Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
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Tiny spider uses silk to lift prey 50 times its own weight
Dropping the right silk let’s a spider haul mice, lizards and other giants up off the ground.
- Animals
Butterflies use jet propulsion for quick getaways
If you have ever tried to catch a resting butterfly, you know they are surprisingly difficult to nab. A new study helps explain why.
- Animals
More playtime and meatier meals might reduce kitty kills
Keeping cats indoors is the best way to prevent them from killing wildlife. But small changes to diet and play can help, too.
- Health & Medicine
Some microbial hitchhikers may weaken body’s attack on COVID-19
New research identifies an altered mix of microbes in the body — ones commonly seen in people with poor diets — that may worsen coronavirus disease.
- Animals
Analyze This: Some dogs quickly learn new words
Two dogs picked up new words after hearing them a few times during play, but 20 other pets didn’t fare so well at learning the names of new toys.
- Health & Medicine
Some young adults will volunteer to get COVID-19 for science
Researchers will soon give some healthy people the new coronavirus. Their young volunteers have agreed to get sick to speed coronavirus research.
- Agriculture
Healthy soils are life-giving black gold
Scientists explain why everyone needs to value the soils beneath our feet — and why we should not view them as dirt.
- Agriculture
Soil (and its inhabitants) by the numbers
Teeming with life, soils have more going on than most of us realize.
- Ecosystems
What you can do to improve soils
Soils are the life-sustaining structures under our feet. Here are some tips for keeping soils healthy. First rule of thumb: Give more than you take.
- Animals
Unique dialects help naked mole-rats tell friends from foes
Computer analysis reveals that these social rodents communicate with speech patterns distinct to each colony.
- Animals
Choked by bacteria, some starfish are turning to goo
For years, researchers thought gooey, dying starfish were infected. Instead, these sea stars are suffocating. And bacteria may be behind it all.
- Animals
Newfound technique allows some tree snakes to climb wide trees
When a tree is too wide to climb, brown tree snakes use a lasso-like trick to slowly ascend up to snacks.
