How in the world did a creature as odd as the duck-billed platypus originate? This creature lays eggs like a reptile, has venom like a reptile, spurs like a chicken, excretes milk from belly patches to nurse its young, has fur that glows, webbed feet like a duck, and uses its sensor-filled duck-like bill to find aquatic prey like paddlefish do since it swims with its eyes closed.

Since the word banana does not occur in Scripture, any evidence of bananas in ancient Middle Eastern diets would have to come from the ground. New research found just that, and the details unwittingly imply trade capacities well-suited to the ancient world represented in the Bible.

Rock layers in China have yielded yet another strange bird. Two features in its partial skull—the only parts found—make it both a unique discovery and a challenge to nature-only origins stories.

Dogs don’t read the words on a page. Neither did Coco, the famous gorilla that learned to communicate using simple hand signs. So what affords humans the unique ability to read and write, and why do we do it? These kinds of questions drive Zeynep Saygin’s research at Ohio State. Her team’s recent discovery sets the stage for some answers.