Nature can be equal parts majestic, heartwarming, and terrifying. The winning entries of the 2025 BMC Ecology and Evolution and BMC Zoology image competition illustrate that complexity in spades. Biologists, zoologists, and paleontologists from across the world sent in submissions to this year’s contest. The photos were sorted into four categories: “Collective Social Behavior,” “Life […]
Most Cats Sleep on Their Left Side, and Scientists Think They Know Why
If you’re a cat owner, chances are you spend an unhealthy amount of time scrolling through your photo gallery, reviewing adorable photos of your cats for the thousandth time. While doing so, perhaps you’ve noticed that your cats appear to favor a certain side while sleeping. And if that happens to be the left side, […]
Giant, Ancient Life Form Doesn’t Fit Into Any Known Branch of Life
Hundreds of millions of years ago, mysterious life forms called Prototaxites towered toward the sky. Believed to be the first giant organisms to thrive on dry land, some species of Prototaxites grew up to 26 feet (8 meters) in height and resembled tree trunks composed of tiny interconnected tubes. Their position in the greater tree […]
Humans Lost the Ability to Swivel Their Ears—But These Vestigial Muscles Still Twitch
Tens of millions of years ago, our ancestors could swivel their ears to pick up sounds, much like cats and dogs do today. Humans lost that ability over time, and the muscles that once controlled ear movement are now mostly useless—except for a few people who can still wiggle their ears. But new research shows […]