Life
- Animals
What biologists call a species is becoming more than just a name
The tree of life — evolution — has been reshaping how scientists name and classify organisms. Some want naming to reflect evolutionary groups even more.
- Animals
A spider’s feet hold a hairy, sticky secret
Their widespread stickiness traces to the shape of hairs on its feet, scientists now find.
- Brain
A sense of touch could upgrade virtual reality, prosthetics and more
Scientists and engineers are trying to add touch to online shopping, virtual doctor appointments and artificial limbs.
- Life
Well-known wildflower turns out to be a secret meat-eater
Look closely at Triantha occidentalis, and you’ll see gluey hairs — and a trail of insect corpses on its stem.
- Animals
Analyze This: Some female hummingbirds go undercover
Some female white-necked jacobin hummingbirds boast bright blue colors similar to males. That may help females blend in to avoid attacks.
- Brain
A 2021 Nobel goes for discovering how our body reads touch sensations
David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian found nerve-cell sensors for temperature, pain and pressure.
- Animals
There’s a new word for birds stealing animal hair: kleptotrichy
Dozens of YouTube videos show birds grabbing hair from dogs, cats, people, raccoons and even a porcupine — a behavior rarely described by scientists.
- Animals
A giant tortoise is caught hunting and eating a baby bird
New video captures the first recorded instance of a tortoise hunting another animal.
- Animals
Let’s learn about elephants
Check out five wild facts you may not know about a familiar animal: the elephant.
- Ecosystems
Cheatgrass thrives on the well-lit urban night scene
Middle-grade campers team up with ecologists at Denver University to show that streetlights boost the growth of a reviled invasive species.
- Animals
Will the woolly mammoth return?
Scientists are using genetic engineering and cloning to try to bring back extinct species or save endangered ones. Here’s how and why.
- Animals
Cloning boosts endangered black-footed ferrets
A cloned ferret named Elizabeth Ann brings genetic diversity to a species that nearly went extinct in the 1980s.
