Plants & Animals News

March 17, 2026

Top Headlines

Life Rebounded Shockingly Fast After the Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs

Mar. 15, 2026 The asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs didn’t keep life down for long. New research shows that microscopic plankton began evolving into new species within just a few thousand years—and possibly in under 2,000 years—after the ...

Crops Irrigated with Wastewater Store Drugs in Their Leaves

Mar. 15, 2026 Scientists studying crops irrigated with treated wastewater discovered that trace pharmaceuticals often collect in plant leaves. Tomatoes, carrots, and lettuce absorbed medications such as antidepressants and seizure drugs during the experiment. ...

Scared of Spiders? Scientists Say the Real Nightmare Is Losing Them

Mar. 14, 2026 Spiders and insects may not be fan favorites, but they are vital to the health of ecosystems—and scientists barely know how they’re doing. Researchers found that nearly 90% of North America’s insect and arachnid species have no conservation ...

Scientists Warn Australia’s “Zombie Tree” Could Vanish Within a Generation

Mar. 13, 2026 A newly identified Australian tree has been dubbed the “zombie” tree because it’s alive but unable to reproduce. Myrtle rust repeatedly kills its young growth, stopping the species from ...

Scientists Discover a Universal Temperature Curve That Governs All Life

Mar. 12, 2026 Researchers have uncovered a universal pattern showing how temperature affects life on Earth. Across thousands of species—from microbes to reptiles—performance rises gradually with warming until an optimal temperature is reached, after which it ...

Scientists Discover Hedgehogs Can Hear Ultrasound and It Could Save Them from Cars

Mar. 12, 2026 Researchers have discovered that hedgehogs can hear ultrasound, a surprising ability that could help protect them from cars. Since road traffic kills large numbers of hedgehogs, scientists believe ...

Extreme Weather Is Hitting Baby Birds Hard in a 60-year Study

Mar. 12, 2026 Decades of data from over 80,000 great tits reveal that extreme weather can shape the fate of baby birds. Cold snaps soon after hatching and heavy rain later in development shrink nestling body mass and reduce survival odds. But moderate warm spells ...

A “Ghost” Great White Shark Just Reignited a Mediterranean Mystery

Mar. 12, 2026 A rare encounter with a juvenile great white shark caught by fishermen in April 2023 has reignited scientific interest in the mysterious population of these apex predators in the Mediterranean Sea. By reviewing records spanning more than 160 years, ...

Ocean Warming May Supercharge a Tiny Microbe That Controls Marine Nutrients

Mar. 11, 2026 As deep-sea waters warm, scientists expected trouble for the microbes that help keep ocean chemistry in balance. Instead, researchers found that Nitrosopumilus maritimus can adapt to warmer, iron-limited conditions by using iron more efficiently. ...

A Particle Accelerator Helped Scientists Create Stunning 3D Ants

Mar. 10, 2026 Researchers have developed a high-tech system that rapidly scans ants and converts them into detailed 3D models. Using a synchrotron accelerator, X-ray imaging, robotics, and AI, the team scanned 2,000 specimens in just a week and produced models of ...

Scientists Finally Reveal Why Mint Feels Cold

Mar. 8, 2026 Scientists have revealed how the body’s microscopic cold sensor, TRPM8, detects both chilly temperatures and the cooling effect of menthol. The discovery finally shows how the sensation of “cool” works at the molecular level—and could ...

Koalas Survived a Devastating Population Crash and Their DNA Is Bouncing Back

Mar. 6, 2026 Koalas suffered a massive population decline that left them with dangerously low genetic diversity. However, new genomic research suggests their rapid rebound may be helping reverse some of that ...

Latest Headlines

updated 9:18am EDT

A Donut-Shaped Protein Breaks Apart to Start Bacterial Cell Division

Mar. 14, 2026 Researchers have revealed how bacteria precisely control the genes that trigger cell division. The study shows that the MraZ protein, which normally forms a donut-shaped structure, must bend and ...

Textbooks Were Wrong: Scientists Reveal the Surprising Way Human Hair Really Grows

Mar. 14, 2026 Hair may grow in a completely different way than scientists once believed. Instead of being pushed out from the root, new research shows that moving ...

Scientists Discover Ancient DNA “switches” Hidden in Plants for 400 Million Years

Mar. 14, 2026 Scientists have uncovered an enormous hidden archive of plant DNA that has endured for more than 400 million years. By comparing hundreds of plant ...

The Surprising New Ways Bacteria Spread Without Propellers

Mar. 13, 2026 Scientists at Arizona State University have uncovered surprising new ways bacteria move, even without their usual whip-like propellers called flagella. In one study, E. coli and salmonella were found ...

Scientists Discovered a Secret Deal Between a Plant and Beetles

Mar. 12, 2026 A study from Kobe University has uncovered a surprising partnership between Japanese red elder plants and Heterhelus beetles. The beetles pollinate the flowers but also lay eggs inside the developing ...

Chickpeas Could Become the First Food Grown on the Moon

Mar. 12, 2026 Scientists have grown chickpeas in simulated moon soil, offering a promising step toward farming on the lunar surface. Researchers mixed moon-like regolith with worm-produced compost and helpful ...

400 Million-Year-Old Fish Fossils Reveal How Life Began Moving Onto Land

Mar. 12, 2026 Scientists have uncovered new clues about some of Earth’s earliest fish, shedding light on the ancient origins of vertebrates that eventually moved onto land. By reanalyzing mysterious fossils from ...

Scientists Discover Seven Strange Frog-Like Insects Hidden in Uganda’s Rainforest

Mar. 11, 2026 Researchers exploring Uganda’s Kibale National Park have discovered seven new species of frog-like leafhoppers. The tiny insects, named for their ...

