Animals
- Life
Forget mice, elephants intimidated by ants
Swarms of little nuisances have an outsized effect on who nibbles which trees in the African savanna.
- Animals
Sex, crickets and videotape
Security cameras focused on insects in the wild are looking at whether lab science has gotten the singing, mating and fighting right.
- Animals
Diversified portfolio yields benefit for salmon stocks
Local diversity keeps sockeye from going bust every few years, a study finds.
- Life
Artificial butterfly mixes high, low tech
Model shows importance of wing veins and bobbing flight to keeping swallowtails aloft.
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- Animals
Argonauts use shells as flotation devices
The octopus relatives create their own buoyancy devices by gulping and hoarding air from the surface.
- Animals
Fight or flee, it’s in the pee
Researchers get a better understanding of how mice smell a rat, or a cat, and maybe even a snake.
- Animals
Mirror, mirror on the wall, you’re the scariest fish of all
That thing in the mirror may be more upsetting than a real fish.
- Animals
Aphids make their own bright colors
The insects’ ancestors adapted fungal DNA for manufacturing vital compounds.
- Animals
Chimps may be aware of others’ deaths
Reactions of chimps to dead companions and infants suggest a basic realization of what death entails.
- Animals
Male spiders have safe(r) sex with siblings
In a cannibalistic species, brothers minimize risk when mating with their sisters.
- Ecosystems
Pigeons usually let best navigator take the lead
One bird usually leads the flock, but sometimes another gets a turn at the helm.
