Maria Sibylla Merian’s beautiful and disturbing illustrations, which shaped how we look at the natural world, will be on show at Amsterdam’s RijksmuseumMore than three centuries after she made a perilous transatlantic voyage to study butterflies, a rar…
Many people want to uncover their ancestry, but – driven by Brexit – others also hope to regain access to the EUSome do it to explore their ancestral heritage or an unknown part of their identity. Others are hoping to find parents, siblings and new rel…
Marking a pivotal moment for the fate of the barely known ecosystems on the ocean floor, 168 nations will decide this week who will head the International Seabed AuthorityLeticia Carvalho is clear what the problem is with the body she hopes to be elect…
Buronius manfredschmidi estimated to have weighed just 10kg and was about the size of a human toddlerThe smallest known great ape has been discovered in Germany, dating to 11m years ago.The tiny creature, far smaller than any other great ape on record,…
It’s time to resist the right’s narrative of immigration as aberration. Nations thrive on it – and they always have doneThe state is an invention. It’s a bureaucratic tool of governance for an arbitrarily defined landmass; an artifice made convincing t…
Contrary to other recent research, study finds no evidence of decline – but conclusions disputed by other fertility expertsA row has broken out over falling sperm counts after a new study suggested fears of a “spermageddon” may have been exaggerated.Re…
Vulnerable birds deviating from migratory routes by up to 155 miles, which could affect breedingEagles that have migratory routes through Ukraine have shifted their flight paths to avoid areas affected by the conflict, researchers have found.GPS data h…
Georges-Louis Leclerc proposed species change and extinction back in the 1740s, a new book revealsShortly after Charles Darwin published his magnum opus, The Origin of Species, in 1859 he started reading a little-known 100-year-old work by a wealthy Fr…
Europe is on the cusp of a technological revolution. Unlike the Industrial Revolution’s massive factories, the bio-revolution centres around micro-factories. Biosolutions represent the fusion of biology and technology, offering powerful tools to addres…
Open letter says lawmakers must ‘reject fearmongering’ and allow scientists to develop crops that can withstand ‘climate emergency’The EU must “reject the darkness of anti-science fearmongering” before a key vote on gene editing, 34 Nobel prize winners…
Courtney Dauwalter used to teach biology. Now her ultrarunning achievements are challenging centuries-old ideas about the differences in physical capabilities between men and women.
The animals combine sleeping and digesting, researchers found after extracting reindeer brain dataIf your ceaseless feasting at Christmas leaves you exhausted, it may be worth taking inspiration from reindeer: research suggests the animals can sleep wh…
Thousands of specimens from the 1500s show huge changes to Bologna’s flora due to climate crisis and migration, say researchersA collection of pressed flowers taken from the hillsides of Bologna 500 years ago is unlocking knowledge about how the climat…
