Science

Highlights

  1. Are We Loving Our Pets to Death?

    Pet owners are treating their animal charges ever more like humans. But that isn’t good for pets, or for us, many experts argue.

     By

    The proliferation of dog strollers is one sign of a trend in which pets’ lives have become constrained and dependent on humans.
    CreditGraham Dickie/The New York Times
  2. Was the Dingo Born to Be Wild?

    Burial remains from 800-2,000 years ago hint that the First Australians may have kept the continent’s famous canine species as pets.

     By

    An illustration of several dingoes, from the 1863 book “The Mammals of Australia.” A recent paper suggested that the wild dogs may have been trusted companions of the First Australians.
    CreditBiodiversity Heritage Library
  1. Two Killer Asteroids Are Flying by Earth, and You May Be Able to See One

    The smaller of the pair was spotted only this month and could be visible with binoculars as it passes by our planet within the distance to the moon.

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    A visualization of the orbit of (415029) 2011 UL21, a near-Earth object that completes 11 revolutions around the sun in almost the exact same amount of time in which Earth completes 34 revolutions (i.e., 34 years), creating this pattern when plotting the asteroid’s location relative to Earth.
    CreditEuropean Space Agency
  2. It’s Brutus, Not Bruno! The Etiquette of Remembering Your Friends’ Pets’ Names.

    At a barbershop in Colorado, stylists and customers discussed a matter of social protocol.

     By Matt Richtel and

    Credit
  3. The Last Stand of the Woolly Mammoths

    The species survived on an island north of Siberia for thousands of years, scientists reported, but were most likely plagued by genetic abnormalities.

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    Mammoths remained on Wrangel Island, about 80 miles from the Siberian coast, for about 6,000 years after they vanished from the rest of Asia, Europe and North America.
    CreditBeth Zaiken
  4. A Trilobite Pompeii Preserves Exquisite Fossils in Volcanic Ash

    A fossil bed in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco is allowing new insights into the anatomies of arthropods that lived a half-billion years ago.

     By

    A ventral view of the Protolenus species 3-D reconstruction.
    CreditArnaud Mazurier/University of Poitiers
    Trilobites
  5. A Dead Russian Satellite Broke Into More Than 100 Pieces in Space

    The cause of the incident, which added to a growing amount of dangerous space junk in low Earth orbit, remains unknown.

     By

    A model of the Resurs P1 satellite at an exhibition in Samara, Russia.
    CreditAlexander Blinov/Alamy

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Pets

More in Pets ›
  1. Their Job Is to Help You Grieve Your Pet

    Though still rare, social workers in animal hospitals are growing in their ranks.

     By Katie Thomas and

    Claire Johnson, a veterinary social worker, left, comforted Zorro, a 16-year-old cockapoo, as he was prepared for euthanasia at MedVet, a 24-hour pet care facility in Chicago.
    Credit
  2. The Pet ‘Superheroes’ Who Donate Their Blood

    Transfusions have become an important part of veterinary medicine, but cat and dog blood is not always easy to come by.

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    Jolie, a blood donor, giving blood at a DoveLewis Blood Bank in Portland, Ore., last month.
    CreditMichael Hanson for The New York Times
  3. Why You’re Paying Your Veterinarian So Much

    People have grown more attached to their pets — and more willing to spend money on them — turning animal medicine into a high-tech industry worth billions.

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    Heather Massey of Carlton, Ga., with her dog, Lunabear. She is still paying off a bill for scans and care six years after her previous dog, Ladybird, was diagnosed with brain cancer.
    CreditAudra Melton for The New York Times
  4. Are We Loving Our Pets to Death?

    Pet owners are treating their animal charges ever more like humans. But that isn’t good for pets, or for us, many experts argue.

     By

    The proliferation of dog strollers is one sign of a trend in which pets’ lives have become constrained and dependent on humans.
    CreditGraham Dickie/The New York Times
  5. For an Aquatic Veterinarian, It’s Never ‘Just a Fish’

    Stress, ovarian cancer, buoyancy disorders: Every pet has its troubles, and needs a good doctor who makes house calls.

     By Emily Anthes and

    Dr. Jessie Sanders analyzing the movement of a Fisher’s wood catfish at a home in Martinez, Calif., in January.
    Credit

Trilobites

More in Trilobites ›
  1. Scientists Find First Evidence That Butterflies Crossed an Ocean

    Researchers discovered painted ladies on a South American beach and then built a case that they started their journey in Europe or Africa.

     By

    The painted lady butterfly is one of the world’s most widespread butterflies, normally moving between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa.
    CreditGerard Talavera
  2. Videos Show That Leeches Can Jump in Pursuit of Blood

    There has long been anecdotal evidence of the wormy creatures taking to the air, but videos recorded in Madagascar at last prove the animals’ acrobatics.

