6,697 results
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Susan Milius, your guide to the peculiarities of nature
Editor in chief Nancy Shute writes about the rambling route Susan Milius, life sciences writer, took before landing at Science News. And how we're all richer for her writing.
- Animals
How a tiny spider uses silk to lift prey 50 times its own weight
Dropping the right silk can haul mice, lizards and other giants up off the ground.
- Life
More ‘murder hornets’ are turning up. Here’s what you need to know
Two more specimens of the world’s largest hornet have just been found in North America.
- Animals
A wasp was caught on camera attacking and killing a baby bird
Some wasps scavenge carrion or pluck parasites off birds, but reports of attacks on live birds are rare.
- Animals
Some spiders may spin poisonous webs laced with neurotoxins
The sticky silk threads of spider webs may be hiding a toxic secret: potent neurotoxins that paralyze a spider’s prey.
- Animals
This rare bird is male on one side and female on the other
Researchers at Powdermill Nature Reserve near Pittsburgh spotted a bird with pink male coloring on half of its body and yellow female hues on the other.
- Animals
A fish’s fins may be as sensitive to touch as fingertips
Newfound parallels between fins and fingers suggest that touch-sensing limbs evolved early, setting the stage for a shared way to sense surroundings.
- Animals
Culling dingoes with poison may be making them bigger
Meat laced with toxic powder has been used for decades to kill dingoes. Now, dingoes in baited areas are changing: They’re getting bigger.
- Animals
Bright yellow spots help some orb weaver spiders lure their next meal
Experiments with cardboard arachnids suggest that orb weaver spiders have evolved yellow colorations on their undersides to attract bees and moths.
- Life
How thin, delicate butterfly wings keep from overheating
Structures in butterfly wings help living tissues such as veins release more heat than the rest of the wing.
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- Ecosystems
Tapirs may be key to reviving the Amazon. All they need to do is poop
Brazilian ecologist Lucas Paolucci is collecting tapir dung to understand how the piglike mammals may help restore degraded rain forests.
