks of various mammals and birds that have passed a classic test for determining self-awareness. An international team of researchers have found the finger-sized wrasse are capable of recognising their reflection, suggesting some part of their brain must be aware of its

Goats can tell the difference between our human facial expressions – and they would rather interact with happy, smiling people, a new study suggests. For people who own and love goats, this probably isn’t a huge surprise, but it’s the first scientific evidence of how goats read human emotional expressions, demonstrating that it’s not just

People eager to spend the waning days of summer frolicking in the waters near a coastal town in northwest France might want to rethink their plans. It isn’t safe, according to local officials, who recently banned swimming and diving in the area. But the danger threatening visitors to the beaches of Landevennec isn’t a vicious

We now have direct proof that ancient insects were also prey to horrifying parasitoids. Scientists painstakingly studyied 1,510 fossilised fly pupae from the Palaeogene, and discovered tiny fossilised wasp larvae inside 55 of them. Together, they include four new species that were previously unknown to science. Endoparasitoid wasps, conceptually, are some of the creatures that are

During the peak of the last glacial period, some 25,000 years ago, the population of prehistoric cave bears (Ursus spelaeus complex) dwindled to a trickle. And then, there were none. But while the once-flourishing species no longer roams the high alpines of Europe and Asia, a new study has found their DNA continues to live

Working as an au pair is often considered a great way to earn money and travel the world. The pay is crap, sure, but you can take comfort in the fact you’re not a naked mole rat. It turns out their queens literally feed their workers faeces dosed with hormones to encourage them to look

Most people with ovaries go through menopause. But most animals do not, and their reproductive organs last about as long as they do. We are an outlier. So are whales. Beluga whales and narwhals are the latest known addition to the ranks of menopausal mammals, a group of scientists reported Monday in the journal Scientific

Daniel, Jack and Matthew Aplin were driving along the south coast of Wellington, New Zealand, last weekend when they got a little bit distracted. The three brothers were supposed to be on the lookout for the perfect diving and spearfishing spot, with plenty of paua and butterfish to collect, when suddenly, their attention was caught

Around 252 million years ago, the Earth changed drastically and catastrophically. Massive, ongoing volcanic activity in Siberia wrapped the planet in a thick shroud of ash for almost a million years, killing off most of the life that was around at the time. This event, called the Great Dying, is the most severe extinction event

Most living things have to make babies to reproduce, and let’s face it, things can get messy. But this video of over 1,000 tarantula babies hatching out of an egg sac brings the process to a whole new level. The Deadly Tarantula Girl video, hosted by Marita Lorbiecke, shows the offspring of two Brazilian red and

Every morning, they rise to the surface of the water; every evening, they sink back down to the lakebed. Now scientists have finally figured out how these green spheres – called marimo algae – perform their dance every single day. You may have seen pictures of marimo. It’s bizarrely adorable – like little fuzzy balls

Insects like grasshoppers and crickets may play a role in pollination, new research finds. We tend to think of these critters, called orthopterans, as agricultural pests, but their tropical relatives provide a valuable service to plants by serving as pollinators, according to the study. “When people think of pollinators, bees and butterflies are usually the

If you live with a dog you just know when it’s happy or miserable, don’t you? Of course you do. Even the scientific community, now admits that dogs have emotions – even if scientists can’t directly measure what they are experiencing. People have had a close bond with domesticated dogs for centuries. In his 1764

Scientists in Siberia have made an extraordinary find: the fossilised remains of an extinct baby Palaeolithic horse, in almost perfect condition. Dug out from the permafrost in Siberia’s Batagaika crater – AKA the “Doorway to the Underworld” – the tiny colt is so beautifully preserved, it looks like it could be sleeping. But the equine

In 1815, a volcanic eruption in Indonesia sent shockwaves through history. It gave us science fiction. It gave us Dickensian Christmas (we’ll get to that in a bit). And now, it turns out it may also have played a role in the downfall of one of western history’s greatest generals, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon was

Parasitic gall wasps have some of the freshest cribs nature has to offer. Deposited among the trees as young larvae, these hungry parasites trick their plant host into covering them with a gall – a swelling that provides plenty of nutrients for a growing wasp. But in the game of life, there’s always a bigger

Pool noodles aren’t just an important swimming aid. Their buoyancy and bendiness make fun times in the water even more fun than usual. But don’t just take our word for it. This crocodile in Florida clearly thinks so too, having been spotted using a bright yellow pool noodle when crossing a canal in Key Largo

Hawaii may face a direct hit from a Category 5 hurricane later this week. The National Weather Service on Tuesday night said that Hurricane Lane had been upgraded to a Category 5 storm, meaning it has the potential to bring winds in excess of 157 miles per hour (253 km/h) and cause severe damage to