Life

  1. Animals

    Hot and hungry bees hit hot spots

    New lab experiments suggest that bumblebees like warm flowers and can learn color cues to pick them out.

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  2. Animals

    Babbling Bats: Do pups talk baby talk as human infants do?

    Young sac-winged bats make long strings of adultlike noises and could be the first animals besides some primates and birds that babble when they're babies.

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  3. Paleontology

    Rarity of fossils of young tyrannosaurs explained

    Paleontologists have unearthed only a few juvenile tyrannosaurs, and a new study suggests why: A large percentage of these meat-eating dinosaurs, unlike many other creatures, survived into adulthood.

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  4. Plants

    Orchid bends around to insert pollen

    An orchid species in China has set a new record for acrobatics in self-pollination, twisting its male organs around and inserting them into the cavity where the female organ lies.

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  5. Animals

    Stilts for ants make case for pedometer

    Changing the leg length of desert ants upsets their ability to judge distance, providing the first evidence in any animal of a built-in odometer based on stride.

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  6. Animals

    Live Prey for Dummies: Meerkats coach pups on hunting

    Meerkats easing their pups into the job of handling live prey are among the few animal species shown so far to be natural teachers. With audio.

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  7. Animals

    Dawn Sneaks: Old birds sing early, cuckold sleepyheads

    Among European birds called blue tits, older males join the springtime dawn chorus extra early—which may signal their charms to philandering females.

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  8. Paleontology

    Sight for ‘Saur Eyes: T. rex vision was among nature’s best

    A study of dinosaur eyes finds that Tyrannosaurus rex had very sophisticated vision that may have helped its predatory abilities.

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  9. Paleontology

    Sticky Subjects: Insights into ancient spider diet, kinship

    Remnants of a spider web embedded in ancient amber suggest that some spiders' diets haven't changed much in millions of years.

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  10. Ecosystems

    A Chronicle of Coasts: Study charts historical changes in seas, estuaries

    New research compares the long-term ecological impact of human activities in estuaries and coastal seas on three continents.

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  11. Animals

    Fishy Reputations: Undersea watchers choose helpers that do good jobs

    Coral reef fish use smart-shopper techniques of looking for satisfied customers before choosing a small fish to provide cleaning services.

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  12. Plants

    Herbal therapy for beleaguered lawns

    Mustard and other herbal remedies can thwart turf attacks by root-feeding roundworms.

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