Scientists Discover Tiny Plant Trick That Could Supercharge Crop Yields

Mar. 11, 2026 Researchers have uncovered a molecular trick used by hornwort plants that could help future crops capture carbon dioxide more efficiently. A unique protein feature called RbcS-STAR causes the key ...

This 2-Pound Dinosaur Is Rewriting What Scientists Know About Evolution

Mar. 10, 2026 A nearly complete dinosaur skeleton discovered in Patagonia is helping scientists crack the mystery of alvarezsaurs, a bizarre group of bird-like dinosaurs. The fossil of Alnashetri cerropoliciensis ...

Light-Guided Evolution Creates Proteins That Can Switch, Sense, and Compute

Mar. 9, 2026 Researchers have created a method called optovolution that uses light to guide the evolution of proteins with dynamic behaviors. By engineering yeast cells so their survival depended on proteins ...

Tiny Clump of Moss Helped Solve a Shocking Cemetery Crime

Mar. 6, 2026 A tiny piece of moss helped expose a cemetery scandal in Illinois, where workers allegedly dug up graves and resold burial plots. By identifying the moss and analyzing its chlorophyll to estimate its ...

This Ancient Sea Creature May Already Have Had a Brain

Mar. 6, 2026 Advanced 3D reconstructions of the comb jelly’s aboral organ reveal a sensory system far more complex than scientists expected. The organ contains a wide variety of specialized cells and is closely ...

Half of Amazon Insects Could Face Dangerous Heat Stress

Mar. 5, 2026 A sweeping new study of more than 2,000 insect species reveals a troubling reality: many insects may be far less capable of coping with rising temperatures than scientists once hoped. Researchers ...

Scientists Discover Hidden Species Among Borneo’s “fanged Frogs”

Mar. 9, 2026 DNA is revealing that many animals once thought to be a single species may actually be several hidden ones. But research on Bornean fanged frogs shows the line between species can be blurry—an ...

Blasted Off Mars and Still Alive

Mar. 3, 2026 A famously resilient bacterium may be tough enough to survive one of the most violent events imaginable on Mars. In laboratory experiments designed to mimic the crushing shock of a massive asteroid ...

Teeth Smaller Than a Fingertip Reveal the First Primate Ancestor

Mar. 3, 2026 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 ...

Scientists Discover Oxygen Tug of War Inside Plant Cells

Mar. 9, 2026 Plants constantly juggle oxygen inside their cells, but scientists have now discovered a surprising twist in how that balance works. Researchers at the University of Helsinki found that ...

For Every Known Vertebrate Species, Two More May Be Hiding in Plain Sight

Mar. 3, 2026 Earth’s vertebrate diversity may be far richer than anyone realized. A sweeping analysis of more than 300 studies suggests that for every known fish, bird, reptile, amphibian, or mammal species, ...

Humpback Whale Recovery Is Changing Who Fathers the Calves

Mar. 5, 2026 A new study shows that as humpback whale populations recover from past whaling, older males are gaining a major advantage in reproduction. Early in the recovery, breeding groups were dominated by ...

Scientists Discover the Protein That Malaria Parasites Can’t Live Without

Mar. 5, 2026 Scientists have uncovered a crucial weakness in the malaria parasite that could open the door to new treatments. Researchers identified a protein called Aurora-related kinase 1 (ARK1) that acts like ...

How the Body Really Ages: 7 Million Cells Mapped Across 21 Organs

Feb. 28, 2026 Scientists have built a massive cellular atlas showing how aging reshapes the body across 21 organs. Studying nearly 7 million cells, they found that aging starts earlier than expected and unfolds in ...

Ireland’s Old Irish Goat Has Survived 3,000 Years

Feb. 26, 2026 The Old Irish Goat isn’t just part of folklore — it’s genetically linked to goats that lived in Ireland 3,000 years ago. Scientists analyzed ancient remains and discovered that today’s rare ...

Study Finds Wild Release Can Be Deadly for Rescued Slow Lorises

Mar. 3, 2026 Returning rescued slow lorises to the wild may sound like a conservation success, but a new study shows it can turn deadly. Researchers tracked nine released animals and found that only two survived, ...

Scientists Discover a Bacterial Kill Switch and It Could Change the Fight Against Superbugs

Feb. 28, 2026 Drug-resistant bacteria are becoming harder to treat, pushing scientists to look for new antibiotic targets. Researchers have now discovered that several unrelated viruses disable a key bacterial ...

Hidden Architecture Inside Cellular Droplets Opens New Targets for Cancer and ALS

Feb. 26, 2026 Biomolecular condensates were long believed to be simple liquid blobs inside cells. Researchers have now uncovered that some are actually supported by fine protein filaments forming an internal ...

Stunning 3D Maps Reveal DNA Is Structured Before Life “switches On”

Feb. 27, 2026 For decades, scientists believed a fertilized egg’s DNA began as a shapeless mass, only organizing itself once the embryo switched on its genes. But new research reveals that the genome is already ...

Scientists Engineer Bacteria to Eat Cancer Tumors from the Inside out

Feb. 24, 2026 Researchers are engineering bacteria to invade tumors and consume them from the inside. Because tumor cores lack oxygen, they’re the perfect breeding ground for these microbes. The team added a ...

Jupiter’s Moons May Have Formed With the Ingredients for Life

Mar. 1, 2026 Jupiter’s icy moons may have been seeded with the chemical ingredients for life from the very beginning. An international team of scientists modeled how complex organic molecules—essential ...

Scientists Finally Solve the Mystery of the Horse Whinny

Feb. 25, 2026 Horses have a vocal trick no one fully understood until now. Scientists have discovered that when a horse whinnies, it produces two completely different sounds at the same time. One is a deep tone ...