Darren Incorvaia

Darren Incorvaia is a writer and comedian based in Chicago. His writing has also appeared in Scientific American, Discover Magazine, and Reductress. He has a Ph.D. in ecology, evolution, and behavior from Michigan State University. His favorite animal is all of them.

All Stories by Darren Incorvaia

  1. In a photo, stroke patient Heather Rendulic, who has dark hair and is wearing a dark shirt and a hospital mask, holds a Campbell's soup can. Devices used to monitor her implant are visible on her arm.
    Health & Medicine

    A new treatment could restore some mobility in people paralyzed by strokes

    Electrodes placed along the spine helped two stroke patients in a small pilot study regain control of their hands and arms almost immediately.

  2. A fisher stands in waist-deep water with a fishing line as he looks at a dolphin breaking through the surface
    Animals

    Here are 3 people-animal collaborations besides dolphins and Brazilians

    Dolphins working with people to catch fish recently made a big splash. But humans and other animals have cooperated throughout history.

  3. A close up photo of two prairie voles sitting next to each other on a white background.
    Animals

    Prairie voles can find partners just fine without the ‘love hormone’ oxytocin

    Researchers knocked out prairie voles’ oxytocin detection system. They weren’t expecting what happened next.

  4. An Amami rabbit sitting on the ground.
    Animals

    A rare rabbit plays an important ecological role by spreading seeds

    Rabbits aren’t thought of as seed dispersers, but the Amami rabbit of Japan has now been recorded munching on a plant’s seeds and pooping them out.

  5. photo of someone pulling a pint of beer
    Microbes

    The ancestor to modern brewing yeast has been found hiding in Ireland

    Previously found in Patagonia and elsewhere, the brewing yeast Saccharomyces eubayanus has been found in Europe for the first time.

  6. Several blue, cylindrical SharkGuard devices hanging by string off a rail
    Animals

    These devices use an electric field to scare sharks from fishing hooks

    SharkGuard gadgets work by harnessing sharks’ ability to detect electric fields. That could save the animals’ lives, a study suggests.

  7. A swarm of locusts flies over a field.
    Animals

    Insect swarms might generate as much electric charge as storm clouds

    Honeybees flying over a sensor measuring atmospheric voltage sparked a look into how insect-induced static electricity might affect the atmosphere.

  8. A honeybee on a white background with three black squares around it.
    Animals

    Honeybees order numbers from left to right, a study claims

    In experiments, bees tend to go to smaller numbers on the left, larger ones on the right. But the idea of a mental number line in animals has critics.

  9. Bacillus subtilis spores
    Microbes

    How dormant bacteria spores sense when it’s time to come back to life

    Bacterial cells shut down and become spores to survive harsh environments. An internal countdown signals when it’s safe for bacteria to revive.

  10. image of a downy woodpecker (gray body, black and white wings, and a red crest) pecking a tree
    Animals

    Drumming woodpeckers use similar brain regions as songbirds

    Woodpeckers drum on trees and other objects using brain regions similar to those that songbirds use to sing, suggesting a common evolutionary origin for the complex behaviors.

  11. A queen Harpegnathos saltator ant on a gray backdrop
    Animals

    A clever molecular trick extends the lives of these ant queens

    Ant queens typically live much longer than their workers by blocking a key part of a molecular pathway implicated in aging, a new study suggests.