Tyrannoroter heberti is a recently discovered football-sized microsaur from the Late Carboniferous period (~307 million years ago) whose specialized teeth suggest that plant-eating evolved far earlier on land than previously thought! 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

NASA's Juno mission reports that Jupiter is slightly smaller and flatter than previously thought! 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ferreiraella populi is a newly described deep-sea chiton found 3 miles below the surface of the ocean. This mollusk's name was chosen from over 8,000 suggestions that were gathered online and literally means "of the people"! 🧪 bdj.pensoft.net/article/1804...

Rove beetles have evolved a biological stealth mechanism to blend in with ant colonies , however, silencing their own chemical signals comes with a cost: an irreversible dependence on these ants for survival! 🧪 www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

The Holzman archaeological site in central Alaska reveals ivory and stone tools dating back to the late Pleistocene (14,000 years ago) which challenges the Clovis-first theory and further enriches the tapestry of early human life in the Americas! 🧪 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Halftone‑encoded 4D printing leverages programmable cross‑link patterns in a newly engineered, cephalopod‑inspired hydrogel skin that can dynamically alter its color, texture, and shape! 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Kanzi, a language-trained bonobo (Pan paniscus), demonstrates the ability to engage in pretend play by consistently choosing a cup containing imaginary food or drink over one containing neither! 🧪 www.science.org/doi/full/10....

A patient's severely infected lungs were temporarily replaced with an external artificial lung which kept them alive for 48 hours - eliminating the infection while ensuring proper oxygenation until they could receive a transplant! 🧪 www.cell.com/med/fulltext...

Foskeia pelendonum is a newly discovered dinosaur species from the Early Cretaceous (120 million years ago). This chicken-sized herbivore has unique cranial and dental morphology that changes the current understanding of ornithischian phylogeny! 🧪 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Descriptions of plants in traditional Indian myths, poems, and folk songs provide greater context to the ecological history of western Maharashtra and suggest that local tropical savannas are not the result of deforestation! 🧪 besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Recent excavations at Xigou in central China have uncovered evidence of East Asia's earliest known composite tools which were made by ancient hominins between 160 and 72 thousand years ago! 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@urochester.bsky.social engineers have developed superhydrophobic tubes that can stay afloat even when damaged or submerged! 🧪 advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

This detachable robotic hand design, reminiscent of "Thing" from The Addams Family, enhances both manipulation and locomotion - overcoming some limitations of traditional human-like hands! 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The Perseverance rover found white rocks containing aluminum-rich clay minerals, likely kaolinite, which suggest wet conditions once existed on Mars! 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s43...

@annemiekemilks.bsky.social and colleagues have uncovered the earliest known handheld wooden tools (~430kya) at the Marathousa 1 site in Greece. Notably, they describe a small alder trunk used for digging and a tiny willow tool likely used for lithic manufacturing! 🧪 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

European blister beetle (Meloe proscarabaeus) larvae emit a floral scent to lure bees before hitching a ride back with them to their hive where they then devour the colony's eggs. 🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Over 10,000 years ago, indigenous communities spread the Four Corners potato (Solanum jamesii) across the American Southwest - greatly expanding its geographic distribution. To this day, these tiny tubers are still used for food and ceremonial practices! 🧪 journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

@biotay.bsky.social and @auersperga.bsky.social report that Veronika, a companion cow, uses a broom to alleviate itching. This clever cow demonstrates flexible tool use by adjusting her scratching technique in a targeted manner! 🧪 www.cell.com/current-biol...

While it was previously believed that giant Pleistocene kangaroos could only walk, recent analysis of fossilized heel bones suggest that they may have been capable of hopping in short bursts to escape predators! 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Prototaxites was a colossal organism from the Early Devonian (~400 million years ago) that stood up to 8 meters tall. A recent study challenges its long-held fungal classification and instead suggests that it may belong to a previously unknown and extinct lineage! 🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Bird retinas operate without oxygen and are fueled by glucose from the pecten oculi. This challenges long-held beliefs about how highly metabolic tissues function and offers insight into evolutionary adaptations! 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@griffith.edu.au scientists dated an Indonesian cave painting to at least 67,800 years ago which makes it the oldest known artwork! 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@alec-wilken.bsky.social and colleagues analyzed the harmonic response of fossilized ear bones to discover that the 250 million year old mammal precursor Thrinaxodon was capable of tympanic hearing just like modern mammals! 🧪 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Red flowers pollinated by hummingbirds have 5x more UV-absorbing pigments than those visited by bees, aligning with the visual systems of each species. This adaptation makes the flowers more appealing to hummingbirds while deterring bees! 🧪 www.cell.com/current-biol...

After nearly 100 million years, the supermassive black hole in galaxy J1007+3540 is back in action - erupting like a cosmic volcano by spewing magnetized/radio-emitting plasma across interstellar space! 🧪 academic.oup.com/mnras/articl...

