Animals
- Brain
Fruit fly brain has two clocks
Fruit flies have not one, but two built-in clocks to regulate daily activity.
By Emily Sohn - Animals
Wintering apart, returning together
Birds that fly off to different places in winter can still manage to return home at the same time in spring.
By Emily Sohn - Genetics
Gene sleuths track down ivory sources
DNA testing of a tusk's ivory can help identify where the elephant came from.
By Emily Sohn - Animals
superfast muscles for cooing doves
To coo, a dove's muscles have to contract and relax amazingly quickly.
By Emily Sohn - Animals
Owls use dung to lure beetles
A burrowing owl spreads dung around its nest to attract beetles.
By Emily Sohn - Animals
The buzz about mosquitoes
Learning more about mosquitoes can help us control the blood-sucking insects and prevent deadly diseases.
By Emily Sohn - Animals
Sleep lessons from sparrows
During migration season, certain sparrows remain amazingly alert even when they haven't had much sleep.
- Animals
An inspiring home for apes
A group of scientists wants to establish preserves where orangutans and other primates have the chance to learn and create.
By Emily Sohn - Animals
Hot tail gives warning
Ground squirrels can heat up their tails to signal and perhaps taunt rattlesnakes.
By Emily Sohn - Brain
A dog’s amazingly large vocabulary
A border collie named Rico recognizes a surprisingly large number of words.
By Emily Sohn - Animals
Hippo sweat is natural sunscreen
Hippo "sweat" contains substances that fight microbes and screen out ultraviolet light.
By Emily Sohn - Animals
Prime time for cicadas
Researchers are tracking down why some types of cicadas emerge in vast numbers only once every 17 years.
By Emily Sohn