A first draft of the "tree of life" for the roughly 2.3 million named species of animals, plants, fungi and microbes – from platypuses to puffballs – has been released.

Invisibility cloaks are a staple of science fiction and fantasy, from Star Trek to Harry Potter, but don't exist in real life, or do they?

Scientists believe that about 4 billion years ago, during a period called the Late Heavy Bombardment, the moon took a severe beating

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School are the first to show that it's possible to reverse the behavior of an animal by flipping a switch in neuronal communication.

Researchers from CSIRO and Imperial College London have assessed how widespread the threat of plastic is for the world's seabirds, including albatrosses, shearwaters and penguins, and found the majority of seabird species have plastic in their gut.

Global life expectancy has risen by more than six years since 1990 as healthy life expectancy grows; ischemic heart disease, lower respiratory infections, and stroke cause the most health loss around the world.

Among our greatest achievements as humans, some might say, is our cumulative technological culture – the tool-using acumen that is passed from one generation to the next.

Toronto researchers have discovered that a single molecular event in our cells could hold the key to how we evolved to become the smartest animal on the planet.

The fact that the greatest diversity of large mammals is found in Africa reflects past human activities – and not climatic or other environmental constraints.

A computer science team at The University of Texas at Austin has found that robots evolve more quickly and efficiently after a virtual mass extinction modeled after real-life disasters such as the one that killed off the dinosaurs.

Marine organisms living in acidified waters exhibit a tendency to nurture their offspring to a greater extent than those in more regular conditions.

Astronomers have uncovered a unique process for how the universe's largest elliptical galaxies continue making stars long after their peak years of star birth.

Gravity, one of the four fundamental forces of nature, appears reassuringly constant across the Universe, according to a decades-long study of a distant pulsar.

Organic molecules never previously observed in comets, a relatively varied structure on the surface but fairly homogeneous interior, organic compounds forming agglomerates rather than being dispersed in the ice: these are just some of first results provided by Philae on the surface of comet Churi.

Hidden secrets about life in Somerset 190 million years ago have been revealed by researchers at the University of Bristol and the Bath

Scientists have discovered a striking new species of horned dinosaur (ceratopsian) based on fossils collected from a bone bed in southern Alberta, Canada.

Gamma-ray bursts are one of the outcomes associated with the biggest explosions to have taken place since the Big Bang.

The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft first began orbiting comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August 2014. Almost immediately, scientists began to wonder about several surprisingly deep, almost perfectly circular pits on the comet's surface. Now, a

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have discovered an immense cloud of hydrogen dubbed "The Behemoth" bleeding off a planet orbiting a nearby star. The enormous, comet-like feature is about 50 times the size of the parent star. The hydrogen is evaporating from a warm, Neptune-sized planet, because of the extreme radiation from the star.

A dog is not just a pet; rather he is a friend, a partner and a defender. His master is in turn his life, his love and his leader.