Animals

  1. 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.

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  2. 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.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Hibernation: Secrets of the big sleep

    Mammals from bears to squirrels hibernate the winter away. Learning how they do it might one day help people mimic aspects of it to heal from brain injuries or voyage to Mars.

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  4. Animals

    Explainer: How brief can hibernation be?

    Many animals frequently slow body functions and drop their temperatures — sometimes for just a day. Is that hibernation, or just torpor? Are the two even related? Scientists disagree.

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  5. Animals

    Wild hamsters raised on corn eat their young alive

    European hamsters raised in the lab turn into crazy cannibals when fed a diet rich in corn, new data show. The problem may trace to a shortage of a key vitamin.

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  6. Animals

    Cool Jobs: Abuzz for bees

    These scientists are keeping bees healthy, making medicines for people from honey and constructing bee-inspired robots.

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  7. Animals

    Scientists Say: Hibernation

    Hibernation is more than a deep sleep. Animals that hibernate lower their body temperature and reduce their body activities for months.

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  8. Animals

    Under blanket of ice, lakes teem with life

    Life under frozen lakes is vibrant, complex and surprisingly active, new research finds. In fact, some plants and animals can only live under the ice. But with climate change, will that continue?

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  9. Plants

    Warm petals may attract chilly bees

    Dark-purple violet petals are warmer than a light-purple variant. And and that warmth might explain their attraction to potentially chilly bees.

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  10. Animals

    Scientists Say: Torpor

    When an animal enters torpor, its body temperature goes down and so does the amount of energy it uses.

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  11. Oceans

    Deep-sea mining could imperil rare, ghostlike octopus

    A newly discovered octopus lays its eggs in a dangerous spot: where companies are looking to mine valuable metals for use in cell phones and computers.

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  12. Fossils

    What killed the dinosaurs?

    New evidence is emerging that a devastating combo of events — an asteroid impact and supervolcanoes — may be behind the dinosaurs’ demise.

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