Animals
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Animals
A deadly frog-killing fungus probably originated in East Asia
The disastrous form of Bd chytrid fungus could have popped up just 50 to 120 years ago.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Here’s how to use DNA to find elusive sharks
Hard-to-find sharks that divers and cameras miss appear in genetic traces in the ocean.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Fighting like an animal doesn’t always mean a duel to the death
Conflict resolution within species isn’t always deadly and often involves cost-benefit analyses.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
This ancient fowl bit like a dinosaur and pecked like a bird
A new fossil of Ichthyornis dispar helped scientists create a 3-D reconstruction of the ancient bird’s skull, shedding light on early bird evolution.
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Climate
Bull sharks and bottlenose dolphins are moving north as the ocean warms
Rising temperatures are making ocean waters farther north more hospitable for a variety of marine species.
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Animals
Defenseless moths do flying impressions of scary bees and wasps
Faking that erratic bee flight or no-nonsense wasp zoom might save a moth’s life.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
How a social lifestyle helped drive a river otter species to near extinction
A reconstruction of 20th-century hunting practices reveals why one species of Amazon river otters nearly went extinct while another persisted.
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Animals
See (and hear) the stunning diversity of bowhead whales’ songs
Bowhead whales display a huge range in their underwater melodies, but the drivers behind this diversity remain murky.
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Animals
‘The Curious Life of Krill’ is an ode to an underappreciated crustacean
A new book makes the case that Antarctic krill and the dangers they face deserve your attention.
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Archaeology
Footprints prove humans hunted giant sloths during the Ice Age
Footprints of humans and giant sloths show a dramatic chase sequence from more than 10,000 years ago.
By Dan Garisto -
Genetics
Cicadas on different schedules can hybridize
A new genetic study suggests that cicadas that emerge every 17 years have swapped genetic material with those that emerge every 13 years.
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Animals
Male fruit flies enjoy ejaculation
Red light exposure made some genetically engineered fruit flies ejaculate, spurring a surge of a brain reward compound — and less desire for booze.
By Susan Milius