Animals
- Animals
Where does Godzilla get his atomic breath?
Some secrets of the kaiju’s atomic breath can be explained with creative applications of physics and biology.
- Physics
‘Feathering’ helps explain Gentoos’ record-breaking swim speed
Videos and computer analyses reveal the secrets of the penguins’ superspeed. The results could inspire future underwater vehicles.
- Animals
This massive ancient whale may be the heaviest animal ever known
Called Perucetus colossus, it may have tipped the scales at up to 340 metric tons — more than today’s blue whales.
- Animals
This egg-eater may have the biggest gulp of any snake its size
Slither aside, Burmese pythons. This little African snake has a truly outsized swallow.
- Brain
A rat’s playfulness relies on cells in one part of its brain
Certain cells here control its behavior. Studying this circuitry could also help us understand depression in people.
- Animals
A new technique creates glowing whole-body maps of mice
Removing cholesterol from mouse bodies lets fluorescent proteins seep into every tissue. That has helped researchers map entire body parts.
- Animals
Toothed whales use their noses to whistle and click
Much as people do, toothed whales, such as dolphins and sperm whales, make noises in three different vocal registers.
- Agriculture
Cow dung spews a climate-warming gas. Adding algae could limit that
But how useful this is depends on whether cows eat the red algae, a type of seaweed — or it gets added to their wastes after they’re pooped out.
- Fossils
New fossils bring the wide world of pterosaurs to life
The latest clues from fossils hint at where these flying reptiles came from, how they evolved, what they ate and more.
- Animals
Let’s learn about beetles’ survival superpowers
Some beetle species can survive extreme pressure, dehydration or even getting eaten.
- Animals
Analyze This: White wing spots may help monarch butterflies fly far
Monarchs with more white on their wings are more successful migrants, new research shows
- Math
Bees and wasps devised the same clever math trick to build nests
During nest building, these insects add five- and seven-sided cells in pairs. This helps their colony fit together hexagonal cells of different sizes.
