Jake Buehler
Jake Buehler is a freelance science writer, covering natural history, wildlife conservation and Earth's splendid biodiversity, from salamanders to sequoias. He has a master's degree in zoology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
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All Stories by Jake Buehler
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Life
Fires may have affected up to 85 percent of threatened Amazon species
Since 2001, fires in the Amazon have impacted up to about 190,000 square kilometers — roughly the size of Washington state.
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Animals
Sunbirds’ dazzling feathers are hot, in both senses of the word
Iridescent feathers reflect vivid colors. But they also become scorching hot in the sunlight, a study finds.
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Life
If confirmed, tubes in 890-million-year-old rock may be the oldest animal fossils
Newly described wormlike fossils may be ancient sea sponges. If confirmed, the fossils would reveal a remarkably early start to animal life.
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Animals
This butterfly is the first U.S. insect known to go extinct because of people
A 93-year-old Xerces blue specimen’s DNA shows that the butterfly is a distinct species, making it the first U.S. insect humans drove to extinction.
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Animals
Climate change may rob male dragonfly wings of their dark spots
Less colorful, cooler wings may be advantageous to dragonflies in a warmer world. But the change could mess with the insects’ mating.
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Animals
These beetles walk on water, upside down, underneath the surface
Many insects can skate atop the water’s surface thanks to water tension, but one beetle can apparently tread along the underside of this boundary.
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Animals
‘Fathom’ seeks to unravel humpback whales’ soulful songs
The film ‘Fathom’ on Apple TV+ follows the quest of researchers on the ocean’s surface to decipher the eerie symphony of humpback whale calls below.
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Plants
These ferns may be the first plants known to share work like ants
Staghorn ferns grow in massive colonies where individual plants contribute different jobs. This may make them “eusocial,” like ants or termites.
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Animals
Urchin mobs team up to butcher sea stars that prey on them
Urchins are important herbivores in nearshore ecosystems, but are not strict vegetarians, with hunger that extends even to munching predatory nemeses.
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Animals
This praying mantis inflates a strange pheromone gland to lure mates
Researchers stumbled across a first among mantises: an inflatable organ that spreads pheromones, helping mates find each other in the dark rainforest.
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Life
Yawning helps lions synchronize their groups’ movements
A lion yawn is contagious, and when lions start yawning together, they start moving together. Synchronization may be key for group hunters like lions.
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Life
Flamboyant fishes evolved an explosion of color as seas rose and fell
Fluctuations in sea level due to cycling ice ages may have powered an engine in tropical seas that pumped out gaudy fish species.