How do decisions get made in the natural world? One possibility is that the individuals or components in biological systems collectively compute solutions to challenges they face in their environments. Consider that fish navigate complex environments to find food...
How did Borneo get its elephant? This could be just another of Rudyard Kipling's just so stories. The Bornean elephant is a subspecies of Asian Elephants that only exist in a small region of Borneo. Their presence on this...
Two new treefrog species were discovered in the Amazon Basin of Bolivia, Peru, and Brazil. Both had been previously misidentified as another superficially identical species.
Curiously, one of them received a name translating to 'demon' or 'devil'. The second one...
Birds are the last remaining dinosaurs. They're also some of the most vibrantly colored animals on Earth. A new study in Nature Communications reveals that iridescent feathers go way back--a newly discovered species of dinosaur from 161 million years ago had...
Smart boxers bind their hands with strips of cloth to avoid injury when they pack a punch. Millions of years ago, the "smasher" mantis shrimp, one of nature's feistiest predators, figured out a similar way to protect the hammer-like...
Many of the genes involved in natural repair of the injured spinal cord of the lamprey are also active in the repair of the peripheral nervous system in mammals, according to a study by a collaborative group of scientists...
Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego were part of an international team that for the first time used hydroacoustics as a method for comparing the abundance of fishes within and outside marine...
Snakes are known for their iconic S-shaped movements. But they have a less noticeable skill that gives them a unique superpower.
Snakes can crawl in a straight line.
University of Cincinnati biologist Bruce Jayne studied the mechanics of snake movement to...
In 1854, a curious-looking spider was found preserved in 50 million-year-old amber. With an elongated neck-like structure and long mouthparts that protruded from the "head" like an angled beak, the arachnid bore a striking resemblance to a tiny pelican....
When Joshua Daskin traveled to Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park in 2012, the park and the iconic large animals that roamed it were returning from the brink of extinction. Gorongosa, among Africa's most spectacular wildlife preserves until the 1970s, had...
A new study has found that levels of commercial fish stocks could be harmed as rising sea temperatures affect their source of food.
University of Adelaide scientists have demonstrated how climate change can drive the collapse of marine "food webs".
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