1,562 results
- Plants
This parasitic plant consists of just flashy flowers and creepy suckers
With only four known species, Langsdorffia are thieves stripped down to their essentials.
- Animals
Flipping a molecular switch can turn warrior ants into foragers
Toggling one protein soon after hatching makes Florida carpenter ants turn from fighting to hunting for food.
- Life
Saharan silver ants are the world’s fastest despite relatively short legs
Saharan silver ants can hit speeds of 108 times their body length per second.
- Animals
Bee larvae drum with their butts, which may confuse predatory wasps
Dual percussion instruments — one on the head, the other on the rear — give mason bee larvae a peculiar musical gift that may be a tool for survival.
- Animals
Naked mole-rat colonies speak with unique dialects
Machine learning reveals that these social rodents communicate with distinctive speech patterns that are culturally inherited.
- Animals
Naked mole-rats invade neighboring colonies and steal babies
Naked mole-rats invade neighboring colonies, steal pups and evict any others left behind. The show of force may be central to their underground lifestyle.
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Readers were curious about a new depression drug and more
Readers had questions about ketamine, bourbon, a universal mystery and more.
- Animals
A deadly fungus gives ‘zombie’ ants a case of lockjaw
Clues left on infected ant jaws may reveal how the ‘zombie-ant-fungus’ contracts ant muscles to make their death grip.
- 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.
- Quantum Physics
To live up to the hype, quantum computers must repair their error problems
Before quantum computers can reach their potential, scientists will need to master quantum error correction.
- Ecosystems
Wildfires launch microbes into the air. How big of a health risk is that?
How does wildfire smoke move bacteria and fungi — and what harm might they do to people when they get there?
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