Animals
- Life
The top side of an elephant’s trunk stretches more than the bottom
New research on elephant trunks could inspire different artificial skins for soft robots.
- Animals
Do gophers farm roots? It’s not as clear as viral articles claim
Pocket gophers aerate and fertilize the soil in a practice that encourages rudimentary food production, researchers claim. But not everyone agrees.
- Tech
This octopus-inspired glove helps humans grip slippery objects
The human hand, for all its deftness, is not great at grasping slippery stuff. A new glove aims to change that.
- Animals
Tardigrades could teach us how to handle the rigors of space travel
Tardigrades can withstand X-rays, freezing and vacuum. Now researchers are learning how they do it, with an eye toward human space travel.
- Environment
Flower shape and size impact bees’ chances of catching gut parasites
Bumblebees have higher chances of contracting a gut parasite from short, wide flowers than from blooms with other shapes, experiments show.
- Health & Medicine
The flowery scent of a Zika or dengue infection lures mosquitoes
Mice and humans infected with dengue emit acetophenone, attracting bloodsucking mosquitoes that could then transmit the viruses to new hosts.
- Animals
Ed Yong’s ‘An Immense World’ reveals how animals perceive the world
The book showcases the diverse sensory abilities of other animals and how their view of the world is different from our own.
- Life
Here’s how sea anemones launch their venomous stingers
Starlet sea anemones use speedy projectiles to sting predators and prey. New images capture a detailed look at these weapons in action.
- Paleontology
Megatooth sharks may have been higher on the food chain than any ocean animal ever
Some megalodons and their ancestors were the ultimate apex predators, outeating all known marine animals, researchers report.
- Animals
50 years ago, eels’ navigation skills electrified scientists
Excerpt from the June 24, 1972 issue of Science News
- Animals
These tiny marsupials survived wildfires only to face extinction from feral cats
The Kangaroo Island dunnart was one species seen to reemerge after 2019–2020 Australian bushfires but is now closer than ever to extinction.
- Ecosystems
Some polar bears in Greenland survive on surprisingly little sea ice
“Glacial mélange” could provide a last refuge for some bears as the Earth warms, but climate action is needed to preserve the species, researchers say.
