Biology

Scientists crack the 70-year-old mystery of why fish freak out

Schreckstoff literally translates as “scary stuff.” It is both an example of German linguistic ingenuity and the mysterious chemical that has puzzled the scientific community for seventy years. It is the signal that wounded fish give off to scare the rest of the school away, but no one knew what this substance was…until now. Wounded…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Extremely rare whale filmed for the first time ever

Throughout history, Shepherd’s beaked whale a.k.a. the Tasman beaked whale has been spotted only a handful of times, as this deepwater cetacean comes up for air very briefly. But in a happy coincidence, blue whale researchers ran into this uncommon creature off the coast of southern Australia. Explains Michael Double of the Australian Antarctic Division…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

Don’t Worry, Men: The Y Chromosome Isn’t Dying Out

For a long time, biologists have predicted that the Y chromosome—the DNA that makes men men—was gradually dying out, and that it would eventually lead to the extiniction of the male of the species. Fortunately, a team of researchers has proven that isn’t the case. It used to be, a long time ago, that the…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Holy crap, does this worm-like amphibian lay terrifying eggs

In the soils of northeastern India, researchers from Delhi University have uncovered an entirely new family of amphibians. Meet the Chikilidae, which belong to an earthworm-like order of amphibians known as caecilians. Seven new species of Chikilidae were uncovered by the team, who recently published their findings in The Proceedings of The Royal Society B.…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

The Earth might have a “pulse” that causes extinctions every 60 million years

Every sixty million years, the biodiversity of our planet’s oceans mysteriously crashes. This strange boom and bust cycle goes back 500 million years, and we now might know why: rising continents make the oceans too shallow for species to survive. The key to this mystery, according to new research led by University of Kansas physicist…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The Y chromosome isn’t going extinct after all

A few years back, we learned that the Y chromosome was essentially rotting, shedding hundreds of its genes over the last 300 million years. That isn’t wrong, but it turns out reports of the Y chromosome’s eventual extinction were premature. The X and Y chromosomes first emerged as the two sex-determining chromosomes – X for…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Alex the counting parrot was even smarter than we thought

Alex the gray parrot was no ordinary bird. The subject of a thirty-year investigation into avian cognition, by the time he died in 2007, numerous scientific publications had pointed to Alex as proof that a bird’s mathematical abilities could be on par with — and even exceed — those of chimps and other non-human primates.…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Cows Can Now Booty Call Their Farmers

Farming cows is a thankless task; keeping track of their fertility sounds funny, but it’s what keeps meat in your burger and milk on your cereal. Fortunately, mobile technology means that cows can now drop their farmers an SMS when they’re feeling frisky. That’s right. Bovine sexting has arrived. A new intelligent collar has been…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Robot dinosaurs are the future of paleontology

Since dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago, there’s only so much we can really know about how these creatures moved and lived. But as two scientists explain to us, building robot dinosaurs could unlock the secrets hidden in fossils. This almost unspeakably awesome idea comes out of Drexel University. Paleontologist Dr. Kenneth Lacovara and…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

This is the worst reproductive strategy in the animal kingdom

Think pandas are inept when it comes to carrying on the species? Think again. The giant panda is a champion reproducer compared to a chubby, land-bound parrot called the kakapo. Between navigational problems, botanical problems, and the occasions when horny male parrots try to have sex with animals that can kill them, this is the…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Cuttlefish have a visual superpower – they see the world in polarized light

Cuttlefish are among the most remarkable of cephalopods, but nobody expected the creatures to have this particular trick up their sleeve. Cuttlefish can actually see information in the angle of intense polarized light that we can barely comprehend. We’re generally most familiar with this particular concept from polarized sunglasses. The idea is that light that…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Listen to the predatory mice who howl before they kill

I didn’t believe it until I actually heard it. There is an unusual mouse who literally howls at the Moon before killing its prey. Called the grasshopper mouse, it’s a rare carnivorous mouse who eats bugs, scorpions, and even other mice. Apparently they also let out this piercing cry before moving for the slaughter. Over…

io9 Annalee Newitz

This ancient Arctic plant regenerated after being frozen for 32,000 years

The narrow-leafed campion is not a particularly long-lived flower; and yet, the parents of the campion pictured here blossomed in the presence of mammoths and woolly rhinos. How is that possible? The explanation is simple, but the circumstances are unprecedented. The fruits that gave rise to the flowers you see here first fell to the…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Will People Ever Evolve Out of Craving Unhealthy Food?

