Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
- Health & Medicine
How many ants is the best number of ants? More than one, fewer than 100
How many ants does it take to make the best decision? This teen found that four to six is just right.
- Animals
Chemicals from the world’s longest animal can kill cockroaches
The stuff in this sea worm’s slime can kill off green crabs, too.
- Animals
Ocean heat waves are on the rise — and killing coral
Ocean heat waves are becoming hotter and more frequent. And one can be blamed for the 2016 coral deaths on the Great Barrier Reef.
- Health & Medicine
Which bacteria hang out in belly buttons? Here’s a who’s who
Bacteria are everywhere — even in our belly buttons. One teen at Intel ISEF decided to find out what types people were harboring in their navels.
- Animals
In a colony, king penguins act like a liquid
Is this a living liquid? King penguins move around within their colonies, clearing out some space, and then refilling it. That behavior resembles a liquid, scientists conclude.
- Animals
Fighting ‘like an animal’ may not be what you expect
Evolution has produced a broad range of conflict styles. And some of the best examples come from outside the world of the familiar.
- Chemistry
Light could make some hospital surfaces deadly to germs
A new surfacing material can disinfect itself. Room lighting turns on this germ-killing property, which could make the material attractive to hospitals.
- Animals
Cool Jobs: Diving for new medicines
Scientists mix research with underwater adventure as they search the oceans for new chemicals to treat infections, cancer and more.
- Climate
Analyze This: Climate change could make food less healthy
Levels of important nutrients are lower in crops exposed to high levels of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. How high? Try levels expected to be typical 30 years from now.
- Animals
Analyze This: Electric eels’ zaps are more powerful than a TASER
Shocking! A biologist reached his hand into a fish tank and let an electric eel zap him. It let him measure precisely how strong a current it could unleash to defend itself.
- Health & Medicine
Analyze This: Flu vaccine’s protection varies
Getting a flu shot every year is an important way to protect yourself and those around you — even if the vaccine isn’t 100 percent effective.
- Agriculture
Explainer: The fertilizing power of N and P
Two elements — nitrogen and phosphorus — help plants grow. When the soil doesn’t have them, farmers might add them in the form of fertilizer.
