Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
- Plants
Rampaging vines are slowly strangling tropical forests
Called lianas,these vines are growing out of control. They may cause tropical forests to absorb less carbon dioxide — worsening climate change.
- Plants
This urban gardener is mimicking nature to create healthier plants
Urban garden specialist Kwesi Joseph is experimenting with rock dust and plants. He also helps New York City community and school gardens with gardening problems.
- Animals
Analyze This: Marsupial gliders may avoid the ground to dodge predators
It has been unclear why gliding evolved in marsupials. To search for clues, researchers strapped activity trackers to some of these cryptic creatures.
- Animals
This frog is the world’s smallest known vertebrate
Neither fleas nor toads, Brazilian flea toads are almost flea-sized. These mini frogs are small enough to fit on a pinkie fingernail.
- Health & Medicine
9 things to know about lead’s health risks — and how to curb them
Lead has been linked to lower IQ, behavior problems, mental-health disorders, strokes and more health impacts. There are ways to reduce your exposure.
- Animals
Experiment: Are we there yet? Test how migratory birds navigate
In this experiment, use real data to figure out how migratory birds navigate from their breeding grounds to their wintering grounds.
- Microbes
Let’s learn about useful bacteria
Bacteria do many useful jobs almost everywhere on Earth, from the soil to the seafloor to our stomachs.
- Plants
To spy this palm’s blooms and fruits, start digging underground
Plants across 33 families are known for subterranean flowering or fruiting. But this palm is extremely rare. It does both.
- Animals
Here’s why thousands of octopuses gather at the ‘Octopus Garden’
Underwater cameras and other instruments investigated why so many pearl octopuses gather here to mate and nest.
- Life
Bacterial fossils exhibit earliest hints of photosynthesis
Microscopic fossils from Australia suggest that some bacteria evolved structures for oxygen-producing photosynthesis by 1.78 billion years ago.
- Animals
Pollen-seeking honeybees sometimes turn to theft
Observations of honeybee pollen theft from bumblebees suggest it may be a crime of convenience, based on ease of access to the prized food.
- Animals
Cats play fetch — but only when they feel like it
Most cats that play fetch pick up the behavior on their own, a study finds. And those felines tend to dictate when fetching sessions begin and end.
