newatlas.com / .newatlas-com-biology

For more than a century, biologists assumed that the bony plates embedded in the skin of lizards - like natural chain mail - were an ancient feature that some lineages inherited and others later lost. But new evidence suggests this is completely ...

When COVID-19 lockdowns emptied city streets, urban environments changed almost overnight. New research suggests that Los Angeles city birds responded just as quickly, with measurable shifts in beak shape during this period. The changes coincided ...

It's that time of year again - and my personal favorite corner of science to look back on - when we recap the many fascinating discoveries in the plant and animal kingdom that made headlines in 2025.

Dinosaurs may be long extinct, but 2025 made it abundantly clear that they're anything but settled science. Over the past year, new fossils, reanalyses of famous specimens and the use of increasingly sophisticated tools have continued to upend what . ...

Step aside, Van Gogh. Some spiders are out here making self-portraits for survival. New research shows that several orb-weaving species construct giant web-mounted "doppelgängers" convincing enough to confuse potential predators. It's an ...