Water spiders spend their entire lives under water, only venturing to the surface to replenish their diving bell air supply. Yet no one knew how long the spiders could remain submerged until Roger Seymour and Stefan Hetz ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 9, 2011
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Climbing is possibly one of the riskiest things an adult tarantula can do. Weighing in at anything up to 50gm, the dry attachment systems that keep daintier spiders firmly anchored are on the verge of failure in these colossal ...
Plants & Animals
May 16, 2011
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Breathing heavily at the edge of an ice hole, an Antarctic emperor penguin prepares to dive. Taking a last gulp of air, the bird descends and may not emerge again for another 20 minutes. The penguin initially carries sufficient ...
Plants & Animals
May 12, 2011
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Hunting in the North Sea, harbour seals often encounter murky water that impedes their vision; but it doesn't affect their ability to chase prey. Extending their vibration-sensitive whiskers, the mammals are almost as efficient ...
Plants & Animals
May 12, 2011
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If you thought that we know everything about how the flea jumps, think again. In 1967, Henry Bennet-Clark discovered that fleas store the energy needed to catapult themselves into the air in an elastic pad made of resilin. ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 10, 2011
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When filaree seeds ripen and burst, they are launched with an inbuilt spring. Scientists based at the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University have discovered that the inbuilt spring stores energy as the ...
Ecology
Jan 27, 2011
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How much can a blue whale eat in a single mouthful and how much energy do they burn while foraging? These are the questions that Bob Shadwick from the University of British Columbia, Canada, and his colleagues have asked ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 9, 2010
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Virtually nothing is known about leatherback turtle diving strategies, but on Nov. 12, 2010, an international team of UK and US based scientists publish their discovery that leatherbacks regulate their buoyancy by varying ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 12, 2010
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Few fish are famed for their parenting skills. Most species leave their freshly hatched fry to fend for themselves, but not discus fish. Jonathan Buckley from the University of Plymouth, UK, explains that discus fish young ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 29, 2010
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Geckos have amazingly sticky feet. Their stickability comes from billions of dry microscopic hairs that coat the soles of their feet. However, when humidity increases, gecko feet stick even tighter to smooth surfaces, so ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 15, 2010
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