Animals
- Animals
Ants were among the world’s first farmers
50 years ago, researchers began unraveling the secrets to Attine ants’ green thumbs.
- Earth
Dino-dooming asteroid impact created a chilling sulfur cloud
The Chicxulub impact spewed more sulfur than previously believed.
- Animals
Great praise for categories, and seeing beyond them
Acting Editor in Chief Elizabeth Quill discusses classification and some of the challenges of putting species in categorical boxes.
- Health & Medicine
Readers intrigued by ancient animals’ bones
Readers had questions about gut bacteria, woolly rhino ribs and ancient horses hooves.
- Animals
This sea slug makes its prey do half the food catching
Nudibranchs’ stolen meals blur classic predator-prey levels.
By Susan Milius - Life
Hybrids reveal the barriers to successful mating between species
Scientists don’t understand the process of speciation, but hybrids can reveal the genes that keep species apart.
- Animals
Scary as they are, few vampires have a backbone
Researchers speculate on why there are so few vampires among vertebrates.
By Susan Milius - Animals
Here’s the real story on jellyfish taking over the world
In 'Spineless,' a former marine scientist reconnects with the seas and science through her obsession with these enigmatic creatures.
- Animals
Climate change may threaten these bamboo-eating lemurs
Longer dry spells and more nutrient-poor bamboo might eventually doom the greater bamboo lemur, a critically endangered species.
By Susan Milius - Paleontology
T. rex’s silly-looking arms were built for slashing
Tyrannosaurus rex may have used its small arms for slashing prey.
- Life
Nanoscale glitches let flowers make a blue blur that bees can see
Bees learn about colorful floral rings faster when nanoscale arrays aren’t quite perfect.
By Susan Milius - Life
How bird feeders may be changing great tits’ beaks
Longer beaks may be evolving in U.K. great tits because of the widespread use of bird feeders in the country.