Ecology & Zoology

Coryphopterus Curasub: A Fish Too Deep For Science

A new small goby fish differs from its relatives not only in its size and colors, but also in the depth of its habitat (70-80 m) in the southern Caribbean. The scientists gave it the name Coryphopterus curasub in recognition of the Curasub submersible tha ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 27 2015 - 8:30am

Parasitic Flatworms Flout Global Biodiversity Patterns

The odds of being attacked and castrated by a variety of parasitic flatworms increases for marine horn snails the farther they are found from the tropics. A Smithsonian-led research team discovered this exception to an otherwise globally observed pattern- ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 2 2015 - 8:30am

Bees: Activists Remain Silent While This Pollinator Killer Decimates Millions

We know that Greenpeace and other activist groups really,really care about bees. Really. ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 31 2015 - 2:19pm

How Bees Naturally Vaccinate Their Babies

When it comes to vaccinating their babies, bees don't have a choice-- they naturally immunize their offspring against specific diseases found in their environments. And now for the first time, scientists have discovered how they do it. Researchers fr ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 7 2015 - 8:30am

Mind-Controlling Wasps Enslave Zombie Spiders

People associate wasps with memories of picnic invasions, BBQs under siege, and painful stings. There is a lot more to these much-maligned insects though, and with more than 100,000 different species, their life histories range from the quietly unobtrusiv ...

Article - The Conversation - Aug 6 2015 - 7:30am

Greenpeace Can't Do Simple Bee Arithmetic- Can You Trust Them To Do Science?

Will the planet starve if bees disappear? Aren’t bees responsible for a significant chunk of the world’s food supply and nutrition, from one third to as much as 90 percent, depending on what advocacy group is making the claim? You hear such assertions inv ...

Article - Genetic Literacy ... - Aug 13 2015 - 11:29am

When A UFO Flies By, Does It Bother Bears?

If an unidentified flying object suddenly appeared in the sky, it's likely your heart would beat faster. Now, researchers have found that the same is true for bears. The UFOs in this case are actually unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which have becom ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 23 2015 - 8:00am

Energy Cost Balance: Why Too Much Play Is Linked To Sluggish Growth In Infants

For more than a century, researchers have tried to pin down exactly why so many animal species play in their infancy. Now a new study in wild macaque monkeys has found that infants who play more actually boost key motor skills. However, these skills are a ...

Article - The Conversation - Aug 17 2015 - 7:01am

There's No Wild Bee Colony Collapse Either

In a dramatic 2013 cover story, Time  warned of “ A World Without Bees,” subtitled “The price we’ll pay if we don’t figure out what’s killing the honeybee.” Its author argued that the class of agricultural pesticides know as neonicotinoids was killing the ...

Article - Genetic Literacy ... - Aug 25 2015 - 7:16am

Frogs Make Irrational Choices- And What Means For Understanding Animal Mating

In the attempt to choose a mate, it's no surprise that females will select the more "attractive" of two males, but now a new study reveals that female túngara frogs are susceptible to the "decoy" effect, where the introduction of ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 2 2015 - 12:45pm