Life

  1. 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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  2. Plants

    Herbal therapy for beleaguered lawns

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

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  3. Animals

    Naked and Not

    The Damaraland mole rat may be less famous than its naked cousin, but both have some of the oddest social structures found in a mammal.

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  4. Paleontology

    Ancient webbed masters

    Newly unearthed fossils of a 110-million-year-old bolster the notion that all modern birds evolved from aquatic ancestors.

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  5. Animals

    Mixed Butterflies: Tropical species joins ranks of rare hybrids

    A South American butterfly is one of the few animal species that seems to have arisen via the supposedly rare path of crossing two older species.

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  6. Paleontology

    Amphibious Ancestors

    Newly discovered fossils from Greenland, as well as a reexamination of those of previously known creatures, are providing researchers with additional insights into ancient vertebrates' move from water to land.

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  7. Animals

    Leggiest Animal: Champ millipede located after 79-year gap

    A millipede species that can grow up to 750 legs has turned up in California after decades with no sightings.

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  8. Animals

    Walking on Water: Tree frog’s foot uses dual method to stick

    The tree frog can cling to both wet and dry terrains, despite its permanently lubricated foot.

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  9. Animals

    Lobster Hygiene: Healthy animals quick to spot another’s ills

    Caribbean spiny lobsters will avoid sharing a den with another lobster that's coming down with a viral disease.

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  10. Ecosystems

    Top-Down Lowdown: Predators shape coastal ecosystem

    The health of southern California kelp forests may depend more on the ecosystem's predator population than the forest's access to nutrients.

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  11. Animals

    True-pal lizards may show odd gene

    Colorful lizards in California may offer an example of a long-sought evolutionary factor called greenbeard genes, a possible explanation for altruism.

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  12. Animals

    Jay Watch: Birds get sneakier when spies lurk

    A scrub jay storing food takes note of any other jay that watches it and later defends the hoard accordingly.

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