Search Results for: Salamander

Animals

These are our favorite animal stories of 2022

Goldfish driving cars, skydiving salamanders and spiders dodging postcoital death are among the critters that most impressed the Science News staff.

Animals

‘Wandering’ salamanders glide like skydivers from the world’s tallest trees

Using their legs and tail, these amphibians have impressive control over their daring dives from coast redwood canopies.

Health & Medicine

Losing amphibians may be tied to spikes in human malaria cases

Missing frogs, toads and salamanders may have led to more mosquitoes and potentially more malaria transmission, a study in Panama and Costa Rica finds.

Life

Gene-edited stem cells help geckos regrow more perfect tails

Regenerated gecko tails are a far cry from perfect. Now experiments have coaxed geckos to regrow better ones with nerve tissue and bonelike cartilage.

Animals

Glowing frogs and salamanders may be surprisingly common

A widespread ability to glow in striking greens, yellows and oranges could make amphibians easier to track down in the wild.

Life

An ancient amphibian is the oldest known animal with a slingshot tongue

A tiny amphibian that lived 99 million years ago waited for invertebrate prey before snatching them with a swift, shooting tongue.

Animals

One blind, aquatic salamander may have sat mostly still for seven years

Olms may live for about century and appear to spend their time moving sparingly.

Animals

A sea slug’s detached head can crawl around and grow a whole new body

Chopped-up planarians regrow whole bodies from bits and pieces. But a sea slug head can regrow fancier organs such as hearts.

Animals

A blue-green glow adds to platypuses’ long list of bizarre features

The discovery of platypuses’ fluorescent fur has researchers wondering if the trait is more widespread among mammals than anyone has realized.

Health & Medicine

4 takeaways from the WHO’s report on the origins of the coronavirus

The leading hypothesis is that the coronavirus spread to people from bats via a yet-to-be-identified animal, but no animals have tested positive so far.

Life

Bizarre caecilians may be the only amphibians with venomous bites

Microscope and chemical analyses suggest that, like snakes, caecilians have glands near their teeth that secrete venom.

Environment

Invasive jumping worms damage U.S. soil and threaten forests

Also known as snake worms, these writhing wrigglers turn forest leaf litter into bare ground, changing soil composition and ecosystems as they go.