teeth

New device inspired by python teeth may reduce risk of rotator cuff re-tear

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Schematic of the python-inspired device, placed between tendon and bone, significantly improves standard rotator cuff repair. Credit: Iden Kurtaliaj/Columbia Engineering When most people think of pythons, they visualize the enormous snake constricting and swallowing its victims whole. But did you know that pythons initially hold their prey with their sharp, backward-curving teeth? Medical researchers have … Read more

New piranha-like fish with ‘human teeth’ and Eye of Sauron marking found deep in the Amazon

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A comapriosn between the Eye of Sauron (left ) and Myloplus sauron (right)

A new species of piranha-like fish has been discovered in the Amazon after secretly disguising itself as another, almost identical species for almost 200 years. Scientists have named the newly discovered fish after the dark lord Sauron from JRR Tolkien’s fantasy epic ‘The Lord of the Rings’. However, the fish is not nearly as scary … Read more

Bizarre egg-laying mammals once ruled Australia, but then lost their teeth

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Enlarge / The echidna, an egg-laying mammal, does not develop teeth. Outliers among mammals, monotremes lay eggs instead of producing live young. Only two species of monotremes still exist, the platypus and the echidna, but about 100 million years ago there were more monotreme species. Some of them may be even stranger than their descendants. … Read more