Animals
- Animals
How the house mouse found its home
Once people started settling down 15,000 years ago, a mouse species followed them indoors. The animals didn’t need people to be farming and storing food.
- Animals
Nighttime lights can dim a firefly’s flash
Fireflies blink to attract mates. But when it’s too bright at night, the insects may stay away.
- Animals
Toss and slap — how dolphins disarm a dangerous meal
Octopus can be a deadly meal, especially if you don’t have hands to cut it up. But dolphins in Australia have figured out how to eat octopus without choking to death.
- Animals
These killer whales exhale sickening germs
A group of endangered killer whales are exhaling disease-causing germs. Researchers worry these microbes could make the animals sick.
- Health & Medicine
Flu fighter found in frog slime
A protein found in the mucus secretions of an Indian frog can take down a type of flu virus, a new study finds.
- Fossils
Scientists are rethinking the dinosaur family tree
The dinosaur family tree consists of three main branches. Or maybe not. A new study suggests a rewrite is due.
- Animals
Industrious badger caught burying an entire cow
Badgers are known to bury small animals. That allows them to save a meal for future dining. Now researchers have caught them caching something much bigger: young cows.
- Brain
Among mice, scratching is catching — as in contagious
Contagious itching spreads by sight, mouse-to-mouse. Scientists have now identified brain structures behind this phenomenon.
- Animals
Wild elephants sleep for only two hours at night
New measurements suggest that wild elephants may need less sleep than any other mammal.
- Animals
Frog’s gift of grab comes from saliva and squishy tissue
What puts the grip in a frog’s high-speed strike? Quick-change saliva and a super-soft tongue, scientists find.
- Animals
Cool Jobs: A world aglow
Three scientists probe how the natural world makes light, in hopes of using this information to design new and better products.
- Animals
Malaria parasites lure mosquitoes to infected hosts
Malaria parasites leave behind an alluring molecule in their hosts’ blood. It draws mosquitoes to sip it, helping spread the disease these carry.
