A paper published last year in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface described a feather as a masterpiece of engineering ...

What is heavier: 1 kilogram of feathers or 1 kilogram of steel? Whilst the answer to this classic riddle is that they both weigh the same amount, it may be surprising to discover that the color of a ...

Birds are some of the most striking creatures on Earth, coming in a rainbow of colors that serve several important functions, such as attracting a mate and communicating with other birds. These ...

Note to editors: Photos of the Himalayan birds studied by the research team and other associated press materials can be found via Dropbox here (password: feathers). Feathers are a sleek, intricate ...

One of the remarkable abilities that birds possess is their ability to regenerate the feathers that they shed. Unlike human ...

Research assistant James Whatton confirms the feathers in front of him belong to a gray catbird. Credit: Smithsonian In the hallways of the National Museum of Natural History—past the bathrooms, the ...

Feathers are a sleek, intricate evolutionary innovation that makes flight possible for birds, but in addition to their stiff, aerodynamic feathers used for flight, birds also keep a layer of soft, ...