Animals
- Ecosystems
Lessons for the new year
SN Editor in Chief, Eva Emerson, reflects on looking to nature for insights on how to constructively look ahead - even if just a year -drawing from a handful of this issues natural science stories for her 2015 resolutions.
- Ecosystems
Dam demolition lets the Elwha River run free
Removing a dam involves more than impressive explosions. Releasing a river like Washington state's Elwha transforms the landscape and restores important pathways for native fish.
- Ecosystems
Cities are brimming with wildlife worth studying
Urban ecologists are getting a handle on the varieties of wildlife — including fungi, ants, bats and coyotes — that share sidewalks, parks and alleyways with a city’s human residents.
- Animals
Bees, up close and personal
A photo archive from the U.S. Geological Survey's Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab offers detailed photos of bee species.
- Animals
China’s reindeer are on the decline
A small, semi-domesticated population of reindeer found in northern China is suffering due to threats ranging from inbreeding to tourism.
- Animals
Rock ants favor left turns in unfamiliar crevices
Rock ants’ bias for turning left in mazes, a bit like handedness in people, may reflect different specializations in the halves of their nervous system.
- Animals
The scent of a worry
The smell of fear makes other rats stressed. Now, scientists have isolated the Eau de Terror that lets rats communicate their concerns.
- Genetics
The year in genomes
From the tiny Antarctic midge to the towering loblolly pine, scientists this year cracked open a variety of genetic instruction manuals to learn about some of Earth’s most diverse inhabitants.
- Life
Bird flu follows avian flyways
A deadly bird flu virus spreads along wildfowl migration routes in Asia.
- Animals
Starving mantis females lie to make a meal of a male
When in desperate straits, a female false garden mantid turns into a femme fatale, emitting false chemical cues that lures in a male to eat.
- Animals
It’s bat vs. bat in aerial jamming wars
In nighttime flying duels, Mexican free-tailed bats make short, wavering sirenlike sounds that jam each other’s sonar.
- Animals
Lucky break documents warbler tornado warning
Warblers fitted with data collecting devices for other reasons reveal early and extreme measures when dodging April’s tornado outbreak.
