Nature
The 2-Pound Dinosaur That Rewrote the Rules of Miniaturization
A nearly complete skeleton from Patagonia shows that alvarezsaurs shrank before they specialized, upending a core assumption about how evolution works.
Casey Cooper·
Evolution
6 articles
Nature
How Parasites Rewire Their Hosts' Brains
From zombie ants to fearless rats, parasites have evolved astonishingly precise methods of neural hijacking that challenge our understanding of free will and behavior.
Casey Cooper·
Science
The Great Oxidation Event: When Life Nearly Destroyed Itself
2.4 billion years ago, cyanobacteria flooded Earth with a toxic gas called oxygen, triggering the planet's first mass extinction and making complex life possible.
Casey Cooper·
Science
A Spiny Dragon Rewrites What We Know About Dinosaur Skin
A 125-million-year-old dinosaur from China preserves skin at the cellular level, revealing hollow spikes unlike anything seen in the fossil record. The find redefines how we picture these animals.
Casey Cooper·
Nature
How Bees Think in Numbers
Honeybees have mental number lines, can add and subtract, and understand zero. Their tiny brains are rewriting what we thought cognition required.
Casey Cooper·
Nature
Why Crows Remember Faces (And Hold Grudges)
Crows recognize individual human faces and remember who threatened them for years. Their intelligence reveals something unexpected about how minds evolve.
Casey Cooper·