Animals

  1. Animals

    That puffed-up pufferfish isn’t holding its breath

    Pufferfish can breathe just fine even when they puff themselves out with water, a new study finds.

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  2. Life

    Electric eels remote-control nervous systems of prey

    Electric eels’ high-voltage zaps turn a prey fish against itself, making it freeze in place or betray a hiding place.

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  3. Earth

    Feedback

    Readers comment on changing bird populations, question the usefulness of a new medical test and discuss the interesting physics behind rainbows.

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  4. Animals

    Platypuses are full of mystery

    With duck bills, webbed feet and venomous spikes, platypuses are one of the weirdest animals you’ll ever be lucky enough to see.

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  5. Neuroscience

    Dogs’ brains may process speech similar to humans’

    When it comes to interpreting human speech, dogs may have brain-hemisphere biases similar to people’s.

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  6. Animals

    10 bites of turkey trivia for your holiday meal

    Will turkeys really drown if they look up in a rainstorm? Can they fly? Where did the domestic turkey come from? Learn answers to these questions and more.

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  7. Animals

    Vulture guts are filled with noxious bacteria

    Vultures’ guts are chock-full of bacteria that sicken other creatures.

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  8. Genetics

    Genes linked to feather development predate dinosaurs

    The genes for feather development may have existed more than 100 million years before dinosaurs sported hints of the fluffy plumage.

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  9. Animals

    Fully formed froglets emerge from dry bamboo nurseries

    In remote India, a rare frog mates and lays eggs inside bamboo stalks. The eggs hatch into froglets, forgoing the tadpole stage.

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  10. Animals

    Scientists’ tags on fish may be leading seals to lunch

    In an experiment, 10 young grey seals learned to associate the sound of a pinging tag with fish. The tags may make fish vulnerable to predators, scientists say.

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  11. Animals

    Virus implicated in sea star die-off

    Sea stars on the west coast have been wasting away into puddles of slime. Now, scientists think they have pinpointed the virus that is causing the mass die-off of the dazzling marine creatures.

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  12. Life

    Springs bring gecko stickiness to human scale

    Springs of a stretchy alloy let gecko-inspired adhesives work at human scales to climb glass walls or grab space junk.

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