Two recent studies by ecologists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have shed light on the relationship between the slender pitcher plant and its 'tenant', the crab spider Thomisus nepenthiphilus, providing insights ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 12, 2018
3
7
The natural world is full of examples of what biologists call convergent evolution—instances where unrelated creatures developed similar traits in response to similar evolutionary pressures.
Evolution
Sep 27, 2018
1
102
After a six-hour ride over increasingly treacherous roads, it took a full day's hike up almost 3,000 feet for Leonora Bittleston to reach Nepenthes Camp in the Maliau Basin, an elevated conservation area in Malaysian Borneo ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 29, 2018
0
28
Almost everyone who eats fast food is familiar with the frustration of trying to squeeze every last drop of ketchup out of the small packets that accompany french fries.
Environment
Aug 3, 2018
4
176
Water pitchers designed to rid water of harmful contaminants are not created equal, new research has found.
Environment
May 17, 2018
0
10
By learning how water is collected by living organisms, including rice leaves and pitcher plants, scientists at The University of Texas at Dallas created and tested a combination of materials that can do the same thing, but ...
Condensed Matter
Mar 30, 2018
0
237
To the average plant-eating human, the thought of a plant turning the tables to feast on an animal might seem like a lurid novelty.
Evolution
Feb 6, 2017
1
1319
When a baseball pitcher uncorks a nasty curveball, the spinning motion of the ball forces air to flow around it at different speeds, causing the ball to "break" in one direction.
General Physics
Sep 21, 2016
0
178
Organisms such as cacti and desert beetles can survive in arid environments because they've evolved mechanisms to collect water from thin air. The Namib desert beetle, for example, collects water droplets on the bumps of ...
Materials Science
Feb 24, 2016
2
445
The traps of Nepenthes gracilis use heavy rain as a power source to drive a fast prey capture motion, new research from the University of Bristol has found. The findings are published this week in the journal PNAS.
Plants & Animals
Oct 5, 2015
0
127
