Biological Science: Research Guide

A team of researchers recreated a life-size oviraptor nest to investigate how these bird-like dinosaurs incubated their eggs millions of years ago. By combining physical experiments with heat transfer simulations, they discovered that oviraptors likely relied on both their own body heat and warmth from the sun.

New research uncovers a lost world of strange crocodile relatives that once thrived across Australasia alongside early humans. The sight of a saltwater crocodile basking on a mudbank is one of the most iconic and intimidating images of northern Australia. Yet the crocodiles that inhabit the region today are just the survivors of a much [...]

Exceptionally preserved fossils from China reveal that bryozoans were already thriving during the Cambrian explosion. More than half a billion years ago, the Cambrian explosion reshaped life on Earth, giving rise to nearly every major animal lineage alive today. Yet despite more than a century of fossil discoveries, one group remained conspicuously absent. Bryozoans, tiny [...]

A wild mouse with an unusually long life may reveal clues to healthy aging. Aging is often treated as an unavoidable biological process, but evolution tells a more complicated story. Across the animal kingdom, species age at dramatically different rates, with some rapidly declining after reaching adulthood while others remain healthy and active for years [...]

Scientists have developed a blood test that estimates the biological age of individual organs, offering a new way to gauge future disease risk. Your body is not aging as a single unit. While your driver’s license may say you’re 50, your brain could resemble that of someone much older, while your heart or kidneys remain [...]

Researchers at UCLA found that creatine not only enhances cancer-fighting killer T cells but also strengthens dendritic cells, which activate and direct T cells to attack tumors. Creatine, a supplement widely used by athletes and bodybuilders, may also strengthen the immune system’s ability to fight cancer, according to new research from UCLA. Published in iScience, [...]

A Sahara desert lizard has inspired a new approach to Mars rover mobility. The research could lead to more capable explorers able to navigate sandy landscapes with greater ease. One of the biggest challenges for Mars rovers is simply staying mobile. Fine, loose sand can cause wheels to slip, sink, or become trapped—a problem that [...]

Researchers have designed a diamond-based quantum sensor that could help detect altermagnets, a newly discovered type of magnetic material with unusual properties. For almost 100 years, scientists recognized only two fundamental types of magnets. Now, a much newer class called altermagnets is emerging as one of the most exciting discoveries in physics, with the potential [...]

TU Wien has detected strong quantum entanglement for the first time in a centimeter-sized crystal of a strange metal. Many quantum effects are easiest to detect in very small systems, such as individual atoms, molecules or photons, that are carefully isolated from their surroundings. But physicists have long wondered whether much larger objects, made of [...]

Engineered tissue grafts could help perform key liver functions and benefit thousands of people living with liver failure. The liver is one of the body’s hardest-working organs, carrying out hundreds of vital jobs, from filtering toxins and metabolizing medications to producing proteins essential for blood clotting. Yet when it fails, the only definitive treatment is [...]

Researchers have uncovered an unexpected antiviral defense system in sea anemones that works very differently from the one humans use. The discovery suggests evolution developed multiple ways to combat viruses, challenging long-held ideas about how animal immune systems evolved.

Tiny, tooth-sized fossils have just reshaped the story of our deepest ancestry. Paleontologists have discovered the southernmost remains ever found of Purgatorius—the earliest-known relative of all primates, including humans—in Colorado’s Denver Basin. Previously thought to be confined to Montana and parts of Canada, this shrew-sized, tree-dwelling mammal now appears to have spread southward soon after the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs.

A new study reveals that dual-atom catalysts behave in a fundamentally different way than scientists previously thought, challenging a long-standing model used to predict catalytic performance. For decades, scientists have relied on a simple rule of thumb to design better catalysts: there is one “sweet spot” where performance peaks. But new research suggests that assumption [...]

Engineers have created innovative materials that pull drinking water from the air, including a water-harvesting jacket and a record-setting collection system. Engineers at the University of Texas at Austin have created a jacket that can generate drinking water from moisture in the air. The innovation could help people who spend long periods in places where [...]

Gold may stay shiny because some of its surface atoms reorganize into structures that block oxygen reactions. Gold has been valued for millennia because it keeps its shine, but new research from Tulane University suggests that this durability is not explained by chemistry alone. In a study published in Physical Review Letters, Tulane researchers found [...]

The discovery of a new branch on the marsupial family tree suggests that the history of Australia’s unique mammals is more complex and less understood than previously thought. Since marsupials reached Australia more than 55 million years ago, they have diversified into almost every kind of habitat and ecological role imaginable. Today, they range from [...]

A rare roloway monkey has welcomed a new baby after surgery saved her foot and protected her ability to care for offspring. For one of the world’s rarest monkeys, the birth of every infant matters. That’s why conservationists at Chester Zoo are celebrating the arrival of a baby roloway monkey just months after her mother [...]

Researchers have identified a previously unknown fossil ape from Egypt that could alter long-held ideas about the origins of modern apes. The evolutionary story of apes has long contained a major geographic gap. While fossil discoveries from East Africa, Europe, and Asia have helped trace the rise of modern apes, North Africa has remained conspicuously [...]

A minimally invasive procedure that blocks abnormal blood vessels around the knee may offer lasting relief for people with osteoarthritis who have exhausted standard treatments. For millions of people with knee osteoarthritis, treatment options often fall into an uncomfortable middle ground: medications and injections may no longer provide enough relief, while joint replacement surgery can [...]

Adverse neighborhood conditions in early adulthood may raise the risk of early cardiovascular disease decades later. Your ZIP code may reveal more about your future heart health than previously understood. In a new study published in Nature Communications, researchers found that people exposed to more adverse neighborhood conditions in early adulthood faced a greater risk [...]