Megapropodiphora arnoldi is so teeny. (Credits: Left, B. Brown; Right, I. Strazhnik)

Megapropodiphora arnoldi - B. Brown and I. Strazhnik

Mark Barna

Year in Science

January/February 2019

Scientists named it after Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Smallest Fly Ever Found

Ancient crocodile

A prehistoric species that looked like a bizarre fusion between a crocodile and an armadillo populated parts of South America during the Late Cretaceous. Here's everything you need to know about Armadillosuchus arrudai. 

A Crocodile Equipped with Armadillo Armor Once Roamed Earth

Charlotte is a Urolophus halleri, or round ray, a species of stingray native to the tropical and subtropical seas of the coastal Pacific. (Credit: Iliuta Goean/Shutterstock)

A round ray (Urolophus halleri) sitting above the sand. 

Though the pregnancy of Charlotte, a captive round ray in North Carolina, seems to suggest that stingrays and sharks are capable of mating, scientists say otherwise.

Stingray-Shark Mating Isn't Possible, Even if a Lone Stingray Ends up Pregnant

A rendering of a pleurocystitid alongside a robot modeled after a pleurocystitid. (Credit: Image courtesy of Richard Desatnik)

A rendering of a pleurocystitid and a robot modeled after a pleurocystitid.

Fossil animals are informing the field of soft robotics, and applications are abundant.

An Ancient Stingray Lookalike Inspires Underwater Soft Robotics

The Surgeon's Photograph: Famous 1934 photo purported to be the Loch Ness Monster. Real or hoax? (Credit: Public domain/Wikimedia Commons)

1934 photo purported to be the Loch Ness Monster

Mythical creature, dinosaur that time forgot, or complete hoax? Here’s what we really know about Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster.

The Hunt for the Loch Ness Monster: Sightings and Theories You Need to Know

Fossils from the Sirius Passet fossil locale suggest that the Timorebestia arrow worms were among the fierest predators of the open ocean, 518 million years ago. (Credit: Artwork by Bob Nicholls/@BobNichollsArt)

A reconstruction of the pelagic ecosystem and the organisms fossilised in Sirius Passet, revealing how Timorebestia was one of the largest predators in the water column more than 518 million years ago

Beware the biggest predator of the Cambrian oceans: an arrow worm with a massive, arthropod-munching maw.

518 Million Years Ago, the Biggest, Baddest Predators Were… Worms?

A cute, colorful jumping spider sits on a leaf. (Credit: Tran The Ngoc/Shutterstock)

A cute, colorful jumping spider sits on a leaf

Cute and clever, these tiny spiders are a favorite of many arachnologists. See what makes jumping spiders so special, including their intelligence, appearance, and affability.

The Smallest Fly Ever Found

Scientists named it after Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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