Animals
- Animals
The right bacterial mix could help frogs take the heat
Wood frog tadpoles that receive a transplant of green frog bacteria can swim in warm waters, revealing another role for microbiomes: heat tolerance.
- Paleontology
A one-of-a-kind trilobite fossil hints at what and how these creatures ate
The preserved contents suggest the trilobite fed almost continuously and had a gut environment with an alkaline or neutral pH, researchers say.
By Sid Perkins - Animals
Seen Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster? Data suggest the odds are low
Floe Foxon is a data scientist by day. But in his free time, he applies his skills to astronomy, cryptology and sightings of mythical creatures.
By Meghan Rosen - Animals
These brainless jellyfish use their eyes and bundles of nerves to learn
No brain? No problem for Caribbean box jellyfish. Their seemingly simple nervous systems can learn to avoid obstacles on sight, a study suggests.
- Animals
For the first time, researchers decoded the RNA of an extinct animal
The Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, was hunted nearly to extinction. Now RNA extracted from a museum specimen reveals how its cells functioned.
- Health & Medicine
A catalog of all human cells reveals a mathematical pattern
Smaller cells occur in larger numbers in the human body, and cells of different size classes contribute equally to our overall mass.
- Animals
Some cannibal pirate spiders trick their cousins into ‘walking the plank’
A pirate spider in Costa Rica uses a never-before-seen hunting strategy that exploits the way other spiders build webs.
- Animals
A little snake’s big gulp may put all other snakes to shame
The humble Gans’ egg-eater can wrap its mouth around bigger prey than any other snake of its size.
- Animals
Wild male palm cockatoos rock out with custom drumsticks
Along with flashy dances and distinctive drumbeats, these birds craft their own signature drumsticks to win over mates.
By Elise Cutts - Animals
The world’s highest-dwelling mammal isn’t the only rodent at extreme elevation
After discovering a mouse living nearly 7,000 meters above sea level, scientists scoured other extreme environments to make sure the find wasn’t a fluke.
By Meghan Rosen - Ecosystems
‘Crossings’ explores the science of road ecology
Ben Goldfarb talks about his new book, which looks at the science that’s helping to prevent animals from becoming roadkill.
By Amanda Heidt - Health & Medicine
Scientists grow humanized kidneys in pig embryos
The work represents an important advance in the methods needed to grow humanized kidneys, hearts, and pancreases in animals.
By Amanda Heidt