Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Summit living isn’t a problem for this tiny mouse
A boost to heat production and drawing in more oxygen may help Andean leaf-eared mice thrive at altitude.
- Agriculture
Scientists say Beefalo are all beef, no -alo. Breeders disagree
A whole-genome analysis of Beefalo, a hybrid bison-cattle breed, suggests very few individuals have any bison DNA at all, a new study reports.
- Anthropology
‘Hobbits’ likely scavenged dragons’ kills
Homo floresiensis may have scavenged Komodo dragon leftovers instead of hunting small elephant relatives.
- Plants
Giant trees have tricks to work around drought
Samples collected at daring heights provide evidence for an untested theory of tree drought adaptation, while countering another.
- Life
The natural history of every U.S. state is on display at a new D.C. exhibit
The Smithsonian Natural History Museum’s latest exhibit, “From These Lands,” connects visitors with America’s natural history.
- Animals
The animal behind most aggressive wildlife encounters may surprise you
Analysis of 3,000 incidents in Canada reveals which animal–human activity combos are especially risky. Of note: Elk and campgrounds are a bad mix.
- Animals
Young gulls’ drab plumage may help them avoid adult attacks
Fake, painted decoys suggest immature coloring acts as a social signal, reducing aggression from territorial nesting gulls.
- Animals
A new species of walking shark has been found in Papua New Guinea
Walking sharks crawl on their fins across reefs and even out into tide pools. The newfound Dudgeon walking shark brings the known species count to 10.
- Microbes
This microbe turns into a cannibalistic ‘Hulk’
Euplotes gigatrox’s shape-shifting may reveal how early life learned to act in surprisingly complex ways.
- Animals
Crabs can’t hide from an octopus with a mirror
New experiments show that octopuses can understand where an item is based solely on its reflection.
- Animals
A whopping 14 million species of insects — or more — may roam Earth
New calculations suggest that the insect species inhabiting our planet may be double or triple previous estimates.
- Science & Society
A discovery about this bat’s diet was hiding in a Renaissance painting
Renaissance painter Jan Brueghel the Elder painted a bat eating a bird — 400 years before scientists would document the behavior.
