Weekly Headlines (Excerpts)

1. How poop-eating beetles evolved to eat rotting flesh

Analysis of thousands of fossils pushes back change in beetles’ diets by more than 37 million years

17 Oct 2025  By Taylor Mitchell Brown

2. Bull’s-eye! Static electricity pulls worm through air to its insect victim

Electrostatic charges may help roundworms infect a wide variety of hosts

17 Oct 2025  By Jason P. Dinh

3. Common research monkey is endangered, conservation group confirms

Listing could affect availability for biomedical studies

17 Oct 2025  By Dennis Normile

4. These stinkbugs coat their eggs in fungi to protect them from parasitic wasps

An unusual relationship could shed light on how insects choose their partners

16 Oct 2025  By Erik Stokstad

5. On an Arctic archipelago, frozen soil may preserve a hidden history of viruses

Scientists are hunting for ancient RNA in Svalbard’s permafrost, hoping to shed light on the evolution of viral diseases

16 Oct 2025  By Kai Kupferschmidt

6. Ancient sea turtle discovered in Lebanon reveals a surprising evolutionary history

Oldest known sea turtle soft tissues could help reveal how a variety of vertebrates adapted to ocean living

16 Oct 2025  By Jake Buehler

7. Poisonous sacs helped toads conquer the world

Iconic amphibians took an unexpected path across the globe, study finds—with toxins as a “game changer”

15 Oct 2025  By Phie Jacobs

8. Did lead poisoning doom Neanderthals?

Modern humans’ tolerance for the toxic metal may have helped them outcompete our closest evolutionary cousins

15 Oct 2025  By Michael Price

9. An ancient cousin to humans probably built tools with its huge hands

New fossils reveal Paranthropus had massive yet dexterous hands

15 Oct 2025  By Ann Gibbons

10. Chicago’s beloved ‘rat hole’ was actually made by a squirrel

Scientists reopen the case of “splatatouille”

14 Oct 2025  By Celina Zhao

11. Ancient chewing gum could reveal how early men and women split up their chores

Birch bark tar, used as chewing gum and glue, provides rare window into life 6000 years ago

14 Oct 2025  By Celina Zhao

12. DNA from rum-soaked fishes chronicles century of environmental change

Museum specimens collected during a 1907 marine expedition reveal loss of genetic diversity in the Philippines

13 Oct 2025  By Erik Stokstad

13. Economics Nobel celebrates researchers who showed how science and technology drive growth

Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt explained why the past 2 centuries have seen sustained economic growth rather than stagnation

13 Oct 2025  By Cathleen O’Grady