Cloudy with a chance of horned lizards

Many people go to Mexico for a relaxing beach vacation. But Burke scientists spent their "summer vacation" searching the desert for signs of the elusive horned lizard.

Horned lizards are especially diverse, including sixteen species that vary dramatically from each other (picture Thanksgiving dinner, when you're wondering how that crazy cousin could POSSIBLY be related to you).

Some give live birth like humans, while others lay eggs. Some can squirt blood out of their eye as a defense mechanism against predators, while others can’t. Not to mention, horn and tail lengths vary dramatically between the species. How, where, and why did these lizards adapt so differently from one another?

Science News Roundup: Mega crocs, mega fires and enamel-sporting crayfish!

Does this mean crayfish should brush?

A University of Iowa scientist has announced the discovery of the largest "true crocodile" in East Africa. At 27 feet long, Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni probably could have swallowed the 4-foot tall humans who lived alongside (but not too close!).

Analysis of a genetic database of horses indicates that domestic horses originated in the steppes of modern-day Ukraine, southwest Russia and west Kazakhstan and expanded out from there around 160,000 years ago. The herds were repeatedly restocked with wild horses as they spread across Eurasia, possibly by taking mares from the wild.