Life
- Plants
Pollinators send out good vibrations — and plants respond sweetly
Snapdragon blooms can distinguish between the sounds of pollinators and thieves. They boost or drop the sugar in their nectar depending who’s arriving.
- Animals
These fish yawn — and it’s contagious
Zebrafish are the first cold-blooded animals known to behave this way. Contagious yawning may affect other behaviors in these fish, too.
- Microbes
Experiment: Yeasty beasties
It’s hard to believe a packet of dry yeast is full of living things. But feed the yeast the right things, and presto! You’ve got bubbly, oozing mess of life.
- Animals
Whale pee is an ocean bounty
Some migrating cetaceans move thousands of miles to their breeding grounds, where whale urine fertilizes ocean waters with valuable nutrients.
- Plants
A genetic trick leaves these stinky plants reeking of rotting flesh
This DNA tweak in plants harnesses the same molecule behind our bad breath and transforms it into something worse: the stink of rotting flesh or dung.
- Animals
Analyze This: Moving frogs to new places helped an endangered species spread
Frogs resistant to a deadly fungus jump-started populations in these new areas.
- Brain
Mice show us why food poisoning is so hard to forget
Working with mice, scientists have mapped a brain pathway that links an unfamiliar flavor with later food poisoning symptoms.
- Animals
The rear end of this ancient wasp was built like a Venus flytrap
The newfound wasp species — from 99 million years ago — likely laid eggs on the small creatures that would have been caught in this trap.
- Ecosystems
Scientists Say: Ecosystem
The interplay between living things and the physical environment gives rise to Earth’s thriving, life-sustaining ecosystems.
- Environment
Study uncovers secrets in water’s underground treks
Water's subterranean travels can be long, slow — and carry pollutants far from where they first got drawn into the Earth.
- Genetics
DNA confirmed a Pueblo tribe’s ties to Chaco Canyon
DNA supports Picuris Pueblo stories of their ancestry going back more than 1,000 years — to the famous Chaco Canyon site.
- Animals
Captive-breeding axolotls may help avoid their extinction
The axolotl program's success shows promise in helping protect this highly popular amphibian — currently found in only one lake — from dying out in the wild.
