A new single, "Primrose Hill," was co-written by Sean Ono Lennon and James McCartney, the youngest sons of Beatles musicians John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
500 million years ago, the world was a very different place. During this period of time, known as the Cambrian period, basically all life was in the water. The ocean was brimming with animals that looked pretty different from the ones we recognize today — including a group of predatory worms with a throat covered in teeth and spines.
Researchers thought these tiny terrors died out at the end of the Cambrian period. But a paper published recently in the journal Biology Letters showed examples of a new species of this worm in the fossil record 25 million years after scientists thought they'd vanished from the Earth. One of the authors of the paper, Karma Nanglu, tells us how this finding may change how scientists understand the boundaries of time.
Curious about other weird wonders of the ancient Earth? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.
Some 200 servers speed-walked through Paris balancing trays of beverages and croissants on Sunday. Paris hasn't held a waiters race since 2011, but brought it back ahead of the Olympics.
Washington, D.C.'s famous cherry blossoms hit peak bloom this week. This will be the last season for about 150 of the famous flowering trees — they'll soon be cut down to adjust to sea-level rise.
Neuroscientist Nathan Sawtell has spent a lot of time studying the electric elephantnose fish. These fish send and decipher weak electric signals, which Sawtell hopes will eventually help neuroscientists better understand how the brain filters sensory information about the outside world. As Sawtell has studied these electric critters, he's had a lingering question: why do they always seem to organize themselves in a particular orientation. At first, he couldn't figure out why, but a new study released this week in Nature may have an answer: the fish are creating an electrical network larger than any field a single fish can muster alone, and providing collective knowledge about potential dangers in the surrounding water.
Want to hear us cover more animal news? Email the show at shortwave@npr.org to let us know!
We get a leap day only every four years. How will you spend it? Here's some inspiration from people celebrating all sorts of personal milestones — and those who just want to enjoy their extra day.
Why do we have leap years, and what are we supposed to do — or not do — with our rare extra day? NPR's Morning Edition spoke with experts in astronomy, history and economics to find out.
Lately, paleoecologist Audrey Rowe has been a bit preoccupied with a girl named Elma. That's because Elma is ... a woolly mammoth. And 14,000 years ago, when Elma was alive, her habitat in interior Alaska was rapidly changing. The Ice Age was coming to a close and human hunters were starting early settlements. Which leads to an intriguing question: Who, or what, killed her? In the search for answers, Audrey traces Elma's life and journey through — get this — a single tusk. Today, she shares her insights on what the mammoth extinction from thousands of years ago can teach us about megafauna extinctions today with guest host Nate Rott.
Thoughts on other ancient animal stories we should tell? Email us at shortwave@npr.org and we might make a future episode about it!
In a Valentine's Day exclusive report, NPR has learned there is currently a gay anteater couple at Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington D.C.But this couple is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to queerness in the animal world – it's been documented in hundreds of species. We spoke with wildlife ecologist Christine Wilkinson of the "Queer is Natural" TikTok series to uncover the wildest, queerest animals of the bunch.
Questions, comments or thoughts on queer animal love? Email us at shortwave@npr.org and we might feature it on a future episode!
Investors in dating app companies are suffering from heartbreak. As these companies shift gears and try to make a profit, many of their users are heartbroken too.
Guinness World Records at first rejected a tower replica that Richard Plaud made from more than 700,000 matchsticks. But on further review, the organization said it might have been too "heavy-handed."
