@theU

In 1991, a volcano in the Philippines had the second-most powerful volcanic eruption of the 20th century. Its effects were devastating—but a mouse feared to have gone extinct survived.

The African crested rat’s fur is packed with a poison so lethal just a few miligrams can kill a human. Biologists confirmed where it gets its poison, and uncovered an unexpected social life.

Millions of specimens are sitting in museums all over the world, but a lack of digital records make them hard to find and study. Help biologists discover parasite biodiversity.

To understand the environmental pressures that shaped human evolution, scientists must first piece together the details of the ancient plant and animal communities that our fossil ancestors lived in over the past 7 million years.