Until the 1970s, all microbes without a nucleus were lumped in with bacteria. By comparing their ribosomal RNA, Carl Woese and George Fox showed that some formed a group as distant from bacteria as we are: the archaea. Life has since been divided into three domains, and recent research suggests your own cells descend partly from an archaeon.
In 2022, a young tagged bar-tailed godwit flew from Alaska to Tasmania in about 11 days of nonstop flight, covering 13,560 km without eating, drinking or landing. Before departure, these birds pile on huge fat reserves and shrink their digestive organs, which are useless during the journey.
To escape rivals, a dung beetle rolls its ball of dung in a straight line. At night, it holds its course using the glowing band of the Milky Way. In a planetarium, researchers showed that beetles rolled straight under a starry sky but wandered aimlessly when the galaxy was switched off. It was the first animal known to navigate this way.