Researchers have 3D-printed models of the shells of ancient ammonites and nautiluses to learn more about how the marine creatures evolved, saying the ammonites' complex internal patterns, called sutures, may have helped them be more buoyant. "The 3-D printed models allow the fabrication of incredibly intricate chamber walls that have details comparable to the living animals," said David Peterman, author of a study on the process published in Scientific Reports.

Female Indian jumping ants can fight to become queen but it costs them in brain size, a study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B suggests. Winning queens' brains shrink by as much as a quarter in size so the ants can channel all their resources into reproduction, but when their reproduction duties end, their brains return to their pre-queen sizes.

Northern paper wasps separated from group living may experience difficulty recognizing the faces of other wasps in their community, a study in Biology Letters suggests. Researchers observed the wasps after they emerged from their cocoons, isolating some and allowing others to socialize, then they examined the wasps brains, finding differences between the social wasps and the solitary ones.

Astronomers have created a massive catalog of binary stars in our galaxy, with about 1.3 million pairs not that far from Earth, according to findings published in share the details in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The catalog was created using data from the Gaia space observatory.

New star clusters are taking shape on the edge of the Milky Way, according to a study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The find has puzzled scientists because stars usually form near the center of the galaxy, not in its outer edges. Astronomers in Brazil, who made the discovery, speculate that either supernovas hurled dust and gas to the outer edges of the Milky Way, or the material came from outside.