Life
- Animals
Tiny treadmills reveal how fruit flies sprint
Forcing fruit flies to move shows how the insects coordinate their steps. This holds clues to other animals’ brains and movement.
- Animals
Corals may have been the first life forms to glow in the dark
Ancestors of modern octocorals may have lit up the deep sea as far back as 540 million years ago.
- Animals
Hibernating bumblebee queens can survive days of watery submersion
Hibernating queen bumblebees survived accidental submersion, leading researchers to discover their surprising resilience to flooding.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Endotherm and Ectotherm
Endotherms use their own energy to maintain their internal temperature. Ectotherms use external heat sources to control their body temperature.
- Fossils
Young fossil hunters discover rare teen T. rex
In public view, scientists at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science will prepare the fossil for display. Their work will take about a year.
- Animals
Belugas can warp and wiggle their forehead fat like Jell-O
Molding and moving this ‘melon’ may help the whales communicate.
- Plants
Gene editing may help rice better withstand climate change
Three genes may limit the ability of rice to handle dry or salty conditions. A Regeneron ISEF finalist shows that CRISPR could target and change them.
- Plants
Flowers may electrically detect bees buzzing nearby
The discovery may reveal how plants time nectar production and share information with neighboring blooms.
- Animals
Phoenixes aren’t the only creatures to survive the flames
Although a phoenix that burns and lives is a myth, many living things on Earth don’t mind hot temperatures.
- Oceans
The seas’ record-breaking hot streak may bring unwelcome changes
Off-the-charts warming could fire up more hurricanes, intensify coral bleaching and accelerate the melting of Antarctic sea ice.
- Planets
The desert planet in ‘Dune’ is pretty realistic, scientists say
Humans could live on the fictional planet Arrakis from Dune. But thankfully giant sandworms probably could not.
- Plants
Let’s learn about photosynthesis
Thank photosynthesis for the existence of all complex life on Earth — including us.
