1,170 results
1,170 results for: Spiders
- Animals
This spider’s barf is worse than its bite
Most spider species subdue dinner by injecting venom from their fangs. Feather-legged lace weavers swathe prey in silk, then upchuck a killing brew.
- Animals
This caterpillar wears the body parts of insect prey
Dubbed the “bone collector,” this caterpillar found on a Hawaiian island disguises itself while stalking spider webs for trapped insects to eat.
- Animals
A fungus named after Sir David Attenborough zombifies cave spiders
The new fungus species Gibellula attenboroughii forces reclusive cave spiders to exposed areas, likely to benefit spore dispersal.
- Tech
Mosquitos use it to suck blood. Researchers used it to 3-D print
A mosquito proboscis repurposed as a 3-D printing nozzle can print filaments around 20 micrometers wide, half the width of a fine human hair.
- Plants
This flower smells like injured ants — and flies can’t resist it
A type of Japanese dogsbane releases a scent identical to wounded ants’ distress signal, drawing in scavenging flies that unwittingly pollinate it.
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Which animal should scare you more?
Editor in Chief Nancy Shute discusses which should scare you more: sharks or ticks and fungus — and why sharks might actually be the least of your worries.
- Animals
A single protein makes lovesick flies spill their guts
Producing a male-specific protein in digestion-related neurons may have led to the evolution of an odd “romantic” barfing behavior in one species of fruit flies.
- Animals
Climate stress may undermine male spiders’ romantic gift giving
Even spider love lives show an effect of climate uncertainty: Stressed males may offer a bit of silk-wrapped junk rather than a tasty insect treat.
- Life
Why these zombie caterpillars can’t stop eating
Sneaky chemistry by a real-life “Last of Us” Cordyceps fungus mind controls its zombie insect victims by convincing them they’re starving.
- Animals
This tool-wielding assassin turns its prey’s defenses into a trap
This assassin bug's ability to use a tool — bees’ resin — could shed light on how the ability evolved in other animals.
- Health & Medicine
Most women get uterine fibroids. This researcher wants to know why
Biomedical engineer Erika Moore investigates diseases that disproportionately affect women of color.
- Animals
The mystery of how iguanas crossed the Pacific Ocean may be solved
The iguanas' 8,000-kilometer trip — one-fifth of the Earth’s circumference — is the longest made by a flightless land vertebrate.
