Animals
- Life
Sparkly exoskeletons may help camouflage beetles from predators
Iridescence, normally thought to help insects stand out, can also camouflage beetles from predators, according to new experimental evidence.
- Animals
Collectors find plenty of bees but far fewer species than in the 1950s
An analysis of global insect collections points to a major collapse in bee diversity since the 1990s.
- Animals
A naturalist writes an homage to bird migration
In ‘A Season on the Wind,’ Kenn Kaufman shares his lifelong obsession for and awe of spring bird migration.
- Life
‘PigeonBot’ is the first robot that can bend its wings like a real bird
Insights into the joint movements and feather surface structures that help birds control their wing shape could help robotic flyers move more deftly.
- Life
The ‘Blob,’ a massive marine heat wave, led to an unprecedented seabird die-off
Scientists have linked thousands of dead common murres in 2015–2016 to food web changes caused by a long-lasting marine heat wave nicknamed the Blob.
- Neuroscience
A parasite that makes mice unafraid of cats may quash other fears too
The parasite Toxoplasma gondii can mess with all sorts of mice behaviors and make the rodents fearless in many situations.
- Animals
Australian fires have incinerated the habitats of up to 100 threatened species
Hundreds of fires that are blazing across the continent’s southeast have created an unprecedented ecological disaster, scientists say.
- Life
A ‘bonanza’ of new bird species was found on remote Indonesian islands
Bird discoveries typically come in a trickle. But in a remote corner of Southeast Asia, 10 newly described songbird species and subspecies were found.
- Life
Ocean acidification may not make fish act weird after all
A new study casts doubt on the results of early work into the effects of ocean acidification on coral reef fish behavior.
- Science & Society
A new exhibit invites you to step into Jane Goodall’s life
“Becoming Jane” celebrates Jane Goodall’s life and pioneering chimpanzee research.
- Paleontology
Small ‘cousins’ of T. rex may actually have been growing teenagers
Fossil analyses suggest that Nanotyrannus wasn’t a diminutive relative of the more famous behemoth Tyrannosaurus rex.
- Life
Russian foxes bred for tameness may not be the domestication story we thought
Foxes bred for tameness also developed floppy ears and curly tails, known as “domestication syndrome.” But what if the story isn’t what it seems?