@columbiaseas.bsky.social engineers built a robot that adaptively moves its lips to look more natural when talking. By watching its own reflection and learning from human speech, it can synchronize lip motion and audio without predefined movements! 🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

@jodrellbank.bsky.social scientists identified the strange "little red dots" captured by the James Webb Space Telescope as young black holes enshrouded by gas cocoons! This discovery offers insight into rapid black hole formation - a hallmark of the early universe! 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@dartmouthears.bsky.social scientists mapped the landscape beneath the Antarctic ice sheet by correcting satellite data based on the physics of glacial flow. They revealed high-relief alpine valleys, scoured lowlands, and deeply eroded ice stream troughs! 🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Asgard archaea may have facilitated the evolutionary development of the mitochondria via endosymbiosis of α-proteobacteria at some point between the first eukaryotic common ancestor (FECA) and the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA)! 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@yunxiao-dr.bsky.social and colleagues discovered that mechanosensitive ion channels, PIEZO1 & PIEZO2 (highlighted in video), drive the uterus to properly contract during childbirth. If these pressure/stretch sensors aren't working correctly, then labor can stall! 🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Bio-hybrid robots can be built using discarded crustacean exoskeletons enabling better sustainability for high-performance applications from manipulators to swimming! 🧪 advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

@berlinbatlab.bsky.social and colleagues are the first to observe brown rats systematically preying on bats at urban hibernacula! These agile rodents are able to catch their prey in mid-flight which introduces a new and serious conservation challenge! 🧪 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Astronomers have identified Cloud-9, a gas-rich dark matter cloud containing no stars. This failed galaxy is a remnant from the universe's early days: too small to collapse into stars but too massive to disperse! 🧪 iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...

@stockholm-uni.bsky.social archaeologists discovered that South African hunter-gatherers were using poison arrows coated with plant toxins (Boophone disticha) to hunt prey as far back as the Pleistocene! 🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Spruce bark beetles convert tree-produced antimicrobial compounds into stronger defenses against disease, however, the parasitic fungus Beauveria bassiana makes use of a detox pathway to thrive on them anyway!🧪 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

@leakey77.bsky.social and colleagues combined laser confocal microscopy with gas exchange measurements to enable the real-time observation of living plant stomata! 🧪 academic.oup.com/plphys/artic...

@pennengineering.bsky.social engineers created the first microrobots! Comparable in size to a single-celled organism and powered by light, they are capable of sensing, decision-making, and swimming through liquids for less than the cost of a penny! 🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

New research suggests "Little Foot", one of the most complete human ancestor fossils, may belong to a new species! This analysis challenges the previous classification as Australopithecus prometheus. 🧪 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Sahelanthropus tchadensis, our ancient cousin from 7 million years ago, might have walked like us! Recently discovered limb bones suggest hominin bipedalism may have evolved earlier than previously thought. 🧪 www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Sun‑dried “dinosaur mummy” (Edmontosaurus) fossils have been discovered in Wyoming with crest details, spikes, and hoof‑like toes - preserved by a series of drought, sudden burial, and the deposition of a clay “mask” which froze soft anatomical details in place! 🧪 www.science.org/doi/full/10....

@txgeosciences.bsky.social scientists mapped 16 drainage basins on Mars, suggesting conditions that could have resulted in rivers comparable to those on Earth! Although such fluvial systems are thought to be rare, perhaps they could have supported life? 🧪 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Fragments of non-local iron pyrite and heat-fractured stone tools were recently discovered at a 400,000 year old site in England suggesting that Neanderthals were making fire much earlier than previously thought! 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New photos from the Hubble Space Telescope explain the fate of missing exoplanet Fomalhaut b (cs1). It was destroyed after colliding with an asteroid and is now a dissipating dust cloud (cs2) orbiting its star! 🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

@benjaminkay.bsky.social and colleagues report that ADHD stimulants, like Ritalin, boost brain connectivity related to motivation and performance without directly impacting attention networks. This increases alertness and motivation, much like a good sleep! 🧪 www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

@whoi.edu researchers tracked big-scale pomfret (Taractichthys longipinnis) using satellite telemetry and found they migrate from the deep during daytime to feed at night - bridging deep/shallow foodwebs and explaining why sharks frequent the ocean's twilight zone! 🧪 www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...

Scientists from @griffith.edu.au analyzed 199 unrelated interactions involving 19 species to reveal that bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and baleen whales engage in playful behavior with each other! 🧪 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

@stephanspiekman.bsky.social and colleagues recently described Mirasaura grauvogeli, a newly discovered Triassic reptile, which has a complex feathered skin crest that evolved independently of feathers or hair! 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Dissacus praenuntius fossils reveal how ancient predators adapted to global warming. During the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum, this jackal-sized omnivore shifted its diet to include more bones, mirroring today's wildlife responses to climate change! 🧪 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The James Webb Space Telescope may have just captured an image of a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A! This presumed planet is a cool, Saturn-sized world with an elongated orbit, possibly accompanied by moons! 🧪 arxiv.org/abs/2508.03814 arxiv.org/abs/2508.03812

"Scrumping" describes the behavior of primates consuming overripe, fermented fruit. Studying this behavior may help us better understand the evolution of human alcohol tolerance! 🧪 academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...