Animals

  1. Animals

    Macaques in Puerto Rico learned to share shade after Hurricane Maria

    Animals that spent more time together on hot afternoons were less likely to die during the years following the storm, a new study finds.

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  2. Life

    Many frogs glow in blue light, and it may be a secret, eerie language

    Biofluorescence is far more common across frog species than previously thought. The faint twilight glow could have a role in communication or mating.

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  3. Animals

    The newfound Los Angeles thread millipede is ready for its close-up

    Found in Southern California, Illacme socal is the third of its genus found in North America, with the rest of its relatives scattered around the world.

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  4. Neuroscience

    Playful behavior in rats is controlled by a specific area of their brains

    Cells in a brain region called the periaqueductal gray are activated by chasing and tickling, a study finds. Blocking their activity reduces play in rats.

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  5. Math

    How geometry solves architectural problems for bees and wasps

    Adding five - and seven - sided cells in pairs during nest building helps the colonyfit together differently sized hexa gonal cells , a new study shows.

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  6. 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.

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  7. Animals

    In a ‘perfect comeback,’ some birds use antibird spikes to build their nests

    The spikes were meant to keep birds away. But five corvid nests in Europe use the bird-deterrents as structural support and to ward off predators.

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  8. Animals

    Explore the past, present and future of ‘Eight Bears’

    The book invites readers to meet the eight species of bears left on Earth and looks at how humans are shaping their future, for better or for worse.

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  9. Life

    Rats sense the wind with antennae-like whiskers above their eyes

    Long, thin whiskers above rats’ eyes appear to sense faint air movement, which may be helpful for detecting moving threats in dark, narrow corridors.

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  10. Animals

    These researchers are reimagining animal behavior through a feminist lens

    Ambika Kamath and Melina Packer are working to overturn biased, outdated views in biology.

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  11. Animals

    Static electricity can pull ticks on to their hosts

    Ticks brought near objects with a static charge frequently get pulled to those surfaces, a new study finds, suggesting one way the bugs find hosts.

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  12. Science & Society

    Humans exploit about one-third of wild vertebrate species

    An analysis of nearly 47,000 vertebrate animal species reveals that using them for food, medicine or the pet trade is helping push some toward extinction.

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