Carnivore

Many of the videos on Isabella Ma’s TikTok page feature the same approximate thumbnail: a grinning Ma, with razor-sharp cheekbones, stick-straight black hair, and flawlessly appointed eyebrows, her mouth wide open, poised to take a bite out of a giant stick of butter, as if it were a freshly peeled banana. Sometimes, she’ll be poised over a giant bowl of ground beef, or a baking sheet covered in ribs. But the butter is the star of the show.  “People want to see me eat butter,” she tells Rolling Stone. “When I take…

3D rendering of a Neanderthal man. Credit: RaveeCG/Shutterstock Imagine that you have an unhealthy interest in your neighbors' lives. Unable to ask them directly, you rifle through their rubbish bins. You find the bones of cooked chickens and try and work out what else they eat. This is a bit like how archaeologists study the diets of…

Carnivorous plants like this sundew are found on every continent except Antarctica, but they only grow in very specific habitats.Photo: Lauren Leffer / GizmodoOn a recent reporting trip out West, I found myself surrounded by hundreds of vicious carnivores, all soaking their prey in a corrosive mix of flesh-eating enzymes. In a California bog, I stood in a field of carnivorous plants. The sticky sundews held their sparkling, modified leaves just an inch or so off the ground, digesting insects ensnared in their numerous…

Life reconstruction of Edmontosaurus. Credit: Natee Puttapipat, CC-BY 4.0Data from fossils and modern carcasses indicates a simple path to preserving dinosaur skin.Dinosaur “mummies” aren’t as exceptional as we might expect. That’s because of a relatively simple process of desiccation (drying out) and deflation, according to a study by Stephanie Drumheller of the University of Tennessee–Knoxville and colleagues that was published on October 12, 2022, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.The term “mummy” is often used to…

The biggest shark in our oceans already has a reputation for being a gentle giant, and it seems there's more to this than we ever realized. Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are filter feeders, thought to carefully comb the waters for tiny animals like krill.  Among the litany of tiny swimmers they scoop up are greens consisting of algae and other photosynthesizing organisms. This can't be avoided, but researchers have wondered whether this vegetation is merely a garnish for the carnivore, or if it provides a side salad…

| Of late, DC Comics has depicted Poison Ivy as vegetarian or vegan across comic books, graphic novels, cartoons and TV shows. She doesn't push it on others, but that's her thing. She lets others make their own choices. Here are a bunch (hat tip to some extraordinary research from More Bedside Books) As Bleeding Cool pointed out last month, today's Poison Ivy #2 doubles down on her new status. In today's Poison Ivy, not only is Pamela calling herself a carnivore, but she throws disdain on vegans. Before going on…