Halloween is right around the corner, which means scary movies are playing at the theater and trick-or-treaters are shopping for costumes. This year, there’s no need to go looking for spooky thrills and chills in graveyards — inspiration can come from nature. Consider the case of fire ants and phorid flies. Fire ants are venomous pests that roam the southeastern United States and pack a powerful punch with their bite. Originally, fire ants came from South America, but they accidentally travelled to the United States in ships years ago and their populations grew quickly without any natural...

In the video game Tetris, players try to pack as many shapes as possible into a small space. According to a new study, that’s not all they’re doing: Scientists found a connection between playing Tetris and the size of part of the brain. It sounds like a joke, but the study uses serious science. A team of three researchers from Canada and the United States scanned the brains of 15 adolescent girls, aged 12-15, who played Tetris. The scans showed that after 3 months of playing the block-stacking game, gray matter in the girls’ brains was thicker. (Gray matter is the wrinkly mixture of bra...

In the chair at the dentist’s office, nitrous oxide is better known as “laughing gas”—it’s used to knock out patients during uncomfortable procedures. That’s not the only place where laughing gas shows up, however. Nitrous oxide from Earth also ends up in the stratosphere, that portion of our atmosphere about 5 to 30 miles overhead. Up there, it’s no laughing matter. Nitrous oxide in the stratosphere is already dangerous for life on our planet, and according to a new study, it may become even more dangerous in the near future. To understand why nitrous oxide is dangerous, it�...

Dee Boersma was studying penguins in Argentina when a local official announced a new plan. “He wanted to build a boardwalk over 197 [penguin] nests right before hatching,” says Boersma, a conservation scientist at the University of Washington, Seattle. She knew the project would scare the birds and harm their babies. “That was upsetting to me and to others.” Boersma snapped into action. First, she hid the lumber for the project, so construction couldn’t begin, even though she knew she might get in trouble for interfering. Then, she battled lawyers and the governor. After all, she ...

Komodo dragons kill prey in a way similar to some snakes, scientists find.

As you fall into deep sleep, some neurons pause their electrical activity.

Two new telescopes will watch for asteroids, map the galaxy.

Drug given to stung children in Mexico lessens symptoms.

Chemicals make the difference between life and death for these insects.

A tiny molecule may make a big difference in future warning systems.