1,372 results
- Animals
Insects’ extreme farming methods offer us lessons to learn and oddities to avoid
Insects invented agriculture long before humans did. Can we learn anything from them?
- Life
Some fungi trade phosphorus with plants like savvy stockbrokers
New views show how fungi shift their stores of phosphorus toward more favorable markets where the nutrient is scarce.
- Environment
Why planting tons of trees isn’t enough to solve climate change
Massive projects need much more planning and follow-through to succeed – and other tree protections need to happen too.
- Life
This is the first fungus known to host complex algae inside its cells
In the lab, an alga and a fungus teamed up to exchange food, similar to lichens. But instead of staying outside, the alga moved into the fungal cells.
- Life
These fungi drug cicadas with psilocybin or amphetamine to make them mate nonstop
Massospora fungi use a compound found in magic mushrooms or an amphetamine to drive infected cicadas to mate and mate and mate.
- Animals
A deadly fungus gives ‘zombie’ ants a case of lockjaw
Clues left on infected ant jaws may reveal how the ‘zombie-ant-fungus’ contracts ant muscles to make their death grip.
- Animals
Earthy funk lures tiny creatures to eat and spread bacterial spores
Genes that cue spore growth also kick up a scent that draws in springtails.
- Health & Medicine
Rogue immune system reactions hint at an early treatment for COVID-19
A comprehensive look at the immune system shows multiple ways it misfires in COVID-19. Treating with interferon early might prevent trouble later.
- 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.
- Health & Medicine
Drug-resistant microbes kill about 35,000 people in the U.S. per year
The latest CDC report on drug-resistant microbes finds that these pathogens infect close to 3 million people in the United States each year.
- Humans
Malaria parasites may have their own circadian rhythms
Plasmodium parasites don’t depend on a host for an internal clock, studies suggest.
- Science & Society
‘The Nature of Life and Death’ spotlights pollen’s role in solving crimes
In ‘The Nature of Life and Death,’ botanist Patricia Wiltshire recounts some of her most memorable cases.
