Life
- Microbes
Bacteria and bugs will save us from the zombie apocalypse
Don’t fear the undead. Here’s how the body’s cells, microbes and insects will eat a zombie before it ever goes looking for brains.
- Environment
Microplastics take flight in the bellies of mosquitoes
In polluted water, mosquito larvae may eat microplastic — and it will stay in their bodies as they grow. That might pose risks to skeeter-eating birds.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Parasite
Lots of organisms live in pairs, benefitting from each other. But when one organism benefits while the other suffers? That first organism is a parasite.
- Genetics
Gene editing wiped out a population of mosquitoes in lab tests
For the first time, a gene drive caused a population crash of mosquitoes. Such gene editing could drive the malaria-carrying insects to extinction.
- Animals
How Hannibal the cannibal led to a discovery about cobra diet
How a snake named Hannibal led to a discovery about cobra cannibalism
- Animals
Giraffes inherit their spots from mom
Africa’s tallest creatures inherit their characteristic patterns of spots from their mothers, a new study finds.
- Health & Medicine
Chigger ‘bites’ may trigger an allergy to red meat
Some people develop a food allergy to red meat, and researchers suspect chiggers bites are to blame.
- Ecosystems
Scientists Say: Understory
A forest isn’t made just out of the tallest trees. Shorter trees and shrubs thrive in their shade. This layer is called the understory.
- Health & Medicine
Teens’ cell phone use linked to memory problems
A new study suggests teens who get more exposure to cell-phone radiation — and hold their phones up to their right ear — do worse on one type of memory test.
- Animals
These songbirds can fling and shake mice to death
Loggerhead shrikes skewer small animals on barbed wire and give mice a serious shake-up.
- Environment
Don’t flush your contact lenses
One in five people who wear contact lenses flush their used eyewear down the sink or toilet. That plastic pollutes the environment and can harm wildlife.
- Microbes
Bacteria are all around us — and that’s okay
Scientists may have identified less than one percent of all bacteria on Earth. But there’s a reason to keep up the hunt. These microbes could help us understand and protect our planet.
