In the upper reaches of the Skykomish River in Washington state, a pioneering team of civil engineers is keeping things cool. Relocated beavers boosted water storage and lowered stream temperatures,…
Category: Animals
Scientists turned dead spiders into robots
Scientists have literally reanimated dead spiders to do their bidding. In a new field dubbed “necrobotics,” researchers converted the corpses of wolf spiders into grippers that can manipulate objects. All…
How slow and steady lionfish win the race against fast prey
Lionfish certainly aren’t the fastest predators on the reef, but new research suggests that they can catch swift prey through pure tenacity, gliding slowly in pursuit until the perfect moment…
Whale sharks may be the world’s largest omnivores
As Mark Meekan bobbed among swells in the Indian Ocean, he spotted a giant shadowy figure moving through the water. The tropical fish biologist dove to meet the gentle giant …
Like bees of the sea, crustaceans ‘pollinate’ seaweed
When it comes to reproduction, one type of red algae gets by with a little help from its friends: small sea crustaceans that transport sex cells between male and female…
‘Murder hornets’ have a new common name: Northern giant hornet
What’s been called a “murder hornet” or “Asian giant hornet” now has a somewhat official, maybe kinder, name. Meet the northern giant hornet. That’s what the Entomological Society of America,…
Moths pollinate clover flowers at night, after bees have gone home
Bees aren’t the only insects pollinating red clover. Moths do about a third of the flower visits after dark, new research suggests. The findings, detailed in the July Biology Letters,…
These huntsman spiders do something weird: live together as a big, happy family
How descendants of cannibals evolved abilities to share a home mostly without killing each other — never mind the rare oopsie snack — resonates after several pandemic years. Among the…
The top side of an elephant’s trunk stretches more than the bottom
On a sunny day at Zoo Atlanta in 2020, Kelly the African bush elephant reached for a snack and revealed something strange. High-speed cameras tracking her movements suggested that the…
Do gophers farm roots? It’s not as clear as viral articles claim
Pocket gophers certainly don’t qualify as card-carrying 4-H members, but the rodents might be farming roots in the open air of their moist, nutrient-rich tunnels. The gophers subsist mostly on…
