Animals
- Animals
Relocated beavers helped mitigate some effects of climate change
Along a river in Washington state, the repositioned beavers built dams that lowered stream temperatures and boosted water storage.
- Tech
Scientists turned dead spiders into robots
In a new field dubbed “necrobotics,” researchers used a syringe and some superglue to control the dead bodies of wolf spiders.
- Animals
How slow and steady lionfish win the race against fast prey
Lionfish overcome speedy prey with persistent pursuit, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Other slow predatory fish may use the technique too.
- Animals
Whale sharks may be the world’s largest omnivores
An analysis of the sharks’ skin shows that the animals eat and digest algae.
- Life
Like bees of the sea, crustaceans ‘pollinate’ seaweed
Crustaceans shuttle around red algae’s sex cells, helping the seaweed reproduce in a manner remarkably similar to flower pollination.
- Animals
‘Murder hornets’ have a new common name: Northern giant hornet
Anti-Asian hate crimes helped push U.S. entomologists to give a colorful insect initially dubbed the Asian giant hornet a less inflammatory name.
- Life
Moths pollinate clover flowers at night, after bees have gone home
Camera footage reveals that moths make roughly a third of the visits to red clover, highlighting the overlooked role of nighttime pollinators.
- Animals
These huntsman spiders do something weird: live together as a big, happy family
Five unusual species of spider moms let youngsters live at home way past the cute waddling baby phase.
- 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.
