When raised on land, a primitive, air-breathing fish walks much better than its water-raised comrades, according to a new study. The landlubbers even undergo skeletal changes that improve their locomotion. The work may provide clues to how the first swimmers adapted to terrestrial life.    The

The fossil of an extinct, carnivorous crustacean is providing clues to its mysterious relatives’ place in the evolutionary tree. Thylacares brandonensis was found in 435-million-year-old mudstone in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Other members of its clan, the thylacocephalans, are so bizarre that

Afraid of falling from a great height? Maybe snakes are, too. New research shows that several species of these legless reptiles, when climbing a wrist-thick pole, grip it more tightly than strictly necessary to keep from plummeting to the ground. In lab experiments, researchers first had 10 snakes