New fish species offers literal take on 'hooking up'

Fishing hooks aren't the only hooks found in east-central Mexican waters. A new species of freshwater fish described by a North Carolina State University researcher has several interesting – and perhaps cringe-inducing ...

Hummingbirds make flying backward look easy

Animals that move backwards usually require a lot of energy, so Nir Sapir from the University of California Berkeley, USA, was surprised when he realized that hummingbirds execute this maneuver routinely. Wondering how hummingbirds ...

Chocolate makes snails smarter

Chocolate isn't usually on the diet for snails, but when Lee Fruson and Ken Lukowiak from the University of Calgary, became curious about the effects of diet on memory, they decided to try a flavonoid from chocolate, epicatechin ...

Deep-sea crabs grab grub using UV vision

(Phys.org)—Crabs living half-a-mile down in the ocean, beyond the reach of sunlight, have a sort of color vision combining sensitivity to blue and ultraviolet light. Their detection of shorter wavelengths may give the crabs ...

How geckos cope with wet feet

Geckos are remarkable little creatures, clinging to almost any dry surface, and Alyssa Stark, from the University of Akron, USA, explains that they appear to be equally happy scampering through tropical rainforest canopies ...

Gauging the forces between cells

Cell-cell junctions are important for communication, transport, signalling, waste evacuation and water homeostasis. An European project has investigated how biophysical forces can influence the fulfilment of this vast range ...

How cheetahs outpace greyhounds

Cheetahs are the high-performance sports cars of the animal kingdom, but how do they outstrip other elite athletes when using the same sprint technique? Penny Hudson, Sandra Corr and Alan Wilson from the Royal Veterinary ...

Vampire jumping spiders identify victims by their antennae

Evarcha culicivora jumping spiders, also known as vampire spiders, are picky eaters by any standards. Explaining that the arachnid's environment is swamped with insects, Ximena Nelson from the University of Canterbury, New ...

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