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Some dinosaurs danced and literally shook their tail feathers to attract potential mates, researchers say. It’s long been theorized that at least some feathered dinosaurs used their plumage for courtship. A new study, published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, strengthens that belief. The dancing, prancing dinosaurs were oviraptors — two legged, plant-eating dinos, related…
Bonobos will break bread with strangers just to make their acquaintance – and may even be more generous with strangers than with their peers, new research on captive primates at a Congolese sanctuary shows. They’ll sometimes help strangers out even with no chance of meeting them — though that generosity has its limits. The research,…
There’s a lot to be said for smarts—at least we humans, with some of the biggest brains in relation to our bodies in the animal kingdom, certainly seem to think so. The size of animal brains is extravagantly well-studied, as scientists have long sought to understand why our ancestors developed such complex and energetically costly…
In surprising numbers, people posted, viewed and searched for science-related topics last year — sharing news from space and undersea, commenting on new discoveries and uploading photos and video in a full-out embrace of the ability to communicate with thousands of others about global subjects in real time. The trend is, in some ways, self-fulfilling….
They are known as the hippies of the ape kingdom, a peaceful and affectionate species that is more interested in making love than killing each other. One of the world’s rarest apes, bonobos are close cousins of chimpanzees and share 98.7% of human DNA. But unlike their ape relatives — and humans — bonobos shy…
What if instead of dust and rocks, our planetary neighbor Mars were a bit more lush? What if it had oceans, an Earth-like atmosphere, and green life coating its land? These are the questions Kevin Gill, a software engineer living in New Hampshire, sought to answer with his project, A Living Mars.
Our Milky Way galaxy is home to at least 100 billion alien planets, and possibly many more, a new study suggests. “It’s a staggering number, if you think about it,” lead author Jonathan Swift, of Caltech in Pasadena, said in a statement. “Basically there’s one of these planets per star.” Swift and his colleagues arrived…
A dark lump of rock found in the Moroccan desert in 2011 is a new type of Martian meteorite, say scientists. Weighing 320g, the stone has been given the name Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034. Its texture and chemistry set it apart from all previous objects picked up off the surface of Earth but known to…
Astronomers studying a newborn star have caught a detailed glimpse of planets forming around it, revealing a never-before seen stage of planetary evolution. Large gas giant planets appear to be clearing a gap in the disk of material surrounding the star, and using gravity to channel material across the gap to the interior, helping the…
Nature looks ahead to the key findings and events that may emerge in 2013.