Biology

Strange bioluminescent snail can turn into eerie shade of green

A tiny sea snail known as the clusterwink snail has one of the strangest abilities in the animal kingdom. The snail can create a ghostly green light, then use its shell to scatter the light beam all over its shell. The snail seems to use its bioluminescence as a defense mechanism, as recent experiments revealed…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jan 2

Phytoplankton in bloom off the coast of Argentina

This amazing image reveals a colorful mix of microscopic life and floating nutrients that have been churned together by the movements of powerful ocean currents. This massive bloom of phytoplankton is hundreds of miles long and visible from space. This image of a phytoplankton bloom off the Patagonian coast was taken by NASA’s Moderate Resolution…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jan 2

Even fungus can get jet lag

When you fly between time zones, your circadian rhythms are thrown awry, and the grogginess and fatigue of jet lag kicks in. Norwegian researchers have determined that jet lag isn’t limited to humans and can even affect the common mold. Researchers from the University of Stavanger used Neurospora crassa — better known as the red…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Jan 1

Asparagus smell — wee progress

No question is too small for science, and there is a body of research devoted to determining the whos and hows of the asparagus smell of human urine. Here’s a snapshot of said research. For Marcel Proust, one of the after-effects of eating asparagus, was that it “…transforms my chamber-pot into a flask of perfume.”…

io9 Martin Gardiner -- Improbable Research Jan 1

A sober call for scientific accountability

A recent post on pubmed has stirred my ire, and forced me to confront today’s approach to science. No longer can we sit back, hiding behind computer models. It’s time for experimentation. Today, hard work and elbow grease don’t get you very far. Not when you have to come up against flashy tech and untestable…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 31

Device may stop dengue fever by slaughtering pregnant mosquitos

Put this one in the “We’d feel bad about it if they were mammals” files. With dengue fever infections on the rise and two fifths of the world’s population at risk, scientists devise a scent trap that kills pregnant mosquitos. There are dangers to navigating the world using scent. These dangers are multiplied when living…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 31

See Adelie penguins being stealthily weighed – for science!

Scientists wanted to measure how much wild Adelie penguins are eating. Weighing each penguin before and after the trip was impossible, so the scientist engineered bridges with scales. First the scientists scouted out the paths that the penguins took to the ocean and cordoned them off, leaving only precarious paths between two rocks. Between those…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 30

Why do we describe spicy food as being “hot”?

Chili peppers are served at the same temperature every other ingredient in a curry. Why, then, do we universally describe them as tasting hot? Mass synesthesia? Or something else? There are plenty of instances in which people associate unlike things. The color red is almost always associated with heat, although the color is on the…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 29

National Zoo has two new cheetahs

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute announced the birth of not one but two cheetah cubs. The two cubs were born to two separate mothers. Find out about the surprising challenges they face, and see some kitty pictures. The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, part of the National Zoo, began housing breeding pairs of cheetahs only a…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 29

400,000 year old teeth could rewrite the evolutionary history of our species

Eight recently discovered teeth are very similar to those of modern humans and date back 400,000 years… 200,000 years older than our species is supposed to be. To explain this mystery, we must retrace human evolution. The Teeth in the Cave The finding sparks a major mystery in the story of human evolution. All previous…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Dec 28

Have we already hopelessly contaminated the search for extraterrestrial life?

Every time we send spacecraft to explore the solar system, we send along lots of tiny microbes. In fact, we may have deposited a trillion microbial spores on Mars. How will we ever discover alien life through all that haze? That’s the problem Barry E. DiGregorio, the director of the International Committee Against Mars Sample…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Dec 28

Ancient Australians found the secret to truly immortal art

What is the secret to art that lasts forever and stays fresh always? Some say passion, some say rigorous discipline, some say ingenuity, and some say fungus. The last one is right. Anyone who has been to a museum knows the drill. Do not touch the art. Do not get too close to the art.…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 28

Behind every great scientist are his two teenage daughters

This is one of many beautiful engravings made by Anna and Susanna Lister, the daughters of the renowned 17th century naturalist Martin Lister. These scientifically accurate illustrations created by two teenagers helped inspire Charles Darwin’s work on natural selection. Anna and Susanna Lister were only about 15 and 13 when their father put them to…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Dec 27

