Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
- Animals
Quieter vibes for city spiders
How much a web vibrates affects how well a spider senses when that web has captured prey. But webs attached to concrete, plastic and other artificial materials vibrate less than do those built on natural materials, such as twigs or leaves.
- Microbes
Return of the giant zombie virus
Scientists have discovered a new type of virus in Siberian soils. It's the largest virus ever discovered. And guess what: It could infect cells even after 30,000 years in cold storage.
- Health & Medicine
Some of chocolate’s health benefits may trace to ‘bugs’
Dark chocolate offers people a number of health benefits. A new study finds that the breakdown of chocolate by microbes in the human gut be behind some benefits.
- Environment
Burning to learn
Fires cause billions of dollars of destruction to homes and forests every year. But not all fires are bad, especially for forests. With a better understanding of fire, scientists can both help people prevent dangerous fires — and identify which ones it would be better to let burn.
- Environment
Explainer: How and why fires burn
A fire’s colorful flame results from a chemical reaction known as combustion.
- Health & Medicine
Intel STS finalist finds new flu fighters
Intel Science Talent Search finalist Eric Chen used a computer simulation to narrow down chemical targets to fight influenza. The drugs that he identified could be the next big weapons against flu.
- Animals
Passing diseases from bee to bee
A study finds that the viruses and parasites that plague honeybees can infect bumblebees too, sickening another important pollinator.
- Earth
Intel STS finalist brings earthworms to the big time
Earthworms and charcoal help plants resist infections, according to research by Anne Merrill, a finalist in the 2014 Intel Science Talent Search.
- Animals
‘Crazy’ ant fight
By neutralizing the poison produced by fire ants, ‘crazy’ ants can survive heated battles. And that may help explain why crazy ants are edging out fire ants in parts of the southern United States.
- Earth
Mining metals amidst seafloor animals
Miners may need to get their feet — and everything else — wet as they carefully seek out loads of copper and other valuable natural resources.
- Microbes
Arctic thaw is spreading wildlife diseases
Polar animals are encountering new, killer parasites as melting ice unlocks their access to new hosts.
- Animals
First living fish leaves ‘endangered’ list
Twenty-one years ago, a minnow facing a high risk of extinction was placed on the U.S. Endangered Species List. With help from scientists, the fish appears to have largely recovered. It’s the first ‘listed’ fish to do so.
