Here's how we proved that tropical birds are more colourful—and why colour helps them survive
For many of us, the tropics conjure up thoughts of lush vegetation teaming with vibrant and strikingly colourful birds, insects and other creatures.
For many of us, the tropics conjure up thoughts of lush vegetation teaming with vibrant and strikingly colourful birds, insects and other creatures.
Ecology
Apr 6, 2022
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16
Two of Charles Darwin's notebooks containing his pioneering ideas on evolution and his famous "Tree of Life" sketch have been returned anonymously after going missing for 21 years, Cambridge University Library said on Tuesday.
Other
Apr 5, 2022
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39
When it rains, it pours. Make hay while the sun shines. Save for a rainy day. Come rain or shine. The English language is overflowing with phrases about the weather, especially rain, or the lack of it. Fascination with the ...
Environment
Mar 25, 2022
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21
People have been trying to understand how predators and prey are able to stay balanced within our planet's ecosystems for at least 2,400 years. The Greek author Herodotus even raised the question in his historical treatise ...
Evolution
Mar 3, 2022
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13
When Charles Darwin first codified the theory of evolution by means of natural selection, he thought of it as a gradual process. "We see nothing of these slow changes in progress, until the hand of time has marked the long ...
Evolution
Feb 16, 2022
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220
Many people think that mathematics is a human invention. To this way of thinking, mathematics is like a language: it may describe real things in the world, but it doesn't "exist" outside the minds of the people who use it.
Mathematics
Nov 22, 2021
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855
A Madagascan hawkmoth, whose existence was predicted by Darwin and Wallace, has now been recognized as a new species.
Plants & Animals
Oct 5, 2021
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5330
Charles Darwin was obsessed with domestic pigeons. He thought they held the secrets of selection in their beaks. Free from the bonds of natural selection, the 350-plus breeds of domestic pigeons have beaks of all shapes and ...
Evolution
Sep 21, 2021
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517
For the first time, milkweed butterflies have been sighted feeding on live caterpillars—their own species' young. Researchers suggest they do this to increase their supply of mating pheromones.
Plants & Animals
Sep 9, 2021
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784
Five months into the pandemic, things were getting desperate for Robin Betancourt, The tourists he depended upon as a boat captain were unable to visit the Galapagos Islands, whose isolation—1,000 kilometers (600 miles) ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 24, 2021
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260