CHILL OUT Scotch heather weathers summer freezes by forming internal ice barriers that block ice crystals from spreading to its flowers.
Peter O'Connor aka anemoneprojectors/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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Magazine
In the October 1 SN: Meet the SN 10 — up-and-coming scientists exploring big questions, Tasmanian devils resist an epidemic of cancer, the ebb and flow of one man’s microbiome, oldest fossils, Juno’s first closeups of Jupiter and more.
Life & Evolution
Topic Image Rail
At first, evolutionary geneticist Aneil Agrawal had imagined his grown-up life out in the field “living in a David Attenborough show.” But he soon discovered he was a lab animal.
Diana Tyszko/University of Toronto
Computational biologist Lawrence David tracked 349 lifestyle measures, in addition to collecting his own saliva and feces.
Leslie Todd/Duke University
Life & Evolution
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Animals
News
Frog-hunting bats have ‘cocktail party effect’ workaround
Test with robotic frogs finds bats that hunt amphibians switch their attention to other clues if outside noise masks the mating chorus.Science TickerHawaiian crows ace tool-user test
The almost-extinct Hawaiian crow joins the small, select flock of birds shown to use sticks tools routinely and well to wiggle bits of food out of crevices. -
Plants
News
Narrowed plumbing lets flower survive summer cold snaps
Ice barriers help alpine plants save their flowers during summer cold snaps.Reviews & Previews
‘The Long, Long Life of Trees’ takes readers on a walk in the woods
The Long, Long Life of Trees explores the scientific, historical and cultural significance of apple, birch, elm and 14 other kinds of trees. -
Microbes
Feature
Microbial matter comes out of the dark
Undiscovered bacteria challenge what scientists know about microbial life.Editor's NoteBacteria display qualities that a mother would love
Editor in chief Eva Emerson discusses big lessons we can learn from some of Earth's smallest organisms. -
Fungi
News
Yeasts hide in many lichen partnerships
Yeasts newly discovered in common lichens challenge more than a century of thinking about what defines the lichen symbiosis.Science TickerTruffles aren’t laced with radioactive cesium
Fallout from the Chernobyl disaster hasn’t made truffles dangerously radioactive, scientists find. -
Conservation
Introducing
California’s goby is actually two different fish
One fish, two fish: California’s tidewater goby is two species.Television
‘Wild Ways’ showcases need for wildlife corridors
The TV documentary 'Wild Ways' shows how wildlife corridors bridge the gap between isolated populations of animals. -
Evolution
Feature
Aneil Agrawal unites math and mess
Evolutionary geneticist Aneil Agrawal is equally at home with real and hypothetical fruit flies.News
Rattlesnakes have reduced their repertoire of venoms
The most recent common ancestor of today’s rattlesnakes had a huge set of toxin-producing genes. Modern rattlesnake species have independently ditched some of these genes. -
Ecology
News
Shrinking sea ice threatens natural highways for caribou, plants
As Arctic sea ice declines, Peary caribou or plants risk getting stranded when their frozen highways thaw.News
Ocean plankton held hostage by pirate viruses
The most abundant photosynthesizers on Earth stop storing carbon when they catch a virus. -
Paleontology
The –est
Pterosaurs weren’t all super-sized in the Late Cretaceous
A 77-million-year-old flying reptile may be the smallest pterosaur of the Late Cretaceous.News
Preteen tetrapods identified by bone scans
Roughly 360 million years ago, young tetrapods may have schooled together during prolonged years as juveniles in the water. -
Biophysics
News
Human eye spots single photons
Human eyes are sensitive enough to detect individual particles of light.News
Mini ‘wind farm’ could capture energy from microbes in motion
Bacteria could spontaneously organize and rotate turbines, computer simulations show. -
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