Biology

Nature’s Sneakiest Males, And How They Win Where Alpha Males Fail

Biologists used to believe that alpha males got all the ladies, thus proving that male domination of women was “natural.” But with a little more observation, they realized this wasn’t true. The craftiest males, known as “sneaker males,” get a surprising amount of sex from a surprisingly happy female population. Cunning, Hard Work, and Timing…

The First Photo Ever Taken Of An Oceanic Shark Giving Birth

Marine biologists working off the coast of the Philippines have captured an image of an incredibly elusive sight — a free-swimming oceanic shark giving birth. Along with colleague A. E. Bicskos Kaszo, the extraordinary photo was taken by Simon Oliver from the University of Chester, who told the BBC that this was “the first record…

What’s The Difference Between An Outbreak And An Epidemic?

More than 8,000 people have died from Ebola in West Africa since February 2014 and it has spread beyond the three countries initially affected. So, it’s an epidemic, right? Or is it an outbreak? Photo Credit: Bobby Yip/Reuters What about H1N1? The 2009 pandemic infected people around the world. But, so did the SARS epidemic…

I’m Tired Of Seeing This Charles Darwin Quote Taken Out Of Context

In the sixth chapter of On The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin addresses “Organs of Extreme Perfection” – organs like the eye, the formation of which due to natural selection, Darwin “freely confessed,” seems “absurd in the highest possible degree.” But this is only part of a much longer quote. The sentence is almost always…

​What Turned Sugar-Free Candies Into Super-Laxatives?

Sugar-free candies clean out your digestive system better than a giant pipe-cleaner. Not to put too fine a point on it, they make you poop. How do these ultra-laxatives work, and why are they still on the market? Lycasin, Maltitol, and Gummy Bears Reviewers on Amazon made Haribo Sugar Free Gummy Bears famous when they…

Baby Aardvark Is the Ultimate Embodiment of “Ugly-Cute”

Days before Christmas, one of the Colchester Zoo‘s resident aardvarks, Oq, gave birth. Have you ever seen anything so incredibly, amazingly, simultaneously ugly and cute? The infant, showcased in photos released this week, is part of the UK’s most successful aardvark breeding group. It will be fully-grown (and way hairier) within a year. For now…

Men Can Live 20 Years Longer… But There’s A High Cost

Men, what would you be willing to give up to live a couple decades longer? Think carefully before you answer. Research has shown that men who are castrated may have significantly longer lifespans. Here’s what we know. Photo Credit: Colby Stopa via flickr | CC BY 2.0 Behavior or Biology? You’ve probably heard about the…

Early Start-Times Are Robbing You Of Sleep

Everyone knows quality sleep is important, but getting more of it can be difficult. A growing body of evidence suggests early start-times for work and education may be to blame. The latest findings to link early start times to poor sleep hygiene appear in the January issue of the journalSleep. A team led by Mathias…

A Mitochondrial DNA Transplant Could Help Treat Hundreds Of Diseases

For the first time ever, researchers in New Zealand have shown that mitochondrial DNA can move between cells in an animal tumor. It’s an extraordinary finding that could lead to an entirely new field of synthetic biology and the treatment of hundreds of diseases. Top image: The dark field image on the left highlights the…

10 Grossest Bug Parts, Ranked

All insects possess the same fundamental body plan: A head, a thorax, and an abdomen. It is a testament to nature’s twisted creativity that some of the grossest body parts in the animal kingdom can be found bursting, curling, and wiggling from these segments. Here are the 10 most repulsive insect body parts of all.…

This Freaky New Frog Gives Birth To Live Tadpoles, Not Eggs

Scientists have never seen anything quite like this before. It’s a newly discovered species of fanged frog that gives direct birth to live tadpoles instead of laying eggs. It isn’t that rare for scientists to find new species of animals, but finding an entirely new mode of reproduction is a different story altogether. The newly…

You Can Get A Pox From Seals

This cute little guy is just waiting to infect you. In the late 1960s, scientists realized that seals had a virus that they could share back and forth with other pinnipeds. Over 30 years later, scientists have confirmed that it can be given to humans. Sealpox isn’t as bad as it sounds. Although it shares…

What This Bond Villain Can Teach You About Extra Nipples

In The Man with the Golden Gun, Francisco Scaramanga is a typical Bond villain, flamboyant and menacing, with a supposedly unusual feature — a third nipple. But it’s actually not that unique an identifier. One in 18 men have third nipples, while one in 50 women have them — and many people may have more…

What Is a Hangover?

Yippee! Let’s poison ourselves with beverages that will make us violently ill! It was your battle cry last night, and today you’re paying the price. But what is that hangover you’re experiencing, exactly? A hangover is your body’s reaction to drinking too much alcohol… Everyone has a different tolerance (it’s usually lower for women than…

Incredible Images Show A Python Devouring An Entire Wallaby

A park ranger in Australia’s Nitmiluk national park recently stumbled upon an extraordinary scene: an 8-foot long olive python swallowing an entire agile wallaby joey. All images: Paul O’Neill/Parks and Wildlife Commission NT. As reported in The Guardian, Ranger Paul O’Neill arrived at the scene shortly after the python killed the wallaby. The snake was…

These Toads Sing To Stay Alive

Noise pollution doesn’t just annoy your neighbors or keep you from sleeping. It’s just possible that, when we make too much noise, we alter the balance between predators and prey in an ecosystem. And these toads show us how. Spadefoot toads are masters at staying alive. They have to be. They’re toads that live in…

Ants like to turn left when they’re exploring new places. So like many creatures, ants exhibit behavioral lateralization, in which directional biases are built-in. Researchers aren’t sure why ants prefer left, but turning in one evolutionary agreed-upon direction may help them search and exit maze-like spaces, or stick together as a group.

The Truth About Your ‘Cage Free’ Eggs

What’s the difference between “Cage Free,” “Farm Fresh,” and “Free Range”? Photo Credit: Pietro Izzo via flickr | CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 NPR’s Anders Kelto has assembled a glossary of terms “for the wannabe informed egg buyer” that contrasts what you might think these phrases mean with what they actually mean. If you’ve ever wondered what…

This Rare Bird Is Half-Male And Half-Female

This bi-colored northern cardinal has female plumage on its right, and male plumage on its left. Called a “gynandromorph,” these animals are rare in nature. Rarer still is the chance to study one for extended periods of time — but researchers recently had such a chance with the bird you see here. Photo Credit: Brian…

Fly Swarms Reveal Something Profound About the Human Brain

We think of our brains as single, unified organs. But a new set of experiments with flies reveals that certain brain cells in these insects respond exclusively to crowd behavior. And that leads to an interesting question: Did cells in the animal brain evolve to think using something akin to the wisdom of fly swarms?…