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Research News

Life on Earth

Photograph of several caterpillars close together on the top of a leaf.

Life on Earth

This single well-known and widespread butterfly is actually three species in disguise

June 24, 2026

Key points The genus Colobura is widespread in Central and South America and contains some of the most abundant and…
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Photograph of a dry organ pipe coral museum specimen that stretches from one end of the image to the other. There appears to be another organism that looks like lichen growing on top of the organ pipe coral.

Life on Earth

Hidden in plain sight: DNA reveals 15 overlooked coral lineages in the Indo-Pacific

May 28, 2026

Scientists have discovered that one of the ocean’s most recognizable corals, the iconic “organ pipe coral” — long believed to…
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Photograph of a birds nest built into the space between two closely growing stems of a tree and holding two eggs.

Life on Earth

Study in search of a tropical spring is the first to show some birds flip their breeding season in response to climate

March 27, 2026

Key points Many years of scientific observation and research show that temperate birds nest in the spring, and their breeding…
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Two butterflies hang from a branch, one in front of the other.

Life on Earth

Scientists lay out what we do and don’t yet know about moths and butterflies

February 26, 2026

Key points Scientists have published a broad review of what they’ve learned about moths and butterflies over the last few…
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Photograph looking up at a white shark swimming underwater.

Life on Earth

Global shark bites return to average in 2025, with smaller proportion in the United States

February 18, 2026

Global unprovoked shark bites returned to near-average levels in 2025, following a sharp reduction the year prior. There was a…
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Photograph of plants growing on limestone.

Life on Earth

Scientists trace ancient bird flight paths using modern plant diversity

February 5, 2026

Key points  The Massif de la Hotte is a young, exceptionally biodiverse mountain range in southern Haiti that is home…
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Photographs and ct scans of a fossilized jaw and lower mandible, both with bee nests in one of their alveoli.

Life on Earth

Paleontologists find first bee nest fossils made inside fossilized bones

December 17, 2025

Key points  Paleontologists working in a cave on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola have discovered the first known instance of…
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Photograph of a light colored brittle star with a central disk and five long, curly arms radiating out from it.

Life on Earth

No eyes, no brain, no problem: Brittle stars have traveled the world over, and scientists have figured out how

September 10, 2025

A ncient, gangly cousins of sea stars, brittle stars crawl the seafloor on five flexible arms, which in some cases…
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Vintage marine animal illustrations.

Life on Earth

Paleontologists go back to the future, reconstruct fossilized functional diversity to inform conservation goals

September 3, 2025

Key points Scientists have demonstrated for the first time that functional diversity can be accurately inferred from the marine fossil…
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Photograph of a coral reef.

Life on Earth

World’s soft coral diversity retains signature of an ancient, vanished sea

June 24, 2025

It is of vital importance to, on occasion, consider how little we know about the spinning rock we all live…
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Florida Museum of Natural History
Gainesville, FL 32611

Media inquiries:
Jerald Pinson, Science Writer

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