Mostly everyone assumes that chickens were the first bird to be domesticated. But were they? © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter It is often argued that taming wildlife and keeping them in captivity was our most consequential accomplishment because these animals provided a steady and secure source…

When just a few family lineages dominate the overall genetic diversity in small, endangered populations, these populations become highly inbred, making them vulnerable to catastrophes like disease outbreaks © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter When a family lineage produces no surviving descendants, its genetic diversity is lost…

An exquisitely preserved fossil skeleton of a long-extinct owl unearthed in the Tibetan Plateau reveals this species hunted by day, marking a dramatic shift in our understanding of owl evolution © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter A team of scientists based in China report they have found…

Parrots apparently evolved larger brain sizes so they could solve problems that might otherwise have killed them, and their braininess ended up promoting their long-term survival © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter Why are parrots so long-lived? It’s an obvious question that is not well understood by…

Beautifully illustrated with photographs of mollusc shells held by the Natural History Museum in London, this appealing book educates and inspires simply by showing and telling us about the animals that created these stunning works of art © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter Who ever though that…

An international team of scientists discovered a new species of mesophotic coral reef-dwelling fish in the Indian Ocean © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter An international team of scientists just announced the discovery of a tropical marine fish in the Maldives, an archipelago comprising 26 island atolls…

A provocative hybrid of science fact and novelistic imagination that invites the reader to ponder the psychological impact of scientific advances, focusing on developments in the 20th century that led to widespread changes in how we understand the world © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter We rise…

Some species go extinct twice — one time when the last individual stops breathing, and a second time when our collective memory about the species disappears — © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter An international team of scientists recently published a study arguing that species can go extinct twice: there is the biological extinction event, that tragic moment when the last member of a species lives no more, but there’s also societal extinction, which…

Like something out of a science fiction novel, a common ornamental fish from Asia that scientists bioengineered to glow in the dark has escaped captivity and now swims freely in southeastern Brazil’s Atlantic forest creeks where it may threaten local biodiversity © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter …