Life
- Animals
A rope bridge restored a highway through the trees for endangered gibbons
When critically endangered Hainan gibbons started making dangerous leaps across a new gully, researchers came up with an alternative route.
- Plants
How Venus flytraps store short-term ‘memories’ of prey
Glowing Venus flytraps reveal how calcium buildup in the cells of leaves acts as a short-term “memory” that helps the plants identify prey.
- Animals
Glowing blue helps shield this tardigrade from harmful ultraviolet light
Tardigrades have a newly discovered trick up their sleeve: fluorescence.
- Life
A glowing zebrafish wins the 2020 Nikon Small World photography contest
The annual competition features snapshots that use microscopy to reveal some of Earth’s smallest hidden marvels.
- Animals
Pufferfish may be carving mysterious ‘crop circles’ near Australia
In 2011, scientists discovered that tiny pufferfish were sculpting Japan’s underwater “mystery circles.” Now, more circles have emerged in Australia.
- Genetics
Gene-editing tool CRISPR wins the chemistry Nobel
A gene-editing tool developed just eight years ago that has “revolutionized the life sciences” nabbed the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry.
- Animals
This rare bird is male on one side and female on the other
Researchers at Powdermill Nature Reserve near Pittsburgh spotted a bird with pink male coloring on half of its body and yellow female hues on the other.
- Neuroscience
Your dog’s brain doesn’t care about your face
Comparing brain scans of people and pups shows that faces hold no special meaning to the brains of dogs, a new study suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Hepatitis C discoveries win 2020 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine
The 2020 medicine Nobel recognizes work that found that a novel virus was to blame for chronic hepatitis and led to a test to screen blood donations.
- Paleontology
Cannibalism in the womb may have helped megalodon sharks become giants
The ancient sea terror Otodus megalodon may have grown to at least 14 meters long thanks to a firstborn pup’s predatory behavior, some researchers say.
- Animals
This snake rips a hole in living toads’ stomachs to feast on their organs
A particularly gruesome way to kill may help small-banded kukri snakes avoid toxins secreted from the neck and backs of some toads.
- Life
A new map shows where Asian giant hornets could thrive in the U.S.
Suitable habitat along the Pacific West Coast means so-called “murder hornets” could get a foothold in North America if they aren’t eradicated.
