The human body is made up of a complex community of trillions of cells of diverse shapes and sizes, all working together to keep you alive. The smallest of these…
Category: Animals
Some cannibal pirate spiders trick their cousins into ‘walking the plank’
A Costa Rican pirate spider lives up to the family name: It tricks closely related orb weaver spiders into “walking the plank,” right to their doom. The world’s many pirate…
A little snake’s big gulp may put all other snakes to shame
Hulking hunters like Burmese pythons may be famous for scarfing up deer, alligators and other enormous prey (SN: 11/25/15). But one unassuming little African snake may take the title for…
Wild male palm cockatoos rock out with custom drumsticks
Like teenage Romeos toting sticker-plastered guitar cases, male palm cockatoos show that romancing a crush with a love song isn’t just about music — it’s also about style. Wild palm…
The world’s highest-dwelling mammal isn’t the only rodent at extreme elevation
On a series of expeditions along the spine of the Andes Mountains, a team of high-climbing researchers has found mammalian life scampering through some of Earth’s harshest environments. From 2020…
‘Crossings’ explores the science of road ecology
CrossingsBen GoldfarbW.W. Norton & Co., $30 Nearly 65 million kilometers of roadway crisscross the Earth — enough to encircle the planet more than 1,600 times — and that number will…
Scientists grow humanized kidneys in pig embryos
Scientists have successfully grown kidneys made of mostly human cells inside pig embryos — taking researchers yet another step down the long road toward generating viable human organs for transplant.…
A DNA leaf swab technique could revolutionize biodiversity monitoring
Just a few swabs from a handful of leaves can say a lot about what animals are roaming in the area. Two dozen leaf swabs from plants in Uganda’s Kibale…
Freezing adult corals could help ensure they survive a changing climate
Like something out of science fiction, small colonies of mature corals have been safely frozen and revived for the first time, though more work will be needed to ensure their…
Emperor penguins lost thousands of chicks to melting ice last year
Thousands of emperor penguins in western Antarctica lost their chicks last year, largely due to receding sea ice, satellite data suggest. Over the last two years, sea ice has reached…
