Animals

  1. Life

    10 billion snow crabs have disappeared off the Alaskan coast. Here’s why

    In the eastern Bering Sea, the snow crab population plummeted after a marine heat wave in 2018. The crabs may have starved, a new study finds.

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  2. Animals

    Scientists debunked a long-standing cicada myth by analyzing their guts

    The lack of obvious chewing mouthparts may have made casual observers think that adult cicadas don’t need to feed. But that’s not the case.

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  3. Animals

    In a first, genetically modified silkworms produced pure spider silk

    An effort to engineer silkworms to produce spider silk brings us closer than ever to exploiting the extraordinary properties of this arachnid fiber.

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  4. Life

    Ants may be the first known insects ensnared in plastic pollution

    At this point, it’s unclear whether this type of trash harms insects, but the discovery highlights the ubiquity of plastic pollution in the wild.

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  5. Animals

    Gene editing can make chickens resistant to bird flu

    Chickens genetically modified to be impervious to avian influenza may one day prevent the spread of the disease on farms, a study suggests.

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  6. Life

    Hippos might be ferocious fighters, but their big teeth make them terrible chewers

    Among plant eaters, hippos are the worst chewers. Their huge tusks and front teeth keep the jaw from moving side to side to grind food, a study finds.

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  7. Animals

    A global report finds amphibians are still in peril. But it’s not all bad news

    A survey of about 8,000 amphibian species provides the latest update on extinction risk trends stretching back to 1980.

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  8. Animals

    In noisy environs, pied tamarins are using smell more often to communicate

    Groups of the primate, native to Brazil, complement vocalizations with scent-marking behavior to alert other tamarins to dangers in their urban home.

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  9. Animals

    The right bacterial mix could help frogs take the heat

    Wood frog tadpoles that receive a transplant of green frog bacteria can swim in warm waters, revealing another role for microbiomes: heat tolerance.

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  10. Paleontology

    A one-of-a-kind trilobite fossil hints at what and how these creatures ate

    The preserved contents suggest the trilobite fed almost continuously and had a gut environment with an alkaline or neutral pH, researchers say.

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  11. Animals

    Seen Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster? Data suggest the odds are low

    Floe Foxon is a data scientist by day. But in his free time, he applies his skills to astronomy, cryptology and sightings of mythical creatures.

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  12. Animals

    These brainless jellyfish use their eyes and bundles of nerves to learn

    No brain? No problem for Caribbean box jellyfish. Their seemingly simple nervous systems can learn to avoid obstacles on sight, a study suggests.

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