Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Anemone Wars: Clone armies deploy scouts, attack tidally
The first description of clashing armies of sea anemones has revealed unsuspected military tactics.
- Plants
Built-in bird perch spreads the pollen
Tests confirm the idea that a plant benefits from growing a bird perch to let pollinators get the best angle for reaching the flowers.
- Ecosystems
Empty Nets
New research has begun challenging long-held assumptions about the consequences for fish stocks of harvesting the biggest fish first.
- Ecosystems
Pesticide makes bees bumble
The pesticide spinosad, previously thought safe for bees, may damage their ability to forage for nectar.
- Animals
New Mammals: Coincidence, shopping yield two species
Researchers have identified a new species of monkey in Africa and a rodent in Asia that belongs to a new family among mammals.
- Animals
Built for Blurs: Jellyfish have great eyes that can’t focus
Eight of a box jellyfish's eyes have superb lenses, but their structure prevents them from focusing sharply.
- Animals
Alive and Knocking: Glimpses of an ivory-billed legend
New observations confirm that the famed ivory-billed woodpecker has not gone extinct after all.
- Ecosystems
Decades of Dinner
Sunken whale carcasses support unique marine ecosystems that display stages of succession and change, just as land ecosystems do.
- Ecosystems
Where Tuna Go: Atlantic fish mix for feeding, not spawning
The largest high-tech tag study yet of Atlantic bluefin tuna suggests that two groups mix on feeding grounds but spawn on opposite sides of the ocean.
- Paleontology
Early mammal had newfangled fangs
A tiny mammal that lived in Colorado about 150 million years ago had hollow teeth that lacked enamel, a characteristic that didn't reappear in mammals for another 100 million years.
- Ecosystems
Ambush Ants: Beware the moldy patch on that branch
Tiny tropical ants build shaggy platforms on plants and hide underneath them, poised to reach out and capture insects that may be far larger than themselves.
- Animals
Funny Walks: Cranes bob, bob, bob along when hunting
The jerky neck motions of a whooping crane may help it spot food by keeping its head motionless about half the time.
