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Studying the Bond Between a Cat and Its Human
It took 120 hours of observing 40 cat-human pairs for scientists to conclude that the bond between the two can be similar to other human relationships. And, yes, I know that most of you who have cats---or know someone who has a cat---will not find that surprising, so let's delve into the details. I...
February 28, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Accidental Cure for Hair Loss
Before I go any further, I have to warn any balding individuals reading this hoping for a solution to their hair loss problems that I'm going to talk about a study in mice. Nothing—yet—has been tested in humans, so don't get too excited.Our story starts with a group of scientists studying chronic s...
February 17, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Biology’s Ten Worst Love Stories
Animal sex can get pretty weird. And we're not comfortable with some of its variants. I'm sure I'm on someone's watch list after researching this post; while searching for juicy examples, I kept coming across sites barred by the Smithsonian's internet filter—such as the Wikipedia entry on "sexual c...
February 14, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Crested Gibbons Sing in Different Dialects
Crested gibbons of the genus Nomascus are small apes that live in the dense rainforests of Cambodia, China, Laos and Vietnam. All seven species communicate by singing—they sing to define their territory and find a mate, and male-female pairs sing duets to strengthen their bond, rather like a Bollyw...
February 08, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Survival Training, Ferret Style
Before the captive animals can go free, they have to hone their killer instinct at a conservation center in Colorado
February 2011 |
By Morgan Heim
Tracking the Elusive Lynx
Rare and maddeningly elusive, the "ghost cat" tries to give scientists the slip high in the mountains of Montana
February 2011 |
By Abigail Tucker
Are Humans an Invasive Species?
Some readers of recent Smithsonian stories on wild pigs in Texas and the world's worst invasive mammals list have argued that we may have left out the worst invasive species of them all: Homo sapiens. But are humans really an invasive species?Let's start with the definition of an invasive species. ...
January 31, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Shark That Will Give You More Nightmares Than Jaws
If the movie Jaws scared you away from swimming, perhaps you should avoid the "Journey through Time" section of the Sant Ocean Hall at the National Museum of Natural History. There you'll find a collection of fossil marine life dating back as far as 500 million years ago. In one case is possibly th...
January 26, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Rare Sunda Clouded Leopards Come in Two Varieties
Clouded leopards—named for their large, cloud-like spots—are rare. They are medium-sized (a bit bigger than a housecat) tree dwellers with big teeth and big paws that let them hang upside down among the foliage. In 2006, scientists used DNA studies to determine that there were two species of cloude...
January 25, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
A Colorful Zebrafish
Each summer, scientists gather in Woods Hole, Massachusetts to conduct research and take courses at the Marine Biological Laboratory. Last year, MBL held a scientific photography contest that anyone involved with the institution was allowed to enter. The winner, Albert Pan, a post-doc at Harvard Un...
January 14, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Male and Female Butterflies Take Turns at Courting
When it comes to butterflies, males are usually the pretty ones. They have to be, since they're also usually the ones that do the courting. But male and female squinting bush brown butterflies (Bicyclus anynana) that live in central Africa look alike, at least to us. Both are equally beautiful in ...
January 10, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
North American Bumblebees on the Decline
"The bees are disappearing." It's such a well-known fact that it even became a key plot point in season 4 of Doctor Who (with the explanation that the bees were aliens simply returning to their home planet). Most of the concern has centered on honeybees and the problem now known as colony collapse ...
January 04, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
A Plague of Pigs in Texas
Now numbering in the millions, these shockingly destructive and invasive wild hogs wreak havoc across the southern United States
January 2011 |
By John Morthland
The Elephant Family Tree, Extinct and Extant
Are you getting impatient for scientists to resurrect an extinct species? Me, too. Jurassic Park popularized the idea that ancient DNA could be used to reanimate dinosaurs. The cloning of Dolly the sheep provided a plausible mechanism, and the discovery of soft tissue in dinosaur bones and the reco...
December 27, 2010 |
By Laura Helmuth
Young Female Chimpanzees Make "Dolls" of Sticks
Young female chimps that live in a Ugandan park sometimes treat sticks in the same ways a little girl might treat her dolly, according to a new study in the journal Current Biology.Studies have shown that human girls tend to play more with dolls and boys with toy vehicles and fake weapons. Captive ...
December 21, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Dryer Sheets as Bug Repellant?
It's a modern old-wives tale: put a Bounce dryer sheet in your pocket while gardening and it'll keep away the mosquitoes or gnats. This may seem a bit far-fetched to those of us who have never tried it, but researchers have now found that there could be some truth in it, when it comes to gnats, any...
December 20, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The World's Worst Invasive Mammals
Animals as common as goats, deer, rabbits or mice can have a devastating effect on other wildlife
December 20, 2010 |
By Jess Righthand
Juravenator: Germany's Other Feathered Dinosaur
In 1861, as debates about evolution were brewing among naturalists, two important skeletons were discovered from the Late Jurassic limestone quarries of Germany. Both would be relevant to ideas about how birds evolved. Although not recognized as such until the late 20th century, Archaeopteryx was t...
December 17, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
It's Not Too Late to Save the Polar Bear
In 2007, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey said that if humans didn't do anything to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, two-thirds of the world's polar bears could be gone by the middle of this century. Now a new study has addressed the next question: Is there still time to help the bears? T...
December 17, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
