Animals
The Gold Rush Left Behind Mercury That’s Still Contaminating California
Leftover mercury will continue to flush through the environment, eventually making its way into the San Francisco bay, for the next 10,000 years
Reindeer Eyes Change Color to Match the Season
Reindeers' wintery blue eyes are about 1,000 times more sensitive to light than their summery gold ones
Salvador Dali Suffered From the Irrational Fear That Insects Were Crawling All Over His Skin
The condition is almost always accompanied by tactile hallucinations of crawling sensations and visual hallucinations of the non-existent insects
Our Brains Evolved to Recoil at the Sight of Snakes
Around 60 million years ago, our primate ancestors figured out that the sight of a snake meant trouble
Animal Specimens, From Fish to Birds to Mammals, Get Inked
Inspired by Japanese fish rubbings, two University of Texas biologists make spectacular prints of a variety of species at different stages of decay
Animals Trapped in the La Brea Tar Pits Would Take Months to Sink
New research shows that animals trapped in the tar would linger for months on end
Hibernation Doesn’t Have to Be Cold
Hibernation tends to go hand-in-hand with cold temperatures, but the greater mouse-tailed bat hibernates at a comfortable 68-degrees Fahrenheit
What Does A Bee Look Like When It’s Magnified 3000 Times?
Photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher uses a powerful microscope to capture all of a bee's microscopic structures and textures in stunning detail
The Most Isolated Tree in the World Was Killed by a (Probably Drunk) Driver
The acacia was the only tree for 250 miles in Niger's Sahara desert and was used as a landmark by travelers and caravans
Coral Reefs Are Fighting Back Against Global Warming
When they get stressed by the heat, coral make their own shade by releasing a chemical that helps clouds form
The First Venomous Crustacean We’ve Ever Found Liquefies Its Prey
Whether or not the remipede venom would have any effect on a curious diver poking at the tiny creature, however, remains unknown
A High Schooler Discovered the Best Fossil Yet of a Baby Tube-Crested Dinosaur
The new fossil, nicknamed "Joe," sheds light on its species' characteristic tube-like head formation
Fire Is a Quickly Growing Threat to the Amazon Rainforest
If the Amazon continues to dry at just half the pace as it has over the past 30 years, yearly drought will become the new norm by the end of this century
Yellowstone Bears Actually Eat Moths for Food
It turns out that bears can eat 40,000 moths a day
Female Killer Whales Go Through Menopause
This life history pattern likely evolved as a way for the female whales to ensure their genetic mark in the world does indeed get passed on
The Red Batfish Looks Like a Muppet-Clam And Should Be Your New Favorite Sea Creature
Part clam, part muppet, this is a great fish
There’s a Universal Law of Urination in Mammals
They all take an average of about 21 seconds to empty their bladders, nearly regardless of how big they are
Yetis Were Probably Just Polar Bears
A recently discovered "Yeti corpse" was likely nothing more than a poor polar bear who many years ago found itself at the wrong end of a spear or a sword
Some Seemingly Harmless Snakes Possess a Secret Venom Gland
These attacks are extremely rare, however, and victims were probably doing things they should not have been doing
Zombie Corals Can Come Back From the Dead
Killed by bleaching, this weird kind of coral can regrow from cryptic tissue
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