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Picture a pigeon: gray body, iridescent neck feathers, probably pecking away at trash on a city sidewalk. But there are actually more than 350 different breeds of pigeon, and many of them look nothing like the familiar city pest. A new study examines the physical and genetic differences between the pigeon breeds, to come to some interesting conclusions about how appearance relates to genetics. More »
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For reasons that aren't fully understood, bees are dying off. That could mean disaster for us, since we depend on bees to pollinate crops. The solution? To create disease- and pest-resistant super-bees. What could possibly go wrong? More »
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Dogs, sheep, pigs, cows, horses - all these animals and more have been fundamentally changed by humans to make our lives better. Domestication has fundamentally altered the course of human history, reshaping the land and other species to fit our new agricultural lifestyle. But how do you take a wild species and turn them into domesticated helpers? Why can animals like dogs or horses be domesticated while their close relatives like foxes and zebras remain stubbornly wild? More »
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A new study reveals that some wasps beat their young into becoming subservient workers while they're still in the womb. The scary part is that their techniques could work on mammals, too. More »
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Human-alien hybrids are everywhere in scifi. Whether they come from interplanetary love or mutant genes quietly sneaking into our DNA, we're all about hooking up the Human factor with anything else out there. Just ask Captain Kirk, who tried to dock with every alien woman he encountered. Check out our list below of some of the best science fiction halfsies. Hybrid vigor! More »
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Charles Darwin first explained the principles of sexual selection in his controversial book The Descent of Man (1871). Ever since then, people have wanted to tinker with human evolution via artificial sexual selection. Dictators, mad doctors, and crazed social scientists have proposed — and even carried out — human breeding experiments aimed at improving the species. For some definition of "improving." Here are five of the most bizarre and tragic experiments with human evolution from the last century. More »
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Tomboy Kate morphs into wimpy womanhood in one of Lost's most annoying moments. Yesterday we paid tribute to our favorite moments from the show, but now it's time to tear into the most disappointing, annoying and/or simply wrong moments. Bad omen: the worst of Lost is almost all related to season 3. More »
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