Young praying mantises don’t have wings — they can only jump. To control a leap, the insect must rotate its abdomen or risk a nasty crash landing, a new study finds.
M. Burrows et al/Current Biology 2015
Life & Evolution
Topic Image Rail
MOVING ON If traveling killer whales have a postmenopausal female in the lead, her long ecological experience may give them an edge in hunting salmon.
David Ellifrit/Center for Whale Research
The village of San Antonio de los Cobres is high in the Argentinian Andes. The groundwater is contaminated with arsenic, and the people local to the region may have adaptations to its poisonous presence.
Sarmale / OAyuso/Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Life & Evolution
-
Animals
Wild ThingsHow a young praying mantis makes a precision leap
Videos of juvenile praying mantises flying through the air reveal how the insects manage to always make a perfect landing.News
Killer whales follow postmenopausal leaders
Taking the lead on salmon hunts may be postmenopausal killer whales’ way of sharing their ecological knowledge. -
Plants
Science TickerPlant growth patterns changing on much of Earth’s surface
More than half of Earth’s land surface has seen major changes in factors such as leaf-on date and how much vegetation grows in a season.News
Tropical plant knows whose bill is in its flowers
A rainforest plant avoids inbreeding by accepting pollen only from hummingbird species that must travel to reach it. -
Microbes
Feature
The year in microbiomes
This year, scientists pegged microbes as important players in several aspects of human health, including obesity and cancer.Feature
Year in review: Science faces Ebola epidemic
West Africa’s 2014 Ebola epidemic showed what can happen when a contagious virus emerges where cultural practices, public fears and porous borders fuel the spread of disease. -
Fungi
News in Brief
Gene study digs into partnership between fungi and plants
Fungal genes for symbiotic relationship with plants evolved a few times, and relatively recently, a study suggests.News
For yeast life span, calorie restriction may be a wash
A new technique for growing and tracking yeast cells finds caloric restriction doesn’t lengthen life span, though some researchers question the study method. -
Conservation
Wild ThingsTasty animals end up on latest list of threatened species
Growing food market lands several species, including Pacific bluefin tuna and Chinese pufferfish, on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.News
Close look at new fungus reveals origins, spread of salamander killer
A second chytrid fungus described last year targets salamanders and may be spreading in the animal export trade. -
Evolution
Science TickerSuperfast evolution observed in soil bacteria
Natural selection resurrects flagella in soil bacteria in just four days.News
Sexual conflict in mosquitoes may have worsened spread of malaria
Sexual conflict in Anopheles mosquitoes may have intensified their power to fuel human malaria. -
Ecology
News
Bubonic plague was a serial visitor in European Middle Ages
Outbreaks of Black Death in medieval Europe may have been triggered by faraway weather patterns and hungry gerbils.News
Bluebird moms inadvertently fuel wars between species
Extra hormones delivered to eggs holding sons in tough times end up driving one bluebird species to chase off another -
Paleontology
News in Brief
Hippo history extracted from fossil teeth found in Kenya
Fossilized teeth from the newly identified Epirigenys lokonensis, an ancestor of the hippopotamus, are filling in some of the mammoth mammal’s history.News
Earliest tree-dweller, burrower join mammal tree of life
Fossils show mammal ancestors did a lot more than cower in dinosaurs’ shadows. -
Biophysics
News
The eyes have it: Long lashes not so lovely
Eyelashes can’t be too short or too long without ruining their aerodynamic protection.Feature
Fast and furious: The real lives of swallows
In the fields of Oregon, scientists learn flight tricks from swallows. -
Other
