Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

  1. Microbes

    The Bahamas’ African roots

    Ocean bacteria may have built the Bahama islands, fed by dust blown across the Atlantic from the Sahara Desert.

    By
  2. Animals

    Bugs may have made us brainy

    Finding and eating bugs when other food was scarce helped primates — including our ancestors — evolve bigger and better brains. At least that’s the conclusion of a new study in Costa Rica.

    By
  3. Animals

    Keep the lights on for National Moth Week

    Helping scientists is as easy as leaving your porch light on. Photograph the moths you see and upload them to the Internet for science.

    By
  4. Microbes

    The war on superbugs

    Doctors and scientists are exploring ways to stem the growing global crisis of antibacterial resistance.

    By
  5. Microbes

    Explainer: What you can do to fight antibiotic resistance

    Doctors and scientists are not the only people who can help preserve the effectiveness of life-saving antibiotics. Even patients have a role to play, as these tips show.

    By
  6. Microbes

    The HIV cure — that wasn’t

    Immediate and aggressive drug treatment of a baby born with HIV appeared to have cured the girl. In fact, a follow-up shows, she still has the disease.

    By
  7. Microbes

    Superbugs: A silent health emergency

    Have antibiotics become too popular? Overusing these medicines fuels resistant germs that pose a global health threat.

    By
  8. Animals

    Teen shows salty lionfish are getting fresh

    Lauren Arrington kept spotting lionfish in rivers near her Florida home. Her science fair project probed how much fresh water these ocean fish could stand — and led to a published research paper.

    By
  9. Animals

    Cool Jobs: A whale of a time

    Studying blue whales, spinner dolphins and other cetaceans demands clever ways to unveil the out-of-sight behaviors of these marine denizens.

    By
  10. Animals

    Salted butterflies

    The salt used on winter ice can alter the bodies of summer's butterflies. Males develop larger muscles and females get bigger brains.

    By
  11. Animals

    Stalking squirrels for science

    A scientist noticed the squirrels in his family’s town, and began studying them. His results show why squirrels are such good city dwellers, and prove that science is right outside your door.

    By
  12. Animals

    A library of tweets (and howls and grunts)

    The Macaulay Library houses a world of animal sounds. And now anyone with an Internet connection can check out this audio collection.

    By