Animals
- Animals
Resilient hearts for deep-sea divers
How do aquatic mammals have enough energy to hunt prey while steeply dropping their heart rate to stay underwater? A new study of dolphins and seals provides clues.
- Health & Medicine
A whale of a lifespan
Bowhead whales can live more than 200 years. The secret to such longevity may lie in the Arctic species’ genes. Scientists recently mapped the whale’s genetic code. They found features that protect the marine mammal against cancer and other problems related to old age.
- Animals
Bird DNA leads to strange family tree
Field guides often group birds together by similarities in appearance or behavior. But a new study, based on DNA, confirms earlier suspicions that such groupings are only skin-deep.
- Animals
Picture This: Winter brings white noses
White-nose syndrome, caused by a fungus, has killed millions of bats in the eastern United States. Now, scientists show that the disease comes and goes, by season. The finding could help scientists more effectively target any treatments.
- Agriculture
Livestock: A need to save rare breeds
New studies and ongoing work highlight why society should save rare livestock breeds — and the part that technology can play.
- Animals
Scientists say: Hibernaculum
This week’s word is hibernaculum, the word scientists use to describe the place where an animal goes to hibernate.
- Animals
Electric eels get on their prey’s nerves
Electric eels wield remote control over their prey’s muscle movements. They do this by zapping their nervous system. Experiments suggest the creatures use these paralyzing bursts of energy to hunt, too.
- Animals
A nervy strategy for transplants
Adjusting the electric charges in cells helped a transplanted eye reach out to its new host. The eye grew cells, which help transmit signals to other cells.
- Animals
Spidey sense: Eight-legged pollution monitors
Spiders that prey on aquatic insects can serve as sentinels that naturally monitor banned chemicals that still pollute many rivers across the United States.
- Animals
Virus blamed in starfish die-off
A virus may explains the deaths of millions of starfish along the Pacific Coast of North America. The deaths affect 20 species. Some of the stricken animals appear to melt into puddles of slime.
- Animals
Tar pit clues provide ice age news
New analyses of insects and mammals trapped in the La Brea Tar Pits point to climate surprises during the last ice age.
- Animals
Tiny — but mighty — food-cleanup crews
Discarded food wastes can turn city spaces into food courts for disease-carrying rats and pigeons. But a new study shows tiny cleanup crews — especially pavement ants — are doing their best to eliminate such wastes. This, in turn, makes cities less attractive to bigger pests.
