Environment Animals Pets Dogs This deadly dog'spaghetti' has ancient origins Heartworm is one of the most widespread dog parasites. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Every year, millions of dogs come face-to-face with a life threatening parasite coiled up inside one of their vital organs--heartworm. The spaghetti-looking parasite can be fatal when left untreated. New research into the widespread canine parasite suggests that heartworm has a deeper and more complex history than scientists previously believed and some may have originated in Australian dingoes.

The 13-year-old bovine is crushing stereotypes of bovine intelligence. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. The smart animal club continues to add new members, and the newest might surprise you. A pet cow in Austria named Veronika picks up sticks with her mouth and uses them to scratch herself--which a team at University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna in Austria believes is tool use. Veronika and her ground-breaking scratching are detailed in a study published today in . "The findings highlight how assumptions about livestock intelligence may reflect gaps in observation rather than genuine cognitive limits," Alice Auersperg, a study co-author and cognitive biologist at the university, said in a statement .

Environment Animals Wildlife Don't pick up frozen iguanas When the temperatures drop, so do Florida's iguanas. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. In Florida, giant invasive pythons, the state's signature alligators, and bears that sometimes roam around theme parks are typically among the most upfront wildlife in the news. But when the temperatures drop, one reptile stands ready to take the limelight and also drop-- iguanas . When air temperatures get cold enough, the reptiles will get stunned (or freeze) and fall from trees.

Cheetahs were spotted on the Arabian Peninsula as recently as 1977. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Seven naturally-mummified cheetahs are more than just an exciting paleontological find. The specimens discovered in five caves near the city of Arar in northern Saudi Arabia offer a glimpse of hope for reintroducing the species to the Arabian Peninsula. The findings are described in a study published today in the journal .

A lot of people wanted to know who's dead. Wikipedia currently contains over 7.1 million entries in English alone. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. It's hard to imagine the internet without Wikipedia . But in the immediate years following its debut in 2001, many critics scoffed at the idea that a free, volunteer-run online encyclopedia could ever be considered a reputable source of information.

Archaeologists say they located a Black Death burial site containing some of a village's 12,000 dead. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. The Black Death () killed as much as half of Europe's total population between 1346 and 1353, so there are a of bodies buried across the continent. For example, contemporary accounts from Thuringia--a state in central Germany--report that about 12,000 plague victims died around Erfurt amid the city's outbreak in 1350. But despite multiple accounts attesting to this devastation, none of the 11 mass graves could be pinpointed for centuries.

Luke and Mike Bell's Peregrine 4 achieved the milestone barely a month after it was taken from them. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. A YouTuber and his father have once again reclaimed the Guinness World Record for fastest quadcopter drone . Soaring through the air at an average speed of 408 miles per hour, Luke and Mike Bell's Peregrine 4 highlights the latest intersection between engineering, creativity, and 3D-printing technology. The Bells' achievement arrives barely a month after Australian aerospace engineer Ben Biggs and his Blackbird drone set the now-previous world record at 389 mph.

The medieval'cog' was nearly 92 feet long and featured castles on its bow and stern. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Archaeologists in Denmark say a sunken Viking ship near Copenhagen is the largest boat of its kind ever discovered--and that's saying something. At nearly 92 feet long, the 600-year-old vessel is also one of the best preserved examples of a cog, a "super ship" whose advanced design and carrying capacity helped transform trade in medieval Europe. "The find is a milestone for maritime archaeology," excavation lead Otto Uldum said in a statement, adding the boat now offers a "unique opportunity to understand both the construction and life on board the biggest trading ships of the Middle Ages."

Race Against Rot shows how engaging with community may be a valuable resource. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. New research gathered with the help of a free-to-play video game indicates most people are happy to help their fellow neighbors, even if it costs them a bit of cash. According to the designers of Race Against Rot, their social experiment suggests that some new strategies to address longstanding issues facing both small-scale farmers and their nearby communities could be beneficial. Environmentalists and sustainable food system advocates alike have long stressed the importance of supporting small farms, but it's easier said than done.

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday.