It's a depressingly familiar sight when an oil well blows or a tanker runs aground: thousands of stranded, helpless animals wallowing in cloying crude oil. 'Birds are often used as the poster children for the deadly effects ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 5, 2017
0
1
If our body temperature increases by even 1°C, we fell pretty sick, but Echinolittorina malaccana periwinkles routinely experience and survive temperatures in excess of 55°C. It turns out that the thermotolerant molluscs ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 31, 2017
0
4
It takes a special kind of insect to pollinate an inside-out flower, which is exactly what the wasps that pollinate figs do. Crawling inside the firm swelling lined with microscopic flowers that will eventually ripen into ...
Plants & Animals
May 3, 2017
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6
No two cakes smell identical, yet we are still able to recognise the general aroma that promises pleasure. Ayse Yarali from the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Germany, explains that this ability to generalise a previously ...
Plants & Animals
May 3, 2017
1
8
Dolphins that live in the deep ocean have well developed oxygen storage, but now it turns out that spinner dolphin calves do not develop their SCUBA capacity any faster than coastal species, despite their deep diving lifestyle. ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 19, 2017
0
18
Few studies have investigated how prior social experience affects sensitivity to alcohol, but now a study from the University of Maryland shows that sociable crayfish are more sensitive than loners and suggests that similar ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 19, 2017
0
15
If you've ever found yourself struggling under a heavy pile of suitcases at the end of a holiday, spare a thought for the porters in some of the planet's most remote locations.
Other
Nov 16, 2016
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2
The idyllic sight of a sea otter mum with a pup clasped to her chest, basking in the peaceful waters of Monterey Bay suckling her youngster can conceal the true extent of her devotion. Lactation is one of the most demanding ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 3, 2016
0
16
Summer is always the best time of year to get a good blasting at a festival or mega-band concert, but how many of us give a thought to our delicate sense of hearing as our ears are assaulted? Birds are capable of replacing ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 3, 2016
0
14
Scampering across the salt pans of Tunisia on their spindly legs, desert ants (Cataglyphis fortis) have a single-minded mission: locate food and get it back to the nest. Normally, individual raiders bear a tasty morsel in ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 20, 2016
0
11
