Imagine you’re driving home on an otherwise tranquil suburban road, when an unexpected neighbor pops in front of your headlights: a coyote. Most people think of coyotes as a nuisance at best , and a threat at worst — particularly when they’re spotted in residential areas.Despite our fears, and a growing number of coyotes in cities and suburbs, coyote attacks are extremely rare in the United States. From 1977 to 2015, there were 367 documented cases of coyotes attacking humans in the U.S. a ...read more

The Himalayas stand as Earth’s highest mountain range, possibly the highest ever. How did it form? Why is it so tall?You might think understanding big mountain ranges requires big measurements – perhaps satellite imaging over tens or hundreds of thousands of square miles. Although scientists certainly use satellite data, many of us, including me, study the biggest of mountain ranges by relying on the smallest of measurements in tiny minerals that grew as the mountain range formed.These miner ...read more

It’s a sad fact that dogs don’t live as long as we would like. The average dog lives around 8 to 15 years, with large breeds having shorter lifespans than smaller breeds. Our canine friends manage to pack a lot of love into those years, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if there were a way to keep them alive and healthy much longer? There soon may be.Scientists are working to develop drugs that could extend dogs’ lifespans and health spans. Late last year, Loyal, a San Francisco biotech compa ...read more

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative movement disorder that progresses relentlessly. It gradually impairs a person’s ability to function until they ultimately become immobile and often develop dementia. In the U.S. alone, over a million people are afflicted with Parkinson’s, and new cases and overall numbers are steadily increasing.There is currently no treatment to slow or halt Parkinson’s disease. Available drugs don’t slow disease progression and can treat only certain symptom ...read more

Bonobos have a reputation as lovers, not fighters. But the primate species — perhaps infamous for using sex as a conflict resolution tool — exhibits more complex behavior around mating than previously thought. Male bonobos actually act more aggressively than male chimpanzees, but the way the two species uses violence or the threat of it differs dramatically, according to a new study in Current Biology.“This study brings more complexity to the simple image of bonobo as the ‘make love not ...read more

Language gave humans a leg up compared to all other species. By working together outside of the family unit through communication, we were able to hunt and gather, farm, and build great civilizations. There’s a lot we don’t know about how it all started because there were no recording devices, and the first writing didn’t occur until around 3200 B.C.E. As a result, there’s no record of how it all began, but we do have some clues. Language and Social StructureIt’s important to note tha ...read more

We celebrate the halfway point of Citizen Science Month next week! Join SciStarter for a 12-hour nonstop Palooza of Zooniverse Projects (ZooniPalooza?). Pick your favorite project and hop online with a SciStarter Team Member. The rest of the week, we count bats, chat with dolphins and try a whole slew of projects supported by our friends at the National Science Foundation!As of this writing, we're almost exactly at 500,000 completed Acts of Science, so we're well on our way. But we can't let up! ...read more

Orcas (Orcinus orca), also known as Killer whales, are easily recognized by their black-and-white markings on their bodies. More specifically, these whales have an iconic white patch near their eyes. But why do these mammals sport the markings? There are various thoughts as to why orcas have these patterns. Their coloring pattern has multiple uses, from camouflage to coordination as they swim. The patterns also help researchers study genetics within a pod.Orca's Stealthy Black and White Camoufla ...read more

In the thick Ituri Rainforest of the Democratic Republic of Congo wanders a rarely seen okapi. It resembles a zebra, albeit with proportions that got slightly wonky somewhere down the line. Half its body is covered in rippling white stripes that can melt into its dim surroundings under the right lighting, while the rest of it is covered in dark, purplish fur, oily enough that water slides right off it.The little we do know about the okapi comes from a field study conducted in the 1980s using rad ...read more

As a scientist, lab work can sometimes get monotonous. But in 2017, while a Ph.D. student of paleobiology at the University of Bristol in the U.K., I heard a gleeful exclamation from across the room. Kirsty Penkman, head of the North East Amino Acid Racemization lab at the University of York, had just read the data printed off the chromatograms and was practically jumping up and down.The instrument had detected telltale signatures of ancient amino acids in eggshell. Amino acids are the building ...read more