Animals
- Animals
Flipping a molecular switch can turn warrior ants into foragers
Toggling one protein soon after hatching makes Florida carpenter ants turn from fighting to hunting for food.
- Animals
Power lines may mess with honeybees’ behavior and ability to learn
Under power lines, honeybees might suffer neurological effects from exposure to electromagnetic fields.
- Animals
Silver-backed chevrotains have been ‘rediscovered’ by science after 29 years
With help from Vietnamese villagers, researchers captured photos of a species of deerlike ungulate thought lost to science nearly three decades ago.
- Animals
Apple TV+’s ‘The Elephant Queen’ shies away from hard truths
The Elephant Queen offers an intimate look into the lives of elephants, but the documentary largely avoids threats the animals face.
- Life
Vampire bat friendships endure from captivity to the wild
Vampire bats can form social bonds that persist from a lab setting to the outdoors, suggesting the cooperative relationships are like friendships.
- Animals
Spider webs don’t rot easily and scientists may have figured out why
Spider silk doesn’t rot quickly because bacteria can’t access its nitrogen, a nutrient needed for the microbes’ growth, scientists say.
- Life
Saharan silver ants are the world’s fastest despite relatively short legs
Saharan silver ants can hit speeds of 108 times their body length per second.
- Life
Bird eggs laid in cold climates are darker, which may keep eggs warm
A global survey of bird egg color reveals a simple trend: the colder the climate, the darker the egg.
- Animals
Congolese giant toads may mimic venomous snakes to trick predators
If Congolese giant toads mimic venomous Gaboon vipers, it would be the first reported case of a toad imitating a snake.
- Life
Remarkable fossils capture mammals’ recovery after the dino-killing asteroid
A fossil-rich site in Colorado is revealing how mammals rebounded and flourished after an asteroid strike 66 million years ago.
- Life
Piranhas and their plant-eating relatives, pacus, replace rows of teeth all at once
Piranhas and pacus both lose and replace all teeth on one side of their mouths in one go, which may help to distribute wear and tear.
- Life
Aye-ayes just got weirder with the discovery of a tiny, sixth ‘finger’
Aye-ayes have a sixth “finger,” or pseudothumb, that may compensate for other, overspecialized fingers by helping the lemurs grip things.
