Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
- Archaeology
Rats can chronicle human history
Rats have lived alongside people for thousands of years. Now, scientists can study the rats and their leavings to learn more about ourselves.
- Fossils
Ancient ‘ManBearPig’ mammal lived fast — and died young
Developing in the womb for a while — but being born ready to take on the world — may have helped post-dinosaur mammals rise to dominance.
- Health & Medicine
Dogs and other animals could aid the spread of monkeypox
Now that monkeypox has spread to a dog, researchers fear other species could help the virus become widespread outside of Africa for the first time.
- Health & Medicine
Explainer: What is mpox (formerly monkeypox)?
Once rare, the viral disease monkeypox exploded onto the global scene for the first time in 2022.
- Plants
No sun? No prob! A new process might soon grow plants in the dark
Teamwork makes green-work! Collaborating scientists came up with an electrifying farming trick that could make sunlight optional.
- Animals
News stories about spiders are unfairly negative
Nearly half of news stories about people-spider encounters contain errors, according to a new study. And those falsehoods tend to have a negative spin.
- Plants
This pitcher plant lures insects into underground deathtraps
Scientists didn’t expect the carnivorous, eggplant-shaped pitchers to be sturdy enough to grow embedded in the soil.
- Animals
Gophers might be farmers, a controversial study suggests
Pocket gophers air out and fertilize the soil in a way that amounts to simple farming, two researchers claim. But not everyone agrees.
- Fossils
Great white sharks may be partly to blame for the end of megalodons
Zinc levels in shark teeth hint that megalodons and great whites competed for food — and great whites won.
- Plants
Catnip’s insect-repelling powers grow as Puss chews on it
Damaging the leaves boosts the plant’s chemical defenses — and their appeal to cats.
- Animals
Sleepy mosquitoes prefer dozing over dining
Mosquitoes repeatedly shaken to prevent slumber lagged behind well-rested ones when offered a leg to feed on.
- Animals
Some Greenland polar bears are surviving with very little sea ice
The ‘glacial mélange’ on which they’ve come to rely — a mix of ice, snow and slush — could be a temporary refuge for some polar bears.
