Animals

Male Paraphidippus aurantius (a species of jumping spider), by Thomas Shahan

Locking Eyes With Spiders and Insects

Macrophotographer Thomas Shahan takes portraits of spiders and insects in the hopes of turning your revulsion of the creatures into reverence

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Fossils of Four New Species of Whale Found Under a California Highway

The fossils could fill in gaps in what scientists know of the evolutionary steps between toothed to toothless baleen whales

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Amateur Naturalists Are Discovering All Kinds of New Insect Species

More and more, amateurs are contributing to the discovery of new species, especially of insects - but can they keep ahead of the extinction curve?

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Moles Can Smell in Stereo

We see and hear with eyes and ears process those images and sounds single pieces of information. It turns out moles do the same thing, except with smell

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Saving Top Predators Could Have a Climate Change Benefit, Too

Through their effect on the food web, shifting predator populations can change greenhouse gas levels

Chimpanzees Remember Things Faster Than You Do

Chimpanzees are several times stronger than us, generally healthier, and research suggests that they might have better memories too

Appreciate Weird, Adorable Pangolins Before They’re Gone

Across Asia, a plague of hunting has hit pangolins, though it's not too late to save these intriguing creatures from extinction

Mates for Life

A Valentine for Sci-Art Lovers

A clever print by designer Jacqueline Schmidt pays homage to 12 different species with one thing in common—they mate for life

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Outrageous Taxidermy, the Subject of a New Show on AMC

Former Smithsonian taxidermist Paul Rhymer is a judge on "Immortalized," a TV competition that pits up-and-comers against superstars in the field

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Should National Parks Offer Wifi and Cellular Coverage?

Is cellular coverage inevitable in U.S. national parks, some of the nation's last wireless hold-outs?

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Tourists’ Photos Could Help Scientists Understand Whale Sharks

Every year, tourists take approximately a bazillion pictures. Most of them never wind up anywhere but someone's hard drive, never seen again, but some of those pictures might actually be useful. Especially if they're of whale sharks

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Elephants Choose to Stay Inside Safe, Less Stressful National Parks

Elephants living within the park's boundaries are significantly less stressed than those living outside of its protective borders

Researchers thought that male fish, affected by artificial hormones in waste water, were growing eggs. This turned out to not be true.

California’s Gender-Bending Fish Was Actually Just a Contamination Accident

Scientists thought male fish, exposed to artificial hormones, were growing eggs. They weren't

A sea turtle farm in Gran Cayman

Captive Sea Turtles Extract Their Revenge by Making Tourists Sick

Captive sea turtles in the Caymans can ruin a tourist's visit with a nasty dose of bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites

A moose in Alaska’s Denali National Park and Preserve.

Minnesota’s Moose Are Missing, And No One Really Knows Why

Disease? Warm summers? No one knows for sure what is leading to the moose's decline in this state

Wisdom the Albatross with the chick she hatched last year.

At 62, the Oldest Bird in the World Is Still Hatching Chicks

Wisdom the 62 year-old albatross just hatched what is thought to be her 30 to 35th chick

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The Year’s Most Outstanding Science Visualizations

A juried competition honors photographs, illustrations, videos, posters, games and apps that marry art and science in an evocative way

Earthworms Could Make Climate Change Worse

While earthworms benefit soils, they do play a significant role in greenhouse gas emissions worldwide - though not nearly as great as humans, of course

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Searching for the Russian Loch Ness Monster in a Frozen Siberian Lake

In a record-breaking dive, the head of the Russian Geographical Society sunk to the bottom of Lake Labynkyr in Siberia, one of the coldest lakes in the world

A leaf grasshopper (Phyllophorina kotoshoensis).

Honey, I Blew Up the Bugs

Italian artist Lorenzo Possenti created 16 enormous sculptures of giant insects, all scientifically accurate, now on display at an Oklahoma museum

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