The Lord Howe tree lobster (actually an insect) was thought to have gone extinct around 40 years ago when rats were introduced to the lone island that housed them off the coast of Australia.

The parasite Trichinella spiralis is commonly dated as being around 20 million years old. A recent DNA study by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists, however, has yielded some surprising results.

All vertebrates yawn, but why they do it has long been a mystery. Recent research suggests that yawning may be a cooling mechanism for the brain.

The world has witnessed an explosion of digital technology in the past few decades. With these advances comes the question of how to preserve the digital information that is constantly being generated.

A longstanding conundrum for long-age geology thinking is summed up by Purdue University Professor Eric Calais: “When we calculate the forces available from plate tectonics, we find that they are not large enough to do the job [of spreading continents apart].”¹ But he is hopeful that his latest observations will help resolve this issue.