Animals
- Animals
Methylation turns a wannabe bumblebee into a queen
Epigenetic changes to bumblebee DNA turns a worker into a reproductive pseudo-queen, suggesting that genomic imprinting could be responsible for the bumblebee social system.
- Animals
A tiny ocean vortex, with pop art pizzazz
Coral polyps kick up a whirling vortex of water by whipping their hairlike cilia back and forth in the photography winner of the 2013 International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge.
- Animals
We’re only noticing the snowy owls
A lemming boom last summer probably led to rises in populations of several predator species.
- Animals
Fish lose their fear on a denuded reef
Juvenile damselfish lose their ability to smell danger when in a degraded habitat.
- Neuroscience
Like people, dogs have brain areas that respond to voices
MRI study may help explain how pups understand human communication.
- Life
Fins and wings alike share design features
Animals have adapted a number of different ways to swim and fly. But new research suggests that wings, fins and flukes share a couple of basic design parameters.
- Animals
Elephants offer a reassuring touch in stressful times
Elephants seem to comfort their comrades in times of need, hinting that the animals may have the capacity for complicated mental feats such as empathy.
- Animals
Why was Marius, the euthanized giraffe, ever born?
The problem of ‘surplus’ zoo animals reveals a divide on animal contraceptives.
- Animals
A weighted butt gives chickens a dinosaur strut
Scientists put wooden tails on chickens to learn how small feathered dinosaurs moved, with results captured on video.
- Climate
Sharks could serve as ocean watchdogs
Tagged with sensors, toothy fish gather weather and climate data in remote Pacific waters.
- Animals
Secret feather flaps help a falcon control its dive
The pop-up feathers of a falcon act similar to flaps on an airplane’s wing.
- Genetics
Genes involved in dog OCD identified
Scientists say they have identified several of the genes that trigger obsessive-compulsive disorder in Doberman pinschers, bullterriers, sheepdogs and German shepherds.
