138 Items Tagged

Biology

Fujisawa, Japan

Morse Seaside Laboratory Site

The oft-overlooked site of one of the first marine biological research facilities in the world.

In British Columbia, Dead Salmon Make for Happy Butterflies and Bees

Researchers hauled bins of fish carcasses through bear country to learn how salmon affects plants and pollinators.

Suzie Hodges August 6, 2024

A female small-winged stick mantis (<em>Brunneria subaptera</em>).

The Mystery of Uruguay's Ferocious, All-Female Cannibal Insects

The small-winged stick mantis is found throughout South America's grasslands. But in Uruguay, the population is entirely female.

James Hall April 26, 2024

Many-armed sunflower sea stars are fast-moving and can grow to the diameter of a bicycle tire, making them formidable hunters.

Baby Sea Stars Are Voracious Predators That Might Just Save an Ecosystem

Along the Pacific Coast, fast and furious sunflower sea stars are vicious hunters as adults—and they're even hungrier when young.

Roxanne Hoorn February 27, 2024

Australian giant cuttlefish males (top) and females (bottom) show different coloration in mating displays.

The Weird and Wonderful World of Sex Under the Sea

From penis dueling to pee potions to switching sexes, there’s no one right way of getting it on in the ocean.

Roxanne Hoorn February 21, 2024

A trunk so wide it makes people look like miniatures.

Meet General Sherman – the Largest Tree in the World (By Volume)

This Giant Sequoia contains California history, Civil War history, and a whole lot of wonder, all within its ultra-thick bark.

Sponsored by Visit California

This 'Satan' Spider Turned Out to Be a Real Teddy Bear

In Ecuador, Satanas the tarantula—named for his feisty attitude—became both teacher and friend to researchers.

Ashley Stimpson January 19, 2024

The new species is about a foot long, and like other species, curls into a ball with their suckers pointing out when protecting their eggs.

New Species of Octopus Thrives in Deep Sea Nurseries

At warm, deep sea springs off Costa Rica's Pacific Coast, throngs of octopus "balls" gather to tend their brood.

Roxanne Hoorn January 16, 2024

One distinction between a snail and a slug: The snail has a shell.

Why Are Snails and Slugs So Slow?

These mollusks evolved to mosey along at a particularly ponderous pace—the reasons why may surprise you.

John Tooker, Daniel Bliss, and Jared Adam January 2, 2024

Into The Deep: The Journey to Bring Amazing Deep Sea Animals to the Surface

The Monterey Bay Aquarium displays vibrant jellies, fascinating fishes, and the largest crab in the world.

Sponsored by Monterey Bay Aquarium

Monterey, California

Into The Deep/En lo Profundo Exhibit at Monterey Bay Aquarium

Enormous crabs, bioluminescent jellies, and other amazing creatures from the ocean’s depths—some of which are in an aquarium for the first time ever.

The parasitic plant <em>Sapria himalayana</em>, also known as the jeweled corpse flower, was one of several rare species found in the Siang Valley by ATREE botanists.

The Biodiversity of India's Siang Valley Rediscovered After an Infamous Colonial Expedition

A red velvet worm, jeweled corpse flower, and other rare species were found while retracing the route of the bloody 1911-12 Abor Expedition.

Deepa Padmanaban December 12, 2023

Scientists don’t know how many silky anteaters live in Brazil’s Parnaíba Delta. Densely vegetated mangroves make it difficult to count the elusive animals.

Brazil's Most Adorable Anteater May Be a New Species

These isolated, pocket-sized silky anteaters live among the mangroves of Brazil’s Atlantic coast.

James Hall November 20, 2023

Electric eels, native to the Amazon region, are known for delivering powerful, painful jolts to prey, would-be predators, and the occasional human. But much less is known about their reproduction.

The Shocking Sex Lives of Electric Eels in Brazil

Lightning and other environmental electricity may jumpstart reproduction for the Amazon Basin fish.

James Hall November 15, 2023

The bright colors of a monarch butterfly (<em>Danaus plexippus</em>), just like the boldly striped caterpillars of the species, warn predators to stay away.

The Monarch Butterfly Steals From Poisonous Plants to Survive

The butterfly defends itself using milkweed, just one of several plants packed with heart-stopping toxins that may also be in your medicine cabinet.

Noah Whiteman October 25, 2023

After you die, bacteria harvest your body for the nutrients that help push daisies.

When You Die, Your Necrobiome Recycles You

An environmental microbiologist explains why an individual's death is a new lease on life for an entire ecosystem.

Jennifer DeBruyn October 16, 2023

Podcast: Searching for Squids with Sarah McAnulty

We journey through the ocean depths, meeting a different cephalopod at each stop along the way.

The Podcast Team October 2, 2023

Scientists estimate there are some 4,000 bees native to the United States alone—but many of them are struggling to survive in our warming, pesticide-ridden world.

To Save America's Native Bees, the Oregon Bee Project Is Mapping Every Single One

The project aims to make a complete 'bee atlas,' detailing every single local pollinator.

Kate Raphael September 22, 2023