Animals
- Animals
Dogs pick up robots’ social cues
Dogs were more likely to pay attention to a PeopleBot robot — a machine with a laptop head and Mickey Mouse–style hands — after watching it walk, talk and shake hands with humans.
- Genetics
Male zebrafish sex tool stops fin regeneration
Tiny, spiked structures on the pectoral fins of male zebrafish help them hold females steady while mating. However, the structures produce a protein that seems to hinder the fish’s ability to regenerate fins.
-
-
- Animals
Hibernating turtles don’t slip into a coma
Winterized red-eared sliders shut down their lungs but spring into action when they see light.
- Animals
Legless geckos slither using skin ridges
The animal's belly has flat rows of ripples that may help them wriggle.
- Animals
Alpine swifts fly nonstop for more than six months
During a journey of 200 days, the birds eat, rest and migrate without touching the ground.
-
- Animals
Hiding up your nose is a clever strategy for ticks
Found hiding in the noses of Ugandan chimps, a new tick species hitchhiked its way to America in a researcher's nose.
-
- Animals
Tortoise-studying teen takes top Broadcom prize
Even a tortoise enthusiast can speed through a three-day gauntlet of science, engineering and math challenges to claim victory. River Grace, 14, of West Melbourne, Fla., did just that. At an awards ceremony October 1, he picked up the top award of $25,000. The teen was one of 30 finalists from 17 states who attended the third annual Broadcom Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars, or MASTERS, competition.
- Animals
The giraffes that sailed to medieval China
Chinese exploration of the world is often left out of Western textbooks (at least it was left out of mine), but for a brief period, from 1405 to 1433, the Chinese under Ming emperor Yongle sent out numerous trade missions that reached as far as present-day Kenya. During the fourth expedition, which left China in 1413, part of the fleet led by commander Zheng He sailed to Bengal in India, where in 1414 they met envoys from the African coastal state of Malindi (now part of Kenya). The men from Malindi had brought with them as tribute giraffes, and they gave one of those giraffes to the Chinese, who took it home.
