News
Fungi with broader diets are better at killing plant pests
2+ hour, 11+ min ago (947+ words) In nature, being good at one thing usually means being worse at something else. Scientists call these compromises trade-offs, and they turn up almost everywhere biologists look. A few fungi seem to shrug off that rule. One species can hunt…...
Healthy ecosystems need predators, not just more species
3+ hour, 38+ min ago (912+ words) Ecologists have long known that biodiversity matters, but measuring exactly how species diversity influences ecosystem functioning has been far more challenging. In a recent study, researchers analyzed more than 300 food webs around the world. The results showed that ecosystems with…...
Brown bears survived the Ice Age by repeatedly changing their jaws
5+ hour ago (922+ words) Before the last Ice Age ended, Europe's brown bears repeatedly reshaped their jaws as the climate swung between glacial cold and warmer periods. The same two jaw forms appeared again and again, each better suited to a different environment. A…...
How plastic bottles could save dolphins from fishing nets
1+ day, 1+ hour ago (896+ words) Every year, dolphins and porpoises swim into fishing nets they never sensed in time. The gear is thin nylon, nearly invisible in the water and almost silent to animals that navigate the ocean by sound. This accidental capture has a…...
New spider species feeds exclusively on one specific ant species using a completely unpredictable hunting tactic
1+ day, 6+ hour ago (876+ words) A spider web is built to wait. A fly or beetle blunders into the sticky threads, struggles to free itself, and the spider walks over to collect a meal. The prey makes the mistake. The web just sits there. The…...
Newborn babies are born with a built-in sense of numbers
1+ day, 20+ hour ago (978+ words) Babies start learning about the world the moment they're born. But a new study suggests they arrive with at least one important ability already in place. Researchers found that newborns just hours to days old already recognize quantity, and their…...
Coral bleaching study uncovers proteins that could help protect reefs
1+ day, 20+ hour ago (902+ words) The algae that power the world's coral reefs survive inside coral cells by hijacking the very compartment built to destroy invaders, a new study has found. Rather than being digested, the algae move into the cell's disposal unit and turn…...
Common birds are secretly pollinating Britain's flowers
2+ day, 3+ hour ago (929+ words) Birds are famous for many things. Pollinating flowers in Britain is not usually one of them. For a long time, the idea got waved away. Insects handled pollination, and birds were treated as passing visitors with no real job among…...
Sea sponges use photosynthesis to make food from sunlight
2+ day, 3+ hour ago (793+ words) For a long time, sponges had a simple reputation on coral reefs. They sat in one spot and fed on whatever the water carried past them. That picture now looks incomplete. A new study from the reefs of Cura'ao shows…...
Giraffes can solve simple addition problems, study finds
2+ day, 4+ hour ago (885+ words) A new study has found that giraffes can carry out a simple kind of addition in their heads. Four giraffes at a Spanish zoo watched carrots dropped into hidden piles of food they could no longer see, then reliably reached…...