Ecosystems
- Animals
Why humans, and Big Macs, depend on bees
Thor Hanson, the author of Buzz, explains the vital role bees play in our world.
- Animals
Each year painted lady butterflies cross the Sahara — and then go back again
Painted ladies migrate the farthest of any butterfly.
- Ecosystems
Madagascar’s predators are probably vulnerable to toxic toads
The Asian common toad, an invasive species in Madagascar, produces a toxin in its skin that’s probably toxic to most of the island’s predators.
- Paleontology
These newfound frogs have been trapped in amber for 99 million years
Trapped in amber, 99-million-year-old frog fossils reveal the amphibians lived in a wet, tropical climate.
- Animals
In a conservation catch-22, efforts to save quolls might endanger them
After 13 generations isolated from predators, the endangered northern quoll lost its fear of them.
- Environment
Treating roads with oil and gas wastewater may spread harmful pollution
When spread on roads, wastewater from oil and gas production can leach radium and other contaminants into the environment, a new study finds.
- Climate
The first Americans could have taken a coastal route into the New World
Alaskan glaciers retreated in time for ancient coastal entries of the first Americans.
- Animals
A caterpillar outwits corn defenses by gorging on fattening ‘junk’ food
The crop plants defend themselves with zombie-maker wasps, but one pest has a desperate work-around.
- Earth
Keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees C helps most species hold their ground
Holding global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100 could help protect tens of thousands of insect, plant and vertebrate species.
- Climate
Bull sharks and bottlenose dolphins are moving north as the ocean warms
Rising temperatures are making ocean waters farther north more hospitable for a variety of marine species.
- Animals
See (and hear) the stunning diversity of bowhead whales’ songs
Bowhead whales display a huge range in their underwater melodies, but the drivers behind this diversity remain murky.
- Animals
‘The Curious Life of Krill’ is an ode to an underappreciated crustacean
A new book makes the case that Antarctic krill and the dangers they face deserve your attention.
