The weta has ears similar to those of a whale

Like other vocal insects, wetas have ears on their legs. This is to enable the small creatures to separate their ears wide enough to use their hearing as a locating device.

Hubble spies galaxies from early universe

Astronomers have found seven galaxies that formed relatively soon after the universe's birth some 13.7 billion years ago. One of the objects may be the oldest galaxy yet found, dating back to a time when the universe was just 380 million years old.

Lizards 'nearly wiped out' with dinosaurs

Contrary to previous understanding, lizards and snakes were nearly wiped out along with the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Nyasasaurus parringtoni

Fossilised bones unearthed by a British palaeontologist in colonial Tanzania in the 1930s may be those of the oldest dinosaur ever found.  A denizen of the Middle Triassic around 243 million years ago, the creature predates all previous dinosaur finds by 10 to 15 million years. The specimen also points to the possible birthplace of these enigmatic species in Pangaea.

Yet Another Tool-Making Species

A parrot determined to grab an out-of-reach pebble has figured out how to make tools to get it — even though parrots aren’t known to make tools in the wild.

"Bigger Brains" Gave Us Cooking

New da­ta sup­port a the­o­ry that the in­ven­tion of cook­ing trig­gered a great in­crease in hu­man brain size.

New Human Gene Emerged From Non-Coding DNA

A gene called miR-941 seems to have played a crucial role in brain development and may shed light on how we learned to use tools and language. It's the first time a new gene, carried only by humans and not by the other apes, has been shown to have a specific function in the body.

Stray stars may haunt vastness between galaxies

Stray stars floating far beyond the edges of galaxies may be the cause for a mysterious glow of infrared light seen across the entire sky.

New type of exploding star may be a dud

A type of oddly dim, exploding star is probably a sort of dud—one the could nonetheless throw light on the nature of the mysterious “dark energy” pervading space.  The seemingly failed outbursts are said to come from variants of exploding stars called type Ia supernovae, which are found by the thousands.