DNA testing proves that Africa has two distinct species of elephant

At one point, forest elephants in Africa were thought to be the same species as savanna elephants. Genetic testing now shows that these two kinds of elephants are more different than scientists could’ve ever imagined. Since 2001, researchers suspected that Africa had more than one species of elephant. The average forest elephant was a meter…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 25

The island where dinosaur birds never died out

In the rainforests of Papua, New Guinea, there have been reports for decades of giant birds resembling the prehistoric Pterosaur – they’ve been seen by locals and by visiting scientists. According to Environmental Graffiti: Information regarding this pterosaur arose at the British Association’s Science Festival in Dublin. It was the first animal with a backbone…

io9 Annalee Newitz Dec 24

You are what your parents eat

Proving once again that life is utterly unfair, it appears that your parents’ diet can leave a permanent mark on your genetics. Researchers put male mice on a low-protein diet as soon as they were weaned. And it seems this dietary restriction got passed on. The mice’s offspring were born with a metabolism which made…

io9 Tim Barribeau Dec 23

If you go back in time, don’t fear the giant sea scorpions

The world is losing monsters left and right. First the T-Rex went vegetarian and turned into a bird, and now it looks like giant, ancient sea scorpions might have eaten only greens as well. https://gizmodo.com/the-most-terrifying-meat-eating-dinosaurs-suddenly-went-5715384 Up until recently, it was thought that every time a person ordered lobster off a menu at a seafood restaurant,…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 23

An evolutionary biologist explains the one thing most people misunderstand about evolution

At the opening of the American Museum of Natural History’s Brain exhibition, we caught up with curator Rob DeSalle and asked him about evolution. First he told us what an evolutionary biologist does. In DeSalle’s case, he uses computers to compare really long genome sequences and figure out where evolutionary change has occurred over time.…

io9 Annalee Newitz Dec 21

Did mammoths die out because of breastfeeding?

Woolly mammoths were breastfed for far, far longer than any of their modern counterparts, sometimes going three years before eating solid food. This ancient parenting choice might ultimately have driven mammoths to extinction. Researchers examined the teeth from baby and adult mammoths who once lived in Old Crow, Yukon. They discovered that mammoths didn’t start…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Dec 21

Drinking wine with cheese fondue causes late-night “cheese baby syndrome”

Have you ever eaten lots of cheese with wine, only to find that you’ve got a giant, uncomfortable “cheese baby” in your stomach for hours afterward? Now researchers with the British Medical Journal have discovered why. In a paper published in the BMJ’s notoriously silly Christmas issue, a group of Swiss medical researchers tackled the…

io9 Annalee Newitz Dec 21

Strange bioluminescent snail can turn into eerie shade of green

Phytoplankton in bloom off the coast of Argentina

Even fungus can get jet lag

Asparagus smell — wee progress

A sober call for scientific accountability

Device may stop dengue fever by slaughtering pregnant mosquitos

See Adelie penguins being stealthily weighed – for science!

Why do we describe spicy food as being “hot”?

National Zoo has two new cheetahs

400,000 year old teeth could rewrite the evolutionary history of our species

Have we already hopelessly contaminated the search for extraterrestrial life?

Ancient Australians found the secret to truly immortal art

Behind every great scientist are his two teenage daughters

DNA testing proves that Africa has two distinct species of elephant

The island where dinosaur birds never died out

You are what your parents eat

If you go back in time, don’t fear the giant sea scorpions

An evolutionary biologist explains the one thing most people misunderstand about evolution

Did mammoths die out because of breastfeeding?

Drinking wine with cheese fondue causes late-night “cheese baby syndrome”

Bitdefender Total Security Now Costs Less than Your Coffee Order — Covers Up to 5 Devices With One Subscription

10 Cursed Islands to Visit Ahead of ‘Widow’s Bay’

NASA Sets the Record Straight on That ‘Missing Chunk’ of Artemis 2’s Heat Shield

Beats Solo 4 Falls Back to All-Time Low, Now Emerging as a Cheaper Alternative to AirPods Max in Apple’s Headphone Lineup

‘The Meta Brand Is Not Something People Want to Put Anywhere Near Their Face,’ Says Snapchat CEO

DNA From 1,500-Year-Old Korean Mass Grave Exposes a Brutal Ancient Ritual

Intel May Have an Answer to AMD’s Most Powerful Gaming CPUs

Google Nest Cam (Wired, 3rd Gen) Hits Its Lowest Price as 2025 Gemini Indoor Security Cameras Go on Clearance

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

Let us help find what you are looking for...