Life
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- Animals
To keep their pools clean, some tadpoles don’t poop for weeks
Eiffinger’s tree frog tadpoles store their solid waste in an intestinal pouch. This releases less toxic ammonia into their watery cribs.
- Plants
Insect-eating plants digest faster with a fungal friend
Insects stuck in sundews’ sticky goo break down faster when the plants host an enzyme-making fungus.
- Animals
This spider traps flashy fireflies as bait to catch related prey
When stuck in an orb weaver spider’s web, male fireflies start to blink more like female fireflies — luring in more males.
- Climate
An ancient log shows how burying wood can fight climate change
A blanket of clay soil helped the wood hold onto the carbon it had absorbed — for thousands of years.
- Science & Society
Our brains might help explain why people disagree on politics
Differing political views may stem from our evolutionary past — and show up in distinct brain activity. Knowing this may help with challenging discussions.
- Brain
Why we aren’t really ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’
The idea that we use different sides of the brains to be creative or logical is popular — but it’s not supported by science. Here’s why.
- Space
Why are scientists suddenly interested in UFOs?
For decades, science mostly ignored UFOs. Then in 2015 Navy pilots started reporting them. The U.S. government enlisted scientists to investigate.
- Animals
Werewolves could learn from other critters when to hunt
Werewolves aren’t the only creatures that undergo transformation under the full moon. But could weak werewolves be at risk of becoming prey?
- Animals
How to make ‘worms’ more nutritious — and easier to swallow
Extracting protein from insect larvae could lead to a healthful food ingredient — and you never have to bite into crunchy legs or squishy bodies.
- Animals
Let’s learn about animal cannibals
The animal kingdom is full of creatures that eat their parents, their babies, their siblings or their mates.
- Plants
Explainer: How a seed grows into a plant
Plants use carbon from the air to make food and build shoots, roots and more. They adapt and respond to their environments in many incredible ways.
