They were originally fierce predators the size of a small ostrich. A bizarre group of raptor-like dinosaurs, known as alvarezsaurs, drastically shrank around 100 million years ago, transforming from ostrich-size predators that hunted early mammals and baby dinos to ant-eaters the size of a chicken, according to paleontologists. Alvarezsaurs wereContinue Reading
RSV is typically more active in the fall and winter. Parts of the southern U.S. are seeing off-season spikes in a respiratory virus called RSV after the lifting of public health measures put into place to slow COVID-19 spread, public health experts warn. RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, is typicallyContinue Reading
A withered old male hornet shows that repeat invasions are the not-so-new normal Fingers crossed for finding nothing: July marks the main trapping season to check for Asian giant hornets still infesting Washington state. The first of these invasive hornets found in North America in 2021, in June, was probablyContinue Reading
The spread of the virus and the public’s attention to science helped to shorten the timeline Six months after the first COVID-19 shots started going into arms in the United States, the pace of vaccination has slowed. That’s prompted White House officials to scale back their goal of getting atContinue Reading
A small study suggests that mRNA vaccines may offer long-term protection as long as the virus doesn’t evolve significantly. The Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines will likely provide protection against the coronavirus for years if it doesn’t evolve significantly, a small new study suggests. As a massive vaccination effort continuesContinue Reading
A 6- to 8-foot-long great white shark bit the right leg of a 35-year-old man body-boarding off Grey Whale Cove State Beach in San Mateo County, California, Saturday (June 26) morning. Though the bite was “severe,” the man was able to make his way to shore, Bay Area news siteContinue Reading
It’s likely these tiny dinos lived in chilly Alaska year round. Baby dinosaurs toddled around the chilly region that is now the Alaskan Arctic about 70 million years ago, according to the “unexpected” discovery of more than 100 baby dinosaur bones and teeth there, a new study reports. It wasContinue Reading
Lifesaving surgery gives a rare bird a leg up. A wild vulture recently had surgery in Vienna to implant a bionic leg. While still a nestling, Mia suffered a major injury to her right leg. Her parents had used sheep wool to hold the nest together, and some of theContinue Reading
The virus was already lurking here at least a month before the country’s first reported case, according to a new study. The novel coronavirus may have already arrived in the U.S. by late December 2019, adding to the evidence that the virus was already lurking here at least a monthContinue Reading
Knock-on effects could transform the Amazon rainforest into savannah As climate change continues to heat the planet, ice sheets and ocean currents could destabilize each other, leading to a climate domino effect impacting 40% of the world’s population, according to new research. And these effects could be seen at wayContinue Reading