Animals
- Science & Society
An app to track firefly flashings
This summer, you can contribute to citizen science by tracking lightning bugs in your backyard.
- Plants
These trees don’t mind getting robbed
Desert teak trees in India produce more fruit after they’ve been visited by nectar robbers.
- Ecosystems
Moose drool can undermine grass defenses
Saliva from moose and reindeer sabotages plants’ chemical weaponry.
- Life
Mouse sperm parties make for straight swimmers
Mouse sperm hunt for eggs in packs, but grouping doesn’t boost speed. Instead, gangs of the reproductive cells move in straighter lines.
- Animals
Elephant’s big nose wins most sensitive sniffer
A genetic survey reveals that African elephants harbor more smell sensors than any other known animal.
- 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.
- Microbes
Gut microbes help packrats eat poison
Antiobiotics and fecal transplants in desert woodrats shown that gut microbes can help plant-eaters metabolize toxins.
- Ecosystems
Offshore wind farms may be seal feeding grounds
Harbor seals were tracked visiting offshore wind farms, probably to find food, researchers say.
- Life
You don’t have to go to Antarctica to see wild penguins
Tourists can visit many species of wild penguins outside of Antarctica.
- Earth
Bird’s-eye views of the globe highlight avian trouble spots
Recent maps reveal trouble spots for the world’s imperiled birds.
- Life
Domesticated animals’ juvenile appearance tied to embryonic cells
Mild defects in embryonic cells could explain physical similarities along with tameness across domesticated species.
- Animals
That stinky gorilla may be trying to say something
Scientists have found the first evidence of wild gorillas communicating by scent.
