Colombia’s peace deal unwittingly unleashed hell on the Amazon
Ever since Colombia signed a historic peace deal with the FARC guerrillas, farmers and criminal gangs have been burning its portion of the Amazon rainforest
The birds of South Georgia are finally safe from marauding rats
Invasive rats have cut a swathe through the birds living on the island of South Georgia, but a decade-long project has now eradicated every last rat
Bonobos barely use their opposable thumbs when climbing trees
Apes and humans are famed for their opposable thumbs, but our close cousins the bonobos regularly swing through trees without using their thumbs
People adapted to the cold and got more migraines as a result
A gene variant that helps humans cope with colder climates also seems to have put people living in northerly regions at a higher risk of migraine
Mistletoe’s cells are broken at a fundamental level
All complex organisms rely on tiny nodules called mitochondria to supply their cells with energy – but mistletoe’s mitochondria don’t work and yet it survives
Ancient humans in Philippines may have given rise to ‘hobbits’
A butchered rhino found on the island of Luzon shows early humans were living in the Philippines 709,000 years ago, which may explain the origins of the diminutive Homo floresiensis
Giant sea spiders sit and wait for prey to knock themselves out
Huge sea spiders move excruciatingly slowly, but they can still catch prey animals that move much faster than them – because their prey sometimes crash into the seafloor
A fossil may rewrite the story of how plants first lived on land
A plant fossil that lay unnoticed for a century is unexpectedly large for something so old, and it could upend our ideas about the evolution of land plants
The European Union has decided to ban bee-killing pesticides
European Union member states have voted to ban the outdoor use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which have been linked to declines in pollinating insects
Horses remember if you smiled or frowned when they last saw you
Horses can remember the expressions on people’s faces and use them to make judgements about whether people are nice or unpleasant