Search Results for: Butterflies

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1,017 results
  1. A photo of a painted lady butterfly resting on a lion paw print in the dirt.
    Animals

    The last leg of the longest butterfly migration has now been identified

    After a long journey across the Sahara, painted lady butterflies from Europe set up camp in central Africa to wait out winter and breed.

    By Erin Garcia de Jesús

  2. 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
  3. yellow and black sail swallowtail butterfly on a pink flower
    Animals

    Butterflies may lose their ‘tails’ like lizards

    Fragile, tail-like projections on some butterflies' wings may be a lifesaver.

    By Jake Buehler
  4. A photo of a honeybee sitting sitting on a white sage plant.
    Life

    Flowers pollinated by honeybees make lower-quality seeds

    Honeybees are one of the most common pollinators. But their flower-visiting habits make it harder for some plants to produce good seeds.

    By Jude Coleman
  5. A photo of a small brown mouse running across a gray floor.
    Neuroscience

    In mice, anxiety isn’t all in the head. It can start in the heart

    Scientists used optogenetics to raise the heartbeat of a mouse, making it anxious. The finding could offer a new angle for studying anxiety disorders.

    By Bethany Brookshire
  6. golden tortoise beetle on a leaf
    Animals

    Mirror beetles’ shiny bodies may not act as camouflage after all

    Hundreds of handmade clay nubbins test the notion that a beetle’s metallic high gloss could confound predators. Birds pecked the lovely idea to death.

    By Susan Milius
  7. An opaque photo of a wildfire overtop an opaque satellite image of Africa.
    Climate

    Climate ‘teleconnections’ may link droughts and fires across continents

    Far-reaching climate patterns like the El Niño-Southern Oscillation may synchronize droughts and regulate scorching of much of Earth’s burned area.

    By Nikk Ogasa
  8. images of butterflies created with transparent ink
    Materials Science

    These colorful butterflies were created using transparent ink

    See-through printer ink can create a whole spectrum of colors when printed in precise, microscale patterns.

    By Maria Temming
  9. A photo of a giant, 3,200-year-old statue of King Ramses II inside the Grand Egyptian Museum with constructions workers milling about.
    Science & Society

    Here are 7 new science museums and exhibitions to visit in 2023

    The Grand Egyptian Museum is slated to open, as well as new exhibitions dedicated to space travel, the Galápagos Islands and more.

    By Erin Wayman
  10. yellow underwing moth on a red clover flower at night
    Life

    Moths pollinate clover flowers at night, after bees have gone home

    Camera footage reveals that moths make roughly a third of the visits to red clover, highlighting the overlooked role of nighttime pollinators.

    By Jake Buehler
  11. a Xerces blue butterfly against a black background
    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.

    By Jake Buehler
  12. A brimstone moth caterpillar, extremely effectively camouflaged as a twig
    Life

    Not all camouflage is equal. Here are prey animals’ best options

    When prey masquerade as innocuous objects in the environment, they slow detection from predators by nearly 300 percent.

    By Jake Buehler