Science Update
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BIRDS & DINOSAURS - Scientists discover T. Rex's feathered cousin, did dino gas warm the ancient earth? And giant fleas that may have pestered the prehistoric giants. Also: why the amorous pursuits of an Australian bird has turned it into a horticulturalist, and how ravens keep track of friend and foe.
Dinosaurs may have contributed to ancient global warming.
Paleontologists discover a cousin of T. Rex in China – that had feathers.
EVOLUTION & EXTINCTION - What really happened to Australia's missing megafauna, how carnivores lost their sweet tooth, why lovelorn fruit flies resort to alcohol, strategic miscarriages in monkeys, and a new frog species is discovered in plain sight.
New uses for DNA fingerprinting include tracking deadly tse-tse flies and identifying species from ancient soil samples.
The giant beaver went extinct about 10,000 years ago, but it left behind clues to the sounds it may have used to communicate with.
Paleontologists have discovered a tiny mammal from the age of the dinosaurs that sported tusks.
EVOLUTION - Did a giant beaver that once roamed North America communicate by whistling? A newly discovered mammalian fossil that sported fangs. And, did the advent of cooking drive human evolution? Also: new research suggests that Neanderthals' shorter legs were actually an advantage for navigating mountainous terrain.
Could the swimming of sea creatures be influencing climate change?
Scientists have figured out how Neanderthals got by with short legs.
MARVELS OF EVOLUTION - A prehistoric pregnancy clears up a Mesozoic mystery. The economics of plant-fungi cooperation. How to get six butterflies in one. Counting up the species on earth. And how your stress could be bad news for your mate if you're a finch.
A pregnant reptilian fossil clears up a long-standing paleontology mystery.
Holes in fossil bones suggest that dinosaurs were warm-blooded.
REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS - Fossil anatomy sheds light on whether dinosaurs were warm-blooded, why some lizards are smarter than you think, opossums and snakes locked in a deadly arms race, and why frogs don't lose their grip.
We may owe our large brains in part to the earliest mammals’ sense of smell.
What reindeer can see that we can't. How some blind people are using echolocation to navigate the world. And, how the retinas of deaf people change their experience of the world. Also: better noses spelled bigger brains for ancient mammals, and: what the teeth of Neanderthals tell us about their hands.
A fossilized reptile jaw from 275 million years ago has the oldest known case of dental disease.
Cultural revolutions in humpback whale songs, a barcode scanner for zebra stripes, a prehistoric toothache, and changing skull sizes in the Iberian Peninsula.
The discovery of a female pterodactyl with an egg in China is making paleontologists take a second look at old fossil collections.
Deciphering orangutan gestures, ancient bite marks, our innate sense of direction, and why Archaeopteryx might not have been able to fly.
Paleontologists have found the oldest known mammalian tooth marks on dinosaur bones.
A venomous feathered dinosaur may have eaten its prey alive.
