Animals

Animals

Pandas use their heads as a kind of extra limb for climbing

Their short legs on a stout bear body mean pandas use a rare technique to climb up a tree.

Life

Here’s how butterfly wings keep cool in the sun

Butterfly wings sport structures that let living tissues release more heat than the rest of the wing.

Genetics

What would it take to make a unicorn?

Onward’s dumpster-diving unicorns seem like an impossibility. But scientists have some ideas about how unicorns could become real.

Animals

Ouch! Jellyfish snot can hurt people who never touch the animal

A goo shed by at least one species of upside-down jellyfish contains stinging cells. They can cause pain even to creatures that never touch the jelly.

Animals

How an encounter with this odd-looking bird inspired a career

Kevin Burgio overcame many hardships to become a scientist. Now he studies how animals like the Carolina parakeet and Tasmanian tiger went extinct.

Animals

Analyze This: Shimmering colors may help beetles hide

Delve into data showing how brilliant colors that shift as a viewer — or predator — moves may help iridescent insects blend in.

Animals

The many efforts to lick cat allergies

Up to one in five people around the world may be allergic to cats. Science is coming to help their desire for kitty cuddles.

Health & Medicine

Immune arms-race in bats may make their viruses deadly to people

An overactive immune system may help bats avoid being sickened by many viruses. This may viruses becoming stronger — and deadlier — when they hit other species.

Animals

Drones might one day capture a dolphin’s breath in midair

High-speed footage of dolphin spray reveals that droplets blast upward at speeds close to 100 kilometers per hour.

Oceans

Healthy coral reef sounds attract fish searching for a home

Playing the sounds of a healthy reef can help attract fish to dying corals, helping rebuild their community.

Fossils

Small T. rex ‘cousins’ may actually have been growing teens

Dinosaurs once thought to be mini cousins of Tyrannosaurus rex may have been merely adolescent members of the famous species, a new study suggests.

Environment

Australian fires have imperiled up to 100 species

As massive wildfires consume huge swaths of Australia’s bush, untold species — many of them found nowhere else — are now threatened with extinction.