Life
- Environment
City living makes trees grow fast but die young
Many cities plant trees to absorb carbon dioxide. But city trees grow fast and die young, which means they absorb less carbon dioxide than forest trees do.
- Animals
Young aphids sacrifice themselves to make home repairs
Young aphids swollen with fatty substances save their colony by self-sacrifice. They use that goo to patch breaches in the wall of their tree home.
- Earth
Reliving the last day of the dinosaurs
The Chicxulub crater is helping reveal what happened on the day a 12-kilometer-wide asteroid slammed into the Gulf of Mexico, 66 million years ago.
- Ecosystems
Tiger sharks feast when migratory birds fall out of the sky
Migrating land-based birds that fall from the sky as they cross the Gulf of Mexico can end up in the belly of a young tiger shark.
- Fossils
This tiny dinosaur is officially T. rex’s cousin
A newly identified dinosaur species fills a gap in the tyrannosaur family tree.
- Microbes
Slimy fish could aid the search for new drugs
Fish slime could teach scientists about bacteria that live on fish and aid in the hunt for new kinds of antibiotics.
- Animals
Analyze This: Amphibian populations are on the decline
The chytrid fungus has been wiping out amphibians around the world. Scientists have tallied up the declines and found that the fungus is responsible for dozens of extinctions.
- Life
In a first, scientists keep cells alive in the brains of dead pigs
They’re not true zombies — but these pig brains showed signs of cellular life long after the animals had died.
- Animals
Let’s turn a genie blue
Aladdin’s genie is very magical. He’s also blue. What might explain that? Nature has some tricks on offer.
- Animals
Bats in the attic prompt boys to create a better bat detector
When a teen learned he had 700 bats in his attic, he decided to develop a better bat detector.
- Health & Medicine
Geneticists get closer to knowing how mosquitoes sniff out our sweat
Scientists have found that a protein in the antennae of some mosquitoes detects a chemical in human sweat.
- Animals
Bumpy edges could be key to record-breaking oars
Inspired by the bumpy edges of flippers on a humpback whale, an Australian teen has redesigned oars for use by competitive rowers.
