Animals
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AnimalsWhat’s the buzz? A new mosquito lure
Broadcasting a fake buzz can lure male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes away from females. That could reduce populations of these annoying — and disease-causing — insects, reports a teen at the 2015 Intel ISEF competition.
By Sid Perkins -
Health & MedicineDo mosquitoes love you? Blame your parents
By studying twins, scientists found that how attractive we are to mosquitoes depends partly on our genes. That could lead to better bug repellents.
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AnimalsWhat’s for dinner? Mom.
Female spiders of one species make the ultimate sacrifice when raising their young: The mothers feed themselves to their children.
By Susan Milius -
AnimalsNews Brief: Tiny songbird is mega-flier
With no pit stops for refueling, this tiny bird wings it from Canada to South America.
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AnimalsScientists Say: Nematode
Nematodes are a group of related small worms found all over the world. They can cause disease, but they also can be useful for scientists to study.
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AnimalsSecrets of slime
Mucus—snot—can be so gross. It’s also critical for many animals, including hagfish, snails and people. Snot can rid our bodies of nasty bacteria and viruses. In other creatures, it can smooth the road or rough up predators.
By Roberta Kwok -
AnimalsMates or survival: Which explains a bird’s color?
When male birds are brightly colored, we assume that’s because their plumage attracts the gals. But a new study with thousands of museum specimens shows that sometimes survival is just as important a factor behind bird color.
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AnimalsScientists Say: Irruption
Sometimes populations of animals can suddenly increase. The word for that is irruption.
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AnimalsWhy you’ll never see a dirty gecko
By knowing how a gecko’s skin works, could self-cleaning, water-repelling, antibacterial clothes be far behind?
By Ilima Loomis -
AnimalsNews Brief: Rabbit-hunting pythons are altering Everglades
Rabbits may breed rapidly, but not fast enough to compensate for the huge summer appetites of huge pythons roaming Florida’s Everglades.
By Susan Milius -
AnimalsFinding out why birds are out of range
Sometimes people see large numbers of birds outside of their normal range. A student examined how to predict these excursions.
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AnimalsThe social lives of whales
New tools are giving scientists an unprecedented glimpse into the behaviors of whales and dolphins. And these new data are upending long-held assumptions.
By Eric Wagner