Animals
- Ecosystems
Exploring the mysteries of Cuba’s coral reefs
Researchers are studying the mysterious lives of creatures in and near Cuba’s coral reefs. What they learn could help protect ocean life globally.
- Ecosystems
Migrating crabs take their eggs to the sea
Cuba’s colorful land crabs connect swamp and sea with their yearly mass migrations. Protecting their routes can help other animals too.
- Genetics
Scientists recruit bloodsucking leeches as research assistants
By analyzing a slimy, bloodsucking leech’s last meal, scientists can identify which animals had been living near it.
- Genetics
Explainer: DNA hunters
Snippets of DNA can be left behind by a passing organism. Some researchers now act as wildlife detectives to identify the sources of such cast-off DNA.
- Plants
Venus flytraps tend not to eat their pollinators
A first-ever study of what pollinates a Venus flytrap finds little overlap between the critters that serve as pollinators and those that are prey.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Ectoparasite
Many people think of parasites as organisms that live inside their hosts. But some of them can be found on the outside instead.
- Health & Medicine
Yuck! Bedbug poop leaves lingering health risks
Chemical residues left by bedbugs can persist, even when the pests have been eradicated. This may explain lingering allergic symptoms in cleaned up homes, a new study concludes.
- Environment
Fish get pooped living in polluted water
Living in polluted water can tire fish out, a new study finds. This can make it harder for them to find food and avoid being eaten, themselves, by predators.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Zooplankton
These plankton are tiny, but don’t let that fool you. They are predators, too.
- Brain
Woodpecker brains host protein linked with human brain damage
Woodpeckers peck with a force great enough to give people concussions. Now a study shows that birds, too, may suffer some brain damage.
- Animals
Rising carbon dioxide could leave tiny lake dwellers defenseless
Rising carbon dioxide in freshwater lakes may change how predators and prey interact.
- Plants
Blooms on ‘chocolate’ tree are crazy-hard to pollinate
The cacao trees must be pollinated or those seeds that give us chocolate will never form. The rub: The trees’ flowers challenge all but some of the tiniest pollen-moving insects.
