Female Ptiloglossa bees are single moms with a lot to do and little time. Fortunately, they can use a feathery tongue to make infant-care plastics and then brew up batches…
Category: Animals
Camouflaging wheat with a wheat smell could be a new approach to pest control
Now you smell it, now you don’t. Or do you? Used correctly, a little misdirection could help keep mice away from freshly planted wheat seeds. Camouflaging wheat seeds can reduce…
Bowhead whales may have a cancer-defying superpower: DNA repair
Near the northern tip of Alaska, on the outskirts of the Arctic Ocean, bowhead whales have given scientists a glimpse into longevity. The gigantic marine mammals can live more than…
RNA editing helps octopuses cope with the cold
The ocean can be a cold place to call home. Mammals like seals stay warm by enveloping themselves in a layer of thick fur and blubber. Cephalopods — the group…
50 years ago, flesh-eating screwworms pushed scientists to mass produce flies
Fly factory planned for Mexico — Science News, June 2, 1973 A ‘fly factory’ whose product is living flies — 300 million of them every week — is to be…
When and why did masturbation evolve in primates? A new study provides clues
Though masturbation is common across the animal kingdom, it seems, at its face, to be an evolutionary paradox: Why would an animal waste time, energy and reproductive resources on self-pleasure…
A gene therapy shot might keep cats from getting pregnant without being spayed
Invasive surgeries to spay cats could one day be a thing of the past, replaced instead with a single shot. An injected gene therapy given to female cats prevented…
These ants build tall nest hills to help show the way home
Some ants have figured out how to keep from getting lost: Build taller anthills. Desert ants that live in the hot, flat salt pans of Tunisia spend their days looking…
How a new Lyme vaccine for mice may protect people
A vaccine to fight Lyme disease, decades in the making, has received a temporary green light from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But it’s not for people — it’s for…
5,000 deep-sea animals new to science turned up in ocean records
More than 5,000 animal species previously unknown to science live in a pristine part of the deep sea. Their home — called the Clarion-Clipperton Zone — sits in the central…
