Search Results for: Ants
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- Animals
Some African birds follow nomadic ants to their next meal
Specialized interactions between birds and driver ants in Africa could help explain why the birds are especially sensitive to forest disturbances.
By Yao-Hua Law - Animals
These ants build tall nest hills to help show the way home
Desert ants living in the harsh, flat salt pans of Tunisia create towering anthills to aid with navigating the near-featureless terrain.
By Soumya Sagar - Ecosystems
Marjorie Weber explores plant-protecting ants and other wonders of evolution
Cooperation across the tree of life is an understudied driver of evolution and biodiversity, Marjorie Weber says.
By Meghan Rosen - Animals
Invasive yellow crazy ants create male ‘chimeras’ to reproduce
Yellow crazy ants are first known species where chimerism is required in males: Each of their cells holds DNA from just one of two genetic lineages.
- Animals
The Sonoran Desert toad can alter your mind — it’s not the only animal
Their psychedelic and other potentially mind-bending compounds didn't evolve to give people a trip.
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The animal kingdom never ceases to amaze
Editor in chief Nancy Shute revels in the wonder of animals, from psychedelic toads to extinct pterosaurs.
By Nancy Shute - Life
Fungi don’t turn humans into zombies. But The Last of Us gets some science right
Fungi like those in the post-apocalyptic TV show are real. But humans’ body temperature and brain chemistry may protect us from zombifying fungi.
- Tech
This robot automatically tucks its limbs to squeeze through spaces
Inspired by ants, a robot with telescoping legs can crawl under low ceilings, climb over steps and move on grass, loose rock and mulch.
By Ananya - 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.
- Animals
This spider literally flips for its food
The Australian ant-slayer spider’s acrobatics let it feast on insects twice its size, a new study shows,
By Freda Kreier - Animals
The fastest claw in the sea belongs to young snapping shrimp
When juveniles snap their claws shut to create imploding bubbles, they create the fastest accelerating underwater movements of any reusable body part.
By Jake Buehler