Animals

Pets can improve your health—but only if you have a strong relationship with the animals

Octopuses’ response to a human illusion suggests a sense of body ownership

Kissing bugs are creeping across the U.S.—and they’re bringing Chagas disease with them.

A new preprint field study reveals that New York City’s rats aren’t just survivors—they’re talkative city dwellers with their own hidden nightlife. Mapping their movements and conversations could offer insights to transform urban planning and pest control

A common nasal spray shows promise in reducing COVID risk, but vaccine access remains tangled in policy in the U.S.

Ant queens of one species are sexual parasites that clone ants of another species to create hybrid workers that do their bidding

About 150 million years ago storm winds snapped bones in the wings of baby pterosaurs, sending them tumbling to their deaths in a muddy lagoon in what is now Germany

Researchers have finally traced the origin of the spotted ratfish’s bizarre forehead teeth, which are used for mating

Our social voyeurism may have deep evolutionary roots

A deep-sea worm that lives in hydrothermal vents is the first known animal to create orpiment, a toxic, arsenic-containing mineral that was used by artists for centuries

This new “connectome” could bring researchers one step closer to understanding how nerves connect to organs throughout the body

This gruesome parasite is more of a threat to your burger than to you