Animals
- Ecosystems
Long-ignored, high-flying arthropods could make up largest land migrations
Forget birds. 3.5 trillion insects, spiders and mites a year fly over the southern United Kingdom.
- Animals
Tales of creatures large and small made news this year
Scientists filled in the details of some famous evolutionary tales in 2016 — and discovered a few surprises about creatures large and small.
- Animals
For some salamanders, finding a mate is a marathon
Small-mouthed salamanders will travel close to nine kilometers on average to mate, a new study finds.
- Animals
Chimps look at behinds the way we look at faces
Humans demonstrate something called the inversion effect when gazing at faces. Chimpanzees do this too — when looking at other chimps’ butts.
- Animals
Genome clues help explain the strange life of seahorses
Researchers have decoded the genetic instruction manual of a seahorse (Hippocampus comes) and found clues to its nearly 104-million-year evolutionary history.
- Climate
Year in review: Sea ice loss will shake up ecosystems
Researchers are studying the complex biological consequences of polar melting and opening Arctic passageways.
- Animals
Why crested penguins lay mismatched eggs
After long migratory swims, crested penguins lay one small and one larger egg.
- Animals
Why a mountain goat is a better climber than you
For the first time, scientists have analyzed how a mountain goat climbs a cliff. Big muscles in the shoulder and neck help a lot, they find.
- Animals
First spider superdads discovered
Male spiders first known to give up solitary life for offspring care, often as a single parent.
- Astronomy
Scientific success depends on finding light in darkness
Editor in chief Eva Emerson discusses using cleverness and persistence to uncover scientific truths.
- Animals
Plant-eating mammals sport bigger bellies than meat eaters
Mammalian plant eaters have bigger torsos than meat eaters, a new analysis confirms, but the same might not have held true for dinosaurs.
- Animals
Animals give clues to the origins of human number crunching
Guppies, dogs, chickens, crows, spiders — lots of animals have number sense without knowing numbers.
