Animals
- Genetics
Selfish genes hide for decades in plain sight of worm geneticists
Crossing wild Hawaiian C. elegans with the familiar lab strain reveals genes that benefit themselves by making mother worms poison offspring who haven’t inherited the right stuff.
- Paleontology
Ancient whale tells tale of when baleen whales had teeth
A 36 million-year-old whale fossil bridges the gap between ancient toothy predators and modern filter-feeding baleen whales.
- Animals
Why create a model of mammal defecation? Because everyone poops
Mammals that defecate in the same fashion as humans all excrete waste within the same time frame, no matter their size, a new study finds.
- Animals
Seabirds use preening to decide how to divvy up parenting duties
Seabirds in poor condition may communicate this information to their partner by delaying or withholding preening.
- Animals
In Florida, they’re fighting mosquitoes by meddling with their sex lives
As an alternative to genetically modified mosquitoes, Florida skeeter police are testing one of two strategies that use bacteria to meddle with insect sex lives.
- Animals
Trackers may tip a warbler’s odds of returning to its nest
Geolocator devices that help track migrating birds could also hamper migration survival or timing.
- Neuroscience
Internal compass guides fruit fly navigation
Experiments show how flies navigate — and why this might be important for humans.
- Animals
Sea creatures’ sticky ‘mucus houses’ catch ocean carbon really fast
A new deepwater laser tool measures the carbon-filtering power of snot nets created by little-known sea animals called giant larvaceans.
- Animals
50 years ago, U.S. fell short on mosquito eradication
Researchers boldly predicted mosquitoes’ demise 50 years ago. They never came close.
- Animals
Big dads carry weight among wandering albatrosses
For male albatrosses, bulking up impacts survival and reproduction.
- Health & Medicine
Readers concerned about cancer’s sugary disguise
Tricky cancer cells, brain-shaping smartphones, a cow-burying badger and more in reader feedback.
- Science & Society
Fox experiment is replaying domestication in fast-forward
How to Tame a Fox recounts a nearly 60-year experiment in Russia to domesticate silver foxes.
