HS-LS2-8
Evaluate the evidence for the role of group behavior on individual and species' chances to survive and reproduce.
- Animals
Spidey sense: They can hear you!
Surprise! At least some spiders can hear us. Even without eardrums, jumping spiders can still detect airborne sounds from across the room.
- Oceans
Creative ways to help coral reefs recover
Coral reefs are under siege from threats ranging from climate change to explosives. But scientists are developing ways to rebuild reefs before they disappear.
- Brain
Pain is contagious — at least in mice
Pain can move from one mouse to another. The trigger may be smell.
- Animals
Tasmanian devils begin to resist infectious cancer
A deadly contagious cancer is spreading among Tasmanian devils. But the animals are evolving resistance, a new study finds.
- Animals
Giant slugs snack on baby birds
When they accidentally run into bird nests sitting on the ground, some slugs help themselves to a free, easy meal of bird chicks.
- Health & Medicine
Zebra finches can ‘drink’ water from their own fat
When water is scarce, thirsty zebra finches can produce their own water. They do it by breaking down their body fat.
- Animals
Bee underfeeds eldest daughter, creating ‘nursemaid’
By giving a brood’s firstborn female smaller portions and a low-protein diet, a mother bee can turn the offspring into a nursemaid for her younger siblings.
- Microbes
Mouth germs team up to boost disease risk
The oxygen given off by harmless mouth bacteria can help disease-causing invaders grow strong and flourish.
- Agriculture
Sneaky! Virus sickens plants, but helps them multiply
The cucumber mosaic virus helps tomato plants lure pollinators. When the plants multiply, the virus now gets new hosts.
- Microbes
Staph infections? The nose knows how to fight them
Bacteria living in some people’s noses make a compound that could help fight a nasty type of infection that laughs at other antibiotics.
- Genetics
GM mosquitoes cut rate of viral disease in Brazil
Adults males carrying the altered gene cannot father young that survive to adulthood. That’s when they suck blood — and can transmit disease.
- Plants
Climate closing the gender gap for this mountain flower
Among valerian plants, males like it hotter than the females do. So a warming climate has been speeding their migration up once-cool mountainsides.
