Grooming monkeys. A study of female monkeys’ grooming habits provides new clues about the way we humans socialize.
A study of female monkeys’ grooming habits provides new clues about the way we humans socialise. New research, published September 30 in Proceedings of the Royal Society, reveals there is a link between the size of the brain, [...]

Field cricket.
Scientists have found new evidence to explain how female insects can influence the father of their offspring, even after mating with up to ten males. A team from the University of Exeter has found that female crickets are able to control the amount of sperm that they store from each mate to select the [...]

Zebra Finch. The ability to manipulate songbird genes may yield the molecular secrets of vocal learning and neuronal replacement.
The ability to manipulate songbird genes may yield the molecular secrets of vocal learning and neuronal replacement.

An artist’s rendering of a T. rex suffering from a trichomonosis-like disease, a parasitic infection caused by a protozoan

When pondering the demise of a famous dinosaur such as ‘Sue,’ the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex whose fossilized remains are a star attraction of the Field Museum in Chicago, it is hard to avoid the image of clashing [...]

potted hyenas may not be smarter than chimpanzees, but a new study shows that they outperform the primates on cooperative problem-solving tests.
Spotted hyenas may not be smarter than chimpanzees, but a new study shows that they outperform the primates on cooperative problem-solving tests.

Filoha Meadows in central Colorado
A refuge for the Ute Indians and a transit corridor for the marble quarried for the Washington Monument, Filoha Meadows in central Colorado has been used as farmland, an arthritic retreat center, and a movie set. Developers eyed it to build 15,000 square-foot homes, while others envisioned the entire area under [...]

Stickybot has specially designed footpads, inspired by the surface of a gecko’s foot, that allow it to climb smooth surfaces.
To a robot designer like Sangbae Kim, the animal kingdom is full of inspiration. “I always look at animals and ask why they are the way they are,” says Kim, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering [...]

Paralyzed rats walk
Scientists recently used treadmill exercise, drugs, and electrical stimulation to train paralyzed rats to walk once again, demonstrating a way to possibly treat spinal injuries in humans, which at present are basically untreatable.

Sometimes you have to think that maybe a pig is mans best friend
When a hobby-store owner in Cincinnati sliced off his fingertip in 2005 while showing a customer why the motor on his model plane was dangerous, he went to the emergency room without the missing tip. He couldn’t find it anywhere. The doctor bandaged [...]

The tiny Pacific nation of Palau is creating the world’s first shark sanctuary, a biological hotspot to protect great hammerheads, leopard sharks, oceanic whitetip sharks and more than 130 other species fighting extinction in the Pacific Ocean. But with only one boat to patrol 240,000 square miles (621,600 square kilometers) of Palau’s newly protected waters [...]

This artist’s conception shows a lump of material in a swirling, planet-forming disk.
Astronomers have witnessed odd behavior around a young star. Something, perhaps another star or a planet, appears to be pushing a clump of planet-forming material around. The observations, made with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, offer a rare look into the early stages [...]

Hey, knock it off with the legs! I’m the cute one!
Not all humor is funny to all people. Similarly, not all humor is funny to me. Therefore, I am the same as all people. Hmmm, great logic is the antithesis of great humor. But not all people are logical, so therefore logical people are the [...]

Does your dog know how to shoot pool?
There are apparently some rare skills that only a few elite dogs can master. This is one of them. Are dogs truly smarter than what we give the credit for? Second fun video after the jump.

monkeys origin called into question with new fossil discovery.
Well-preserved craniodental fossil remains from two primate species have been discovered during excavations at an Algerian site. They reveal that the small primate Algeripithecus, which is 50 million years old and until now was considered as the most ancient African anthropoid, in fact belonged to another group, [...]

A test for color blindness showing a “6″.
Researchers from the University of Washington and the University of Florida used gene therapy to cure two squirrel monkeys of color blindness — the most common genetic disorder in people.

Dolphins like Natua, pictured here, may share with humans the ability reflect upon their states of mind, says UB researcher David Smith.
Smith makes this conclusion in an article published the September issue of the journal Trends in Cognitive Science (Volume 13, Issue 9). He reviews this new and rapidly developing area of comparative inquiry, describing [...]

Getting a leg up on his snake brethren.
A snake with a single clawed foot has been discovered in China.
Dean Qiongxiu, 66, said she discovered the reptile clinging to the wall of her bedroom with its talons in the middle of the night.
“I woke up and heard a strange scratching sound. I turned on the light and [...]

Fly caught inside a Venus fly trap.
Like the man-eating plant in Little Shop of Horrors, carnivorous plants rely on animal prey for sustenance. Fortunately for humans, carnivorous plants found in nature are not dependent on a diet of human blood but rather are satisfied with the occasional fly or other insect. The existence of carnivorous [...]

Researchers found that corpses of animals, from insects to crustaceans, all emit the same death stench produced by a blend of specific fatty acids.
The smell of recent death or injury that repels living relatives of insects has been identified as a truly ancient signal that functions to avoid disease or predators, biologists have discovered.

Tigers have more complex brain than  lions?
A wide-ranging study of big cat skulls, led by Oxford University scientists, has shown that tigers have bigger brains, relative to their body size, than lions, leopards or jaguars.

Joy riding around the nuclear power plant does have a few side effects
Every week we spend time finding and sorting through our top ten photos. And every week we end up with more than ten. Its not because we can’t count. Rather, it’s because we don’t think you can.  (Pics)
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New research shows that nicotine, the addictive component in cigarettes, “tricks” the brain into creating memory associations between environmental cues and smoking behavior.
Ever wonder why former smokers miss lighting up most when they are in a bar or after a meal with friends?

Bosavi giant woolly rat.
A Smithsonian Institution biologist, working with the Natural History Unit of the BBC, has discovered a new species of giant rat on a filmmaking expedition to a remote rainforest in New Guinea.

A monkey that has acquired the sole power to hand out apples is generously rewarded with grooming sessions by the other monkeys in its group.
A monkey that has acquired the sole power to hand out apples is generously rewarded with grooming sessions by the other monkeys in its group. But as soon as another [...]