Science Daily

• The asteroid killed the dinosaurs. Why did crocodiles survive?

  Scientists may have solved a 66-million-year-old mystery: how crocodiles survived the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. A sweeping analysis of fossils and ancient climates suggests that their preference for warm environments placed them in tropical refuges that remained habitable even after the catastrophic impact.

• Scientists discover mysterious seahorse lookalikes that no one has ever seen alive

  Scientists have discovered that three bizarre deep-sea fish that look exactly like seahorses actually belong to a separate evolutionary group, proving that nature created the same unusual body shape more than once. Nicknamed "sea muppets," these elusive creatures are known from just seven specimens, and no one has ever seen one alive.

• Scientists reveal a hidden snakebite crisis killing up to 513,000 people a year

  A startling new study suggests that venomous snakebites are killing far more people worldwide than official statistics indicate, with an estimated 274,000 to 513,000 deaths every year. Researchers found that as many as 7 million people could suffer snake envenoming annually, while more than 800,000 survivors are left with long-term disabilities.

• 128,000-year-old ice in Tibet could rewrite climate history

  Ancient ice discovered high in Tibet may be more than 128,000 years old, preserving an extraordinary record of Earth's climate that scientists previously thought had been lost. The discovery reveals a rare glimpse into the last ice age and could reshape our understanding of how glaciers survive dramatic changes in global climate.

• A 700,000-year-old elephant tooth reveals a lost world where early humans lived

  A remarkably preserved elephant tooth dating back nearly 700,000 years has revealed a surprisingly lush prehistoric world where giant elephants and early humans lived side by side. Discovered in northern Israel alongside ancient stone tools, the tooth belonged to a straight-tusked elephant, one of the largest land mammals of the Ice Age.