Animals
- Animals
Touching allows octopuses to pre-taste their food
Special sensory cells in their arms’ suckers sense chemicals. Those cells allow them to taste the difference between food and poison.
- Animals
Utah mink is first known case of the coronavirus in a wild animal
A wild mink appears to have picked up the novel coronavirus from farmed animals. Such spread in the wild does not appear common.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Lachryphagy
Some insects land on the eyeballs of larger animals. They are seeking out the salt and proteins in the animal’s tears.
- Animals
Let’s learn about sharks
This ancient group of fish can use scent and even electricity to detect their prey. And they fill an important niche in the ocean.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Medullary bone
Medullary bone is a layer that forms inside bird and dinosaur bones. It’s a source of the calcium in eggshells.
- Animals
Around the world, birds are in crisis
Human activities around the world are threatening bird species. Numbers of even some of the most common species are starting to fall.
- Animals
Ogre-faced spiders listen closely to snatch bugs from the air
Ogre-faced spiders can hear prey sneaking around behind them. Low frequencies can trigger a blind, backwards attack.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Apoptosis
When it’s time for cells to die, they need to do it carefully, so they don’t harm other cells.
- Animals
Please do not touch the Australian stinging tree
Stinging-tree leaves look soft and inviting, but one touch delivers agony. Structurally, the plant's painful chemical looks a lot like spider venom.
- Animals
The diabolical ironclad beetle is nearly unsquishable
The diabolical ironclad beetle is an incredibly tough little creature. A peek inside its exoskeleton reveals what makes it virtually uncrushable.
- Animals
This snake rips open a living toad to feast on its organs
A particularly gruesome way to kill may help small-banded kukri snakes avoid a deadly poison secreted from the neck and backs of some toads.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Evolution
Evolution is how species change over time. Individuals in the group vary, and some will pass on their genes. Over time, the whole species changes.
