Mental Floss

BIOLOGY

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Autoimmune Diseases May Have a Silver Lining

The same type of antibodies that cause illnesses like multiple sclerosis and lupus may also lead to a longer life.

Scientists Have Found a Weird Purple Orb on the California Seafloor

Researchers were ready to fight a crab over rights to the mysterious prize.

Michael Ocampo via Flickr Creative Commons // CC BY 2.0

How Tomatoes Fend Off Parasitic Vines

This tomato plant can sense and defend itself against invading plants.

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Scientists Study the Complex Roles of Gases in Our Bodies

Researchers say these gases “affect our brain, mind, and behavior.”

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Sideways Swimming Is More Efficient for Hammerhead Sharks

It may look silly, but it serves an important purpose.

Scientist Says Our Oldest Ancestor May Have Been Only ‘Half Alive’

The earliest known ancestor of all living things made its home on a hydrothermal vent, subsisting on hydrogen and metal.

Kate Horowitz

Scientists Discover That Lichens Are Symbiotic Threesomes

We've misunderstood them for well over a century.

David Adamski, Karina Boege, Jean-Francois Landry, Jae-Cheon Sohn via Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

17 Species Named After Star Wars Characters

There are Star Wars fans everywhere, including among the scientists who study life on Earth.

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Why Is Jet Lag Worse After You've Traveled East?

Researchers use math to explain why jet lag happens and how travel direction plays a role.

Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images

15 Unflappable Facts About Mallards

What do you know about them beyond “They’re the ones with the green heads”?

8 Times Very Different Animals Evolved Very Similar Traits

It's called convergent evolution. When you have a good idea, you stick with it.

Scientists Recreate Pac-Man With Microscopic Organisms

You'd need a microscope to watch this game play out.

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Could Artificial Bones One Day Replace Steel?

Bones created in a lab could provide a low-carbon alternative.

Metropolitan Touring via Vimeo

This Blind Bird Expert Can Identify 3000 Distinct Calls

Juan Pablo Culasso has turned his perfect pitch into a career in nature recording.

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Scientists Estimate Earth Is Home to One Trillion Microbial Species

Researchers say only 1/1000th of 1 percent have been identified to date.

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Don’t Have a Garden? Regrow Vegetables in Your Kitchen

Here's a good reason to avoid ditching those veggie scraps.

The cicadas are coming!!!

17 Noisy Facts About 17-Year Cicadas

In the spring of 2021, the cicadas of Brood X will surface in the Eastern U.S. for the first time in 17 years.

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7 Facts About Human Hormones and Their Functions

There's a lot more than estrogen and testosterone.

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Mouse Cells Become First Mammal Embryos Successfully Grown in Space

Mouse cells riding aboard the science satellite SJ-10 reached the blastocyst stage last week.

DC Emergence // YouTube

A Biophysicist Who Studied the Thermodynamics of Pizza

He majored in physics and philosophy and managed to apply them both to his decades of historic work.

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Human Limbs and Fish Gills May Trace Back to the Same Gene

And that gene just so happens to be called "sonic hedgehog."

Giorgia squeri via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 4.0

Are Cold Mice Skewing Cancer Study Results?

Being cold depletes an animal’s energy reserves and immune system.

Thierry Hennet

Breast Milk: The Swiss Army Knife of Bodily Fluids

It’s so much more than baby food.

Brian Gratwicke via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 2.0

These Frogs Have Developed a Resistance to Killer Fungus

Some populations of lowland leopard frogs in Arizona have gene variants that protect them from a deadly fungal disease.