Scene: A small patrol boat cruises through the water, just offshore of an island somewhere in the Caribbean. Cue the pounding drums, movie-trailer speak for danger approaching. Enter: Spinosaurus. Three…
Category: Animals
Bats wearing tiny mics reveal how the fliers avoid rush hour collisions
The first bat-wearable microphone is helping biologists study the bats’ good safety record at avoiding collisions in rush hour air. On summer evenings, in around a minute, some 2,000 greater…
Snakes are often the villains. A new book gives them a fair shake
SlitherStephen S. HallGrand Central Publishing, $30 Snakes don’t often get to be the protagonists. From the biblical tempter in the Garden of Eden to the eponymous snakes on a plane,…
The story of dire wolves goes beyond de-extinction
Some question whether the pups are really dire wolves, or just genetically tweaked gray wolves. But the technology could be used to help at-risk animals.
Rare books covered with seal skin hint at a medieval trade network
Science is helping researchers judge books by their covers — and revealing surprising beneficiaries of medieval trading routes in the process. Dozens of rare, fur-covered volumes from 12th and 13th…
Gila monsters may struggle to survive climate change
For Gila monsters that live in the warming Mojave Desert, relocating to beat the heat may not be so simple. While climate change might create some better habitats, the lizards…
‘Woolly mice’ were just a start. De-extinction still faces many hurdles
Scientists working to unlock the secrets of de-extinction recently announced what they say is a turning point for the movement: the creation of transgenic mice with long, luxurious golden locks…
You might be reading your dog’s moods wrong
Many dog owners can tell how their precious pooch is feeling, watching it wag its tail or raise its ears — at least, they think they can. But people’s perception…
Is that shark ticking? In a first, a shark is recorded making noise
Sharks may not be the sharp-toothed silent type after all. The clicking of flattened teeth, discovered by accident, could be “the first documented case of deliberate sound production in sharks,”…
A tardigrade protein helped reduce radiation damage in mice
A protein found in tardigrades — tiny animals less than a millimeter long — can protect mice from radiation damage. Most cancer patients undergo radiation therapy as part of their…
