Scientists solved the 70-year-old mystery of an insect's invisibility coat that can manipulate light

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A side-by-side with a photo of a leafhopper on the left and black-and-white image of brochosomes on the right.
Leafhoppers (left) are a common backyard insect that secrete amazingly complex nanoparticles called brochosomes (right).

Lin Wang and Tak-Sing Wong

Adorable 'panda skeleton' sea squirt identified as new species

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Researchers came upon a social media post that led them to the discovery of a new species of sea squirt.  

See 15 animals in amazing X-ray vision

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Chart of oVert scans
OVert's CT scans reveal a myriad of information about the anatomy of thousands of specimens, offering insight into how these animals lived and reproduced.

Edward Stanley / Florida Museum of Natural History

A frog was found with mushroom sprouting from its side, leaving scientists baffled

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A picture shows a frog with a small mushroom sprouting out of its side
A Rao's Intermediate Golden-backed frog is shown with a mushroom sprouting out of its side on 19 June 2023

Maliye, C. C. ., & Y.T., L. (2024) Reptiles & Amphibians. https://doi.org/10.17161/randa.v31i1.20966. CC BY-NC 4.0

Human bones unearthed from a German cave have altered the timeline of ancient human history

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Ancient human bone fragment against a black background with 1 cm ruler for scale
Researchers extracted ancient human bone fragments from the Ilsenhöhle cave in Ranis, Germany.

Tim Schüler / TLDA

Ancient human DNA suggests Columbus may not have brought syphilis to Europe after all

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a picture shows ancient bones in situ in gravelly soil. The skeleton's shins are folded back against the person's chest.
Ancient remains dating back around 2,000 years suggest a cousin of syphilis spread around South America then, but not the sexually transmitted kind.

Dr. Jose Filippini

A shark regenerated an entire hole in its fin in under a year and scientists got the amazing transformation on camera

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A live shark's fin with a giant hole in it.
Rather than a tracking tag telling scientists where this shark traveled, its violent removal let them observe an unexpected regeneration process.

Josh Schellenberg, CC BY-ND

Why you shouldn't be scared of spiders, according to a biology professor

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A photo montage shows a close up of a spider next to a picture of biologist Sara Goodacre. Goodacre is shown wearing white protective gear in a laboratory, looking up at scientific equipment.
Biologist Sara Goodacre, seen in this photo montage, studies spider silk for use in medicine and engineering.

Scientists thought this tiny, blind mole was extinct for over 85 years, but they were wrong

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An up close photo of De Winton's golden mole on sandy substrate and leaves.

Nix Souness*

Scientists discovered a new way these bats with shockingly large penises mate, and it's unlike anything ever observed in mammals

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An up close photo of the shoulders up of a serotine bat.
The serotine bat is found all over Europe.

Alona Shulenko

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