Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
- Animals
These jellyfish can learn without brains
No brain? No problem for Caribbean box jellyfish. Their simple nervous systems can still learn, a study suggests.
- Tech
Bits of trees can make and store energy for us to use
This cellulose and lignin, two major building blocks of trees, could lead to greener electronics.
- Tech
Bionic plants and electric algae may usher in a greener future
Some can aid the climate by removing pollutants. Others would just avoid dirtying the environment in the first place.
- Climate
Some tree leaves are finding it too hot for photosynthesis
Earth’s ongoing fever threatens to push entire forests toward this heat limit — and possible death.
- Plants
Young corn leaves can ‘smell’ danger
As they mature, these leaves lose their ability to detect threatening scents.
- Plants
Scientists Say: Fertilize
This word describes both a stage of sexual reproduction and the agricultural practice of adding nutrients to soil.
- Animals
Invertebrates are pretty clever, but are they conscious?
Scientists are designing experiments to test whether these animals have self-aware experiences as we do.
- Animals
Some cockatoos craft drumsticks, then woo mates like a rockstar
To win over a gal, these flashy males craft and use their signature instruments in a musical display akin to a human rock concert.
- Tech
Meet robots on a mission to help birds
A new generation of bird-like robots is helping people better understand and protect the wild animals that inspired them.
- Earth
Analyze This: Tropical forests have gotten patchier
Although many of the world's forests have gotten less fragmented since 2000, tropical forests have gotten more chopped up, putting animals at risk.
- Health & Medicine
Doctors found a snake parasite in a woman’s brain — still alive
This worm typically infects pythons. Though this is its first known infection in humans, other types of worms also can infect the human brain.
- Animals
Let’s learn about vampire bats
Vampire bats rarely bite people, instead preferring to feed on animals like cows and horses.
