Animals
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AnimalsHere’s why pumpkin toadlets are such clumsy jumpers
Tiny Brachycephalus frogs from southern Brazil can leap into the air but have trouble landing.
By Meghan Rosen -
AnimalsButterflies may lose their ‘tails’ like lizards
Fragile, tail-like projections on some butterflies' wings may be a lifesaver.
By Jake Buehler -
LifeLucy Cooke’s new book ‘Bitch’ busts myths about female animals
Female animals get their due in Lucy Cooke’s exploration of the roles of the sexes in biology and evolution.
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AnimalsMosquitoes prefer dozing over dining when they are sleep-deprived
Mosquitoes repeatedly shaken to prevent slumber lag behind well-rested ones when offered a researcher’s leg to feed on, new experiments show.
By Anna Gibbs -
PaleontologyHow mammals took over the world
In the book The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, paleontologist Steve Brusatte tracks the evolutionary innovations that made mammals so successful.
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Health & MedicineTrained dogs sniff out COVID-19 as well as lab tests do
Dogs can be trained to sniff out COVID-19 cases. They’re overall as reliable as PCR tests and even better at IDing asymptomatic cases, a study suggests.
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AnimalsAn ‘acoustic camera’ shows joining the right boy band boosts a frog’s sex appeal
Serenading with like voices may help male wood frogs woo females into their pools, analysis of individual voices in a frog choir shows.
By Susan Milius -
LifeHigh altitudes may be a climate refuge for some birds, but not these hummingbirds
After being moved to a spot high above their typical home, Anna’s hummingbirds seemed to struggle to hover in the thin air.
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Animals‘Wandering’ salamanders glide like skydivers from the world’s tallest trees
Using their legs and tail, these amphibians have impressive control over their daring dives from coast redwood canopies.
By Jake Buehler -
AnimalsThese dolphins may turn to corals for skin care
For Indo-Pacific bottlenosed dolphins, rubbing against corals and sea sponges that contain antibacterial compounds could help keep skin healthy.
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AnimalsA ‘mystery monkey’ in Borneo may be a rare hybrid. That has scientists worried
Severe habitat fragmentation caused by expanding palm oil plantations may have driven two primate species to mate that wouldn’t have otherwise.
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PhysicsExperiments hint at why bird nests are so sturdy
A bird’s nest is a special version of a granular material. Lab experiments and computer simulations explain its quirky behavior.