Snakes can fast because they got rid of a hormone.
Science reports on a discovery researchers are putting up there with GLP-1 anti-obesity drugs. In this case, snakes can survive long, and foodless, periods of […]
zoology
Science Art: Illustration of a Southern Sierra Nevada fisher
This is a mustelid, a relative of weasels and wolverines, called a fisher. The scientific name is Pekania pennanti. They’ve never been very common, and […]
Dragon? Or weasel?
OK, not weasel but marten – which is close enough. Asahi Shimbun writes on the identity of a dragon mummy known as a Koryu held […]
Science Art: A New Hummingbird From Ecuador, 1926
From the pages of the November-December 1926 issue of Natural History magazine (found on archive.org) flies “The Aethereal Sylph (Cyanolesbia coelestis aetherius Chapman)”. The blue… […]
AI to translate cat faces.
Nature: Scientific Reports wants you to know why your cat is making faces at you. They’ve published a study that uses artificial intelligence to decipher […]
Science Art: Cystoidea, by Ernst Haeckel
This is one of the plates from the 100 illustrations in Kunst-Formen der Natur, or “Art Forms in Nature,” by Ernst Haeckel, a scientist – […]
Science Art: Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon Boie), 1898
The word “halcyon,” meaning “calm, idyllic, happy times” came from the Greek name for these little guys, who were said to bring, well, halcyon days. […]
There are amphibious mice in the Amazon.
Reuters reveals the discovery of 27 new species in the Peruvian Amazon, including a strange species of amphibious mice: Scientists also discovered a spiny mouse, […]
SONG: Two Wolves Inside Us
SONG: “Two Wolves Inside Us” . (OGG version here.) ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: Based on Ecology, 14 Nov 2024, “Canids as pollinators? Nectar foraging by Ethiopian […]
Personalities count… for wolves.
Sentient Science reports on an unexpected flaw that might interfere with human attempts to reintroduce wolves into the wilds of Colorado. The problem isn’t the […]
The birds, the bees, the… wolves?
The journal Ecology has some unusual research about wild pollinators. They’ve found that famous species like honeybees and hummingbirds who spread pollen by daintily zipping […]
Science Art: Kleiner Wasserbär, 1773
This is what German pastor Johann August Ephraim Goeze dubbed a “tiny water-bear” when he first spotted it among the animacules in the droplets of […]
Science Art: Parasites: a parasitical worm, shown much enlarged, with its hosts, by J. Svoboda after L.W. Sambon.
I’m not sure what to make of this, other than that it’s a worm that somehow feeds on or otherwise inconveniences tigers and monkeys. So […]
Look into a dog’s eyes and your brains can synchronize.
Science Alert explains the allure of the puppy-dog eyes with Chinese research demonstrating brainwaves suddenly syncing up between humans and dogs when they look into […]
Cats will play fetch too.
The Conversation extends the dog-owner’s friendly game of fetch to feline friends who, researchers have found, can also enjoy bringing back toys that are thrown […]