Maybe, but it’s going to take a long time. For the past 200,000 years or so, fatty and sugary foods were hard for humans to come by and well worth gorging on. Fats help maintain body temperature, sugars provide energy, and craving such food is hardwired: Eating fats and sugars activates reward centers in the…

Health Amber William - Popular Science

Fruit Flies Fend Off Wasp Body Snatchers By Getting Drunk

Wasps like to invade fruit flies and take over their bodies, like some insect version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Scientists have now discovered that fruit flies have developed a way to defend themselves: alcohol. The Drosophila melanogaster, A.K.A. the fruit fly, has developed a resistance to alcohol. Since it thrives on yeasts that…

Tech News Kristen Philipkoski

The Oldest Living Trees in the World

The tree had been on fire for over a week before anyone noticed. The Senator, one of the oldest Cypress trees in the world, was killed when a smoldering ignition from an errant lightning strike slowly transformed it into a towering chimney and fuel source in one. Or maybe it didn’t happen like that at…

io9 Rachel Sussman - Brain Pickings

Drop everything — the Bald Eagle Cam is back!

Have you ever wanted to spy on a bald eagle, watch one hatch, or watch one learn to fly? Then it’s time to put everything going on in your life on hold… at least for the next few months. The Decorah Bald Eagle Cam — aka the most powerful time-devouring procrastination tool on the entire…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Which animals could benefit the most from global warming?

When we talk about global warming’s biological impact, we tend to focus on animals and plants whose habitats are being so drastically changed that they are facing the threat of extinction. But what about animals who benefit from global warming? Of course, there aren’t very many species likely to come out better off from global…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Changing ocean temperatures may have made human evolution possible

A lot of the most basic traits we associate with humans, not the least of which include intelligence and walking on two legs, evolved when our ancient habitat changed from dense forest to wide-open grassland. So what caused this change? The reason behind East Africa’s big shift from forest to grassland has puzzled scientists, with…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

32,000-Year-Old Siberian Plant Thawed and Grown Again

Russian scientists say they’ve revived a plant that had been tucked away by an arctic ground squirrel 32,000 years ago on the tundra of northeastern Siberia. A few years ago, the scientists found the burrow stash and tried to germinate the long-frozen plant. That didn’t work. So they took cells from the plant’s placenta, the…

Tech News Kristen Philipkoski

Scientists crack the 70-year-old mystery of why fish freak out

Extremely rare whale filmed for the first time ever

Don’t Worry, Men: The Y Chromosome Isn’t Dying Out

Holy crap, does this worm-like amphibian lay terrifying eggs

The Earth might have a “pulse” that causes extinctions every 60 million years

The Y chromosome isn’t going extinct after all

Alex the counting parrot was even smarter than we thought

Cows Can Now Booty Call Their Farmers

Robot dinosaurs are the future of paleontology

This is the worst reproductive strategy in the animal kingdom

Cuttlefish have a visual superpower – they see the world in polarized light

Listen to the predatory mice who howl before they kill

This ancient Arctic plant regenerated after being frozen for 32,000 years

Will People Ever Evolve Out of Craving Unhealthy Food?

Fruit Flies Fend Off Wasp Body Snatchers By Getting Drunk

The Oldest Living Trees in the World

Drop everything — the Bald Eagle Cam is back!

Which animals could benefit the most from global warming?

Changing ocean temperatures may have made human evolution possible

32,000-Year-Old Siberian Plant Thawed and Grown Again

National Film and Sound Archive of Australia Adds ‘Succulent Chinese Meal’ Guy

Feds Sniffing Around Polymarket After Suspicious Bets

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Don’t Get Too Attached to Any AI App

‘Paradise’ Writer Teases What’s Coming in Season 3 After That Huge Twist

Trump’s New White House App Is Mildly Concerning and Weird for a Lot of Reasons

Bloodsucking Ticks Can Survive Inside Your Home Longer Than You Might Think

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