Parrots' mimicking talent may be for addressing individuals

A study indicates that at least some parrots' talent for mimicking sounds, which underlies their “talking” skill, functions in nature to let them communicate with individual parrots they encounter.

Dogs may link words to object sizes rather than shapes

Dogs relate words to objects very differently than humans do, new research claims: whereas we relate words for objects primarily to their shapes, dogs relate these words to sizes and textures.

Ancient tree-wombat behaved like a koala

The rainforests of Australia were once inhabited by a 70-kilogram tree-dwelling wombat that hugged trees like a koala.

Midlife crisis strikes chimps and orang utans

A new study has found that chimpanzees and orangutans, too, often experience a midlife crisis, suggesting the causes are inherent in primate biology and not specific to human society.

Ancient dung heaps are genetic time capsules

DNA extract from ancient latrines has "opened the door" to identifying the plants and animals that existed in northern Australia's remote Pilbara region more than 30,000 years ago.

New mark for oldest, furthest galaxy

Astronomers have caught a glimpse of a galaxy that sets a new record for the furthest, and thus oldest, yet discovered - 13.3 billion light years from Earth.

Prenatal learning demonstrated in birds

Superb fairy wren mothers teach a "password" to their young while they are still in the egg as a means of identifying them when they want to be fed and stopping home invasion.

Bs meson observed to decay into a muon and an anti-muon

CERN researchers say they have spotted a particle reshaping into two others in the Large Hadron Collider, a breakthrough that could be crucial in exploring physics frontiers.  The mutation was predicted under the so-called Standard Model (SM) of physics, but until now scientists had never seen it.

Brain function fragments under general anæsthetic

The unconscious brain is fragmented into tiny regions that are 'awake' but unable to talk to each other, according to a study looking at the effects of general anaesthetic.

Tone deaf shed light on origin of language

A study involving 'tone deaf' people supports Darwin's idea that music and language evolved from the same emotional "musical protolanguage".

Scientists unearth 'ostrich' dinosaurs

Ostrich-like dinosaurs roamed the Earth millions of years ago using feathers to attract a mate or protect offspring rather than for flight, according to a new study.