Vampire bats live on a strictly blood-based diet. So strict, in fact, that they seem to process their food more like some blood-feeding flies than like other known mammals. Researchers…

Organoid (noun, “OR-guh-noid”) An organoid is a model of an organ made from living cells. Organoids are lab tools that mimic the functions of real organs. Organs carry out specific…

Trees are important for the health of our planet. For one, they pull carbon dioxide, a planet-warming gas, out of the air. But they also take up methane gas, scientists…

Brains are usually thought of as a bacteria-free zone. But that’s not the case for some fish. Wild and lab-grown members of the salmon family harbor active microbial communities in…

One of the biggest superstars in human history lies in the National Museum of Ethiopia. Here, in Addis Ababa, sit the fragile remains of the world’s most celebrated human ancestor:…

To Sally Warring, protists are an absolutely underrated type of wildlife.   “Protists are very charismatic and interesting,” says Warring, who studies these creatures at the Earlham Institute in Norwich, England.…

Mackensey Wilson, 14, never planned on doing a science fair project. But when one of her dogs kept getting rashes that seemed to be linked to what pet food she’d…

Nearly 1,000 years ago, astronomers in China and Japan saw something strange in the sky. It seemed to be a new star. Even stranger, for several weeks that star was…

Sundog (noun, Suhn Dahg) Sundogs are bright flares of light that can appear on either side of the sun in the sky. They form when incoming sunlight bends, or refracts…

Sonic isn’t your typical hedgehog. He boasts incredible superspeed that lets him launch off springs, sprint over water and even clear loop-de-loops. In the Sonic the Hedgehog games, our favorite…