6,697 results
- Animals
Termite soldiers locate battles with vibrational clues
To locate invasions, termite soldiers listen for millisecond-long delays in vibrational distress signals sent out by other soldiers.
- Animals
Neandertal of ant farmers grows modern food
The most old-fashioned fungus-growing ant yet discovered grows a startlingly new-fangled crop.
- Plants
Tricky pitcher plants lure ants into a false sense of security
Carnivorous pitcher plants exploit social lives of ants as scouts escape and inadvertently lead nest mates to death trap.
- Animals
Five surprising animals that play
No one is shocked to find playful behavior in a cat, dog or other mammal. But scientists have documented play in plenty of other species, including reptiles and insects.
- Plants
Fairly bad pitcher traps triumph in the end
Carnivorous pitcher plant traps rarely catch much, but their lackadaisical hunting turns out not to be so lame after all.
- Plants
From lemons to kumquats, roots of citrus variety dug up
Citrus fruits’ lineage is traced through chloroplast DNA, revealing both maternal and paternal heritage.
- Animals
Some animals’ internal clocks follow a different drummer
Circadian clocks in some animals tick-tock to a different beat.
- Animals
A summer challenge: Observe nature
Opportunities for observing nature are plentiful, no matter where you live.
- Animals
Delicate spider takes down tough prey by attacking weak spots
The Loxosceles gaucho recluse spider can take down a heavily armored harvestman by attacking its weak spots, a new study reveals.
- Tech
Robo-fly steadies flight with onboard sensor
Scaling a robot to the size of a fly and stabilizing its flight with onboard sensors offers clues to how live insects stay steady in mid-air.
- Animals
Insect queens sterilize workers with similar chemical
When exposed to a form of saturated hydrocarbons that mimicked the queen’s scent, the worker insects’ ovaries degraded.
- Paleontology
Earliest tree-dweller, burrower join mammal tree of life
Fossils show mammal ancestors did a lot more than cower in dinosaurs’ shadows.