     By

    Credit
  3. Lokiceratops, a Horned Dinosaur, May Be a New Species

    Researchers analyzed a skull found in Montana of a plant-eating member of the ceratops family, finding distinct traits.

     By

    An artist’s reconstruction of Lokiceratops rangiformis, a new species of ceratopsian recovered from the badlands of northern Montana.
    CreditSergey Krasovskiy for the Museum of Evolution in Maribo, Denmark
  4. Why a 3-Legged Lion and His Brother Swam Across a Crocodile-Filled River

    Researchers say the nearly mile-long swim was the longest by big cats ever recorded.

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    Jacob, a lion who lost a limb in a poacher’s trap in 2020, and Tibu, his brother, completed a swim across the Kazinga Channel in Uganda in February.
    CreditAlex Braczkowski
  5. A Big Whack That Made the Moon May Have Also Created Continents That Move

    Computer simulations suggest that a collision with another planetary object early in Earth’s history may have provided the heat to set off plate tectonics.

     By

    A collision with a Mars-size planetary object called Theia 4.44 billion years ago, left, might not only have formed the moon but also given rise to plate tectonics.
    CreditHernán Cañellas

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Origins

More in Origins ›
  1. How Flounder Wound Up With an Epic Side-Eye

    Flatfish offer an evolutionary puzzle: How did one eye gradually migrate to the other side?

     By

    Credit
  2. Do We Need Language to Think?

    A group of neuroscientists argue that our words are primarily for communicating, not for reasoning.

     By

    A network of regions become active when the brain retrieves words from memory, use rules of grammar, and carries out other language tasks.
    Creditvia Evelina Fedorenko
  3. Was This Sea Creature Our Ancestor? Scientists Turn a Famous Fossil on Its Head.

    Researchers have long assumed that a tube in the famous Pikaia fossil ran along the animal’s back. But a new study turned the fossil upside down.

     By

    The fossil of Pikaia, a creature that lived 508 million years ago and may have been a close relative of vertebrates.
    CreditMussini et al., Current Biology 2024
  4. Scientists Find the Largest Known Genome Inside a Small Plant

    A fern from a Pacific island carries 50 times as much DNA as humans do.

     By

    The fern’s cells contain more than 50 times as much DNA as ours do.
    CreditOriane Hidalgo
  5. Scientists Calculated the Energy Needed to Carry a Baby. Shocker: It’s a Lot.

    In humans, the energetic cost of pregnancy is about 50,000 dietary calories — far higher than previously believed, a new study found.

     By

    Researchers estimate that a human pregnancy demands almost 50,000 dietary calories over nine months, the equivalent of about 50 pints of ice cream.
    CreditDr. G. Moscoso/Science Source

Climate and Environment

More in Climate and Environment ›
  1. The Vanishing Islands That Failed to Vanish

    Low-lying tropical island nations were expected to be early victims of rising seas. But research tells a surprising story: Many islands are stable. Some have even grown.

     By Raymond Zhong and

    Rakeedhoo, population 76, is the least populated island in the Maldives. It is 700 feet wide and 1,200 feet long.
    CreditJason Gulley for The New York Times
  2. Biden Administration Denies Mining and Drilling Access to Alaskan Wilderness

    The Interior Department rejected a proposed industrial road through pristine land in Alaska that was needed to reach an estimated $7.5 billion copper deposit.

     By

    The Alatna River winds through a valley in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, where the Biden administration has denied permission for a proposed industrial road.
    CreditSean Tevebaugh/National Park Service, Alaska Region
  3. Study Finds Small Streams, Recently Stripped of Protections, Are a Big Deal

    Half of the water flowing through regional river basins starts in so-called ephemeral streams. Last year, the Supreme Court curtailed federal protections for these waterways.

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    A riparian area in Wells, Nev., in the northeastern part of the state. In the West, ephemeral streams flow only for four to 46 days per year, on average, but contribute up to 79 percent of the downstream river flow, new research has found.
    CreditNiki Chan Wylie for The New York Times
  4. Supreme Court Blocks Biden Plan on Air Pollution

    Three states challenged the administration’s “good neighbor” plan, meant to protect downwind states from harmful emissions.

     By

    A coal-fired power plant in Cheshire, Ohio. Ohio is one of three states that challenged the federal plan directly in an appeals court before the Supreme Court stepped in.
    CreditMaddie McGarvey for The New York Times
  5. As Solar Power Surges, U.S. Wind Is in Trouble

    A 2022 climate law was expected to set off a boom in renewable energy. So far, that’s only come partly true.

     By Brad Plumer and

    CreditThe New York Times

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  5. Was the Dingo Born to Be Wild?

    Burial remains from 800-2,000 years ago hint that the First Australians may have kept the continent’s famous canine species as pets.

    By Franz Lidz

     
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