Animals
- Earth
Bird deaths blamed on vitamin deficiency
Shortage of thiamine may have been killing birds in the Baltic and possibly elsewhere for some 25 years.
- Animals
Turtles make sense after all
The odd bodies of turtles add a wrinkle to standard land-dwelling vertebrates.
- Animals
Megafish Sleuth: No Steve Irwin
There's no reason a scientist can't be an action hero — even if his damsels in distress have fins.
- Earth
Monster stingrays: Field notes from a global wrangler
A megafish biologist shares what he's learning about a rare freshwater species.
- Life
Climate change shrinks sheep
Milder winters help small, weak lambs survive but more competition for food slows growth.
- Animals
Bat face shapes sound
An oversized appendage in Bourret’s horseshoe bats may aid in long-distance signals.
- Life
Beetle philandering doesn’t work out for the ladies
A common idea about the benefits of multiple matings for females turns out to be wrong for seed beetles.
- Life
Mosquito fish count comrades to stay alive
New experiments indicate that mosquito fish can count small numbers of companions swimming in different groups, an ability that apparently evolved to assist these fish in avoiding predators.
- Ecosystems
From sea to squid, thanks to slime
Scientists have revealed new details about the genes — and the goo — that enable luminescent bacteria to colonize their symbiotic marine partner.
- Life
Tickling apes reveals laughter’s origins
Roots of laughter go back at least 10 to 16 million years, study of romping apes suggests.
- Life
Phony fighters discovered among fig wasps
A newly discovered species of fig wasp has a fraction of dishonest guys with big mouthparts.
- Animals
Extensive toolkits give chimps a taste of honey
Chimps living in central Africa’s dense forests make and use complex sets of tools to gather honey from beehives, further narrowing the gap between the way humans and chimps use tools.
