Antarctic marine worms survive with a little help from their bacterial friends. Close relatives of earthworms, polychaetes are some of the most common animals on the ocean floor, but how…
Category: Animals
Can leeches leap? New video may help answer that debate
A chance video by a grad student relishing her first big field trip might help resolve an argument that’s raged among biologists for more than a century. The question: Can…
‘Cull of the Wild’ questions sacrificing wildlife in the name of conservation
In his new book, ecologist Hugh Warwick seeks middle ground in the waging battle that is wildlife management.
Fossil finds amplify Europe’s status as a hotbed of great ape evolution
Two lines of ancient apes, including what may be the smallest great ape yet, lived alongside each other in Europe, fossils discovered in a Bavarian clay pit indicate. It’s the…
Horses may have been domesticated twice. Only one attempt stuck
Horse power may have revved up about four millennia ago. Horses were domesticated at least twice, researchers report June 6 in Nature. Genetic data suggest Botai hunter-gatherers in Central Asia…
Getting wild mosquitoes back to the lab alive takes a custom backpack
This backpack isn’t typical hiking gear. Look inside and instead of water and snacks, you’ll see swarms of mosquitoes. Molecular biologist Deogratius Kavishe designed the bag to transport these bloodsucking…
This newfound longhorn beetle species is unusually fluffy
Meet Excastra albopilosa, a newly identified species of longhorn beetle that rocks an unusually fluffy white coat. Discovered in Australia, the fuzzy-looking arthropod also has distinct, separated eye lobes, short…
In a first, these crab spiders appear to collaborate, creating camouflage
Some crab spiders have ditched webs for flowers. Masters of disguise, female Thomisus guangxicus spiders blend in with petals, which allows the arachnids to nab insects that pass by while…
Flowers receive and transmit electrical signals from pollinators
Flowering plants may have a secret power for knowing when to lure pollinators. They could act as antennas for bees’ electrical signals and transmit those signals through the soil, biophysicist…
Eavesdropping on fish could help us keep better tabs on underwater worlds
Scientists are on a quest to log all the sounds of fish communication. The result could lead to better monitoring of ecosystems and fish behavior.
