Animals

Chemistry

Silk

Mimicking how spiders make their complex array of silks could usher in a tapestry of new materials, and other animals or plants could be designed to be the producers.

Life

Morse Toad: When amphibians tap their toes

Toe wiggling creates motions, vibrations that get potential prey moving.

Animals

Bat syndrome’s telltale white nose-mold new to science

Newly cultured fungus named as a suspect in deadly white-nose syndrome

Animals

Farm chemicals can indirectly hammer frogs

A widely used agricultural weed killer teams up with fertilizer to render frogs especially vulnerable to debilitating parasites.

Animals

Not Your Father’s Song

The next generation of birds chooses its music.

Animals

Honeybees still at risk

Bees still suffering from colony collapse disorder.

Animals

Spider males good for mating, food

Expectant mothers, including spiders, need to eat well. For Mediterranean tarantulas, a male suitor tastes just fine.

Animals

I, Magpie

Some magpies recognize themselves in mirrors, indicating that a basic form of self-recognition evolved in one family of birds.

Animals

Built for Speed

Animals would prove fierce competitors at the Olympics — if only they would stay in their lanes.

Animals

We all sing like fish

From opera singers to toadfish, vertebrates may use basically similar circuitry for controlling vocal muscles.

Animals

Brains for a change

Outsized brains may have sped up evolution of body size in birds.

Life

Young tasmanian devil moms

Tasmanian devils have started mating much earlier in response to an epidemic, called facial tumor disease, that is wiping out much of their population.