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Great for killing, and for research: the lethal fangs of saber-toothed cats
Extinct for close to 10,000 years, the saber-toothed cat, Smilodon fatalis, still inspires passionate debate among palaeontologists. Foremost: how did it use its most distinguishing feature? Playfully animated, The Deadliest Tooth spotlights the US palaeontologist Jack Tseng’s research into Smilodon fatalis, including why he believes its formidable fangs were used for attacking rather than scavenging, and the surprising amount of information palaeontologists can now deduce from just a few fossils, including how saber-toothed cubs might have lived millennia ago.
Director: Flora Lichtman, Sharon Shattuck
Website: Sweet Fern Productions
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Ecology and environmental sciences
GPS tracking reveals stunning insights into the patterns of migratory birds
6 minutes
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Space exploration
The rarely told story of the fruit flies, primates and canines that preceded us in space
12 minutes
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Neuroscience
This intricate map of a fruit fly brain could signal a revolution in neuroscience
2 minutes
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Computing and artificial intelligence
The ‘cloud’ requires heaps of energy to stay aloft. Could synthetic DNA be the answer?
12 minutes
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Biology
Brilliant dots of colour form exquisite patterns in this close-up of butterfly wings
3 minutes
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Genetics
Why it took a century to work out that humans interbred with Neanderthals
22 minutes
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Evolution
How – and how not – to think about the role randomness plays in evolution
60 minutes
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Physics
The rhythms of a star system inspire a pianist’s transfixing performance
5 minutes
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Art
Watch as Japan’s surplus trees are transformed into forest-tinted crayons
4 minutes