193 Items Tagged

Scientists at Work

A cross-section of a juvenile sea urchin reveals its neural network in yellow and muscle fibers in bright blue.

This Nighttime Drone Shot of a Futuristic City Is Actually a Sea Urchin

Studying the animal’s nerve network may help scientists understand our own.

Gemma Tarlach July 12, 2021

An adult male jaguar at the Jaguares en la Selva sanctuary in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

Can the Jaguar, King of the Forest, Save an Entire Ecosystem?

With a new train line threatening its habitat, the big cat may be the key to protecting this Mexican reserve—and everything else in it.

Emiliano Ruprah June 29, 2021

Scientists lofted balloons in summer 2019 to detect aftershocks of an earthquake in Ridgecrest, California.

space exploration

It Turns Out You Can Detect an Earthquake From a Balloon

Now scientists want to try the same trick on Venus.

Robin George Andrews June 25, 2021

The face of The Usurper, <em>B. hyperboreus</em>, a parasitic bumblebee that lives above the Arctic Circle.

What’s Up With Alaska’s Wild, Wondrous, ‘Warm-Blooded’ Bumblebees?

Extreme environments offer them an unexpected paradise, and now researchers want to get a head count.

Gemma Tarlach June 23, 2021

GPS collars helped scientists track the animals.

One Biologist’s 20-Year Mission to Save Angola’s Giant Sable

The curly-horned antelope is hanging in there—sometimes from a helicopter.

Ashley Stimpson June 8, 2021

Tracking the small spiders involves quick, careful work.

The Fiddly Business of Tracking Australia's Most Venomous Spider

To study the Sydney funnel web spider, one researcher tags along from a distance with the help of tags the size of a grain of rice.

Hannah Thomasy June 2, 2021

Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are an endangered species that live and nest in the Gulf of Mexico. This one was photographed on Padre Island.

Helping Endangered Sea Turtles, One Emergency Surgery at a Time

For a species on the brink of extinction, saving one life can make a big difference.

Debra Moore and John Thomason May 24, 2021

The cave is full of guano.

What Secrets Lurk Within a Human-Sized Dome of Bat Guano?

Deep in a Jamaican cave, scientists are getting to the bottom of that question.

Jessica Leigh Hester May 18, 2021

For Sale: A $1 Million Bottle of Bordeaux Aged in Space

After 14 months on the ISS, the vintage Petrus could be yours.

Luke Fater May 10, 2021

Genge used drone shots of the Scottish countryside to provide a field-like experience.

Using Video Game Tech to Teach Field-Starved Geology Students

A couple of enterprising professors started with Italy and Scotland, and then took to the stars.

Robin George Andrews April 30, 2021

Crews worked to defeat a peat fire outside Moscow in 2010.

How to Kill a Zombie Fire

Underground peat fires are bedeviling: They refuse to die, even when flooded with water. Could this new weapon put them down for good?

Matt Simon April 26, 2021

Among the most successful reptiles in North America, garter snakes thrive from the tropics to the edge of the Arctic.

What Can 26,000 Snakes Teach Us About Climate Change?

Oregon State University's massive collection is helping researchers learn how animals adapt to changing environments.

Jack Tamisiea April 22, 2021

The La Soufrière eruption captured by a satellite.

Trying to Understand a Volcano's Jekyll-and-Hyde Eruptions

Volcanologists are doing detective work to understand what makes St. Vincent's La Soufrière go off.

Robin George Andrews April 16, 2021

Overall, the black-browed albatross is a conservation success story.

What Is Killing Albatross Chicks in the Falkland Islands?

The population is healthy overall, but a mysterious contagion has researchers looking for answers.

Erica Tennenhouse April 15, 2021

Adult brine shrimp can reach half an inch long when fully grown.

Behold Brine Shrimp, the Livestock of Utah’s Great Salt Lake

The otherworldly stars of a thriving industry and endless curiosity could be at risk if the lake continues receding.

Casey Crownhart April 8, 2021

Store-bought printed fabric was enough to alarm the putty-nosed monkeys, who are highly sensitive to even a glimpse of a leopard-like pattern moving in the dense vegetation.

Why Researchers Dressed as Leopards to Scare Some Monkeys

A field experiment in Republic of the Congo revealed new insights into how the primates sound the alarm.

Gemma Tarlach April 1, 2021

Small villages are scattered around the dense rainforest of northeastern Madagascar, where researchers found attitudes about the aye-aye can differ from one community to the next.

Loved or Loathed: Can Madagascar's Aye-Aye Survive Superstition?

Understanding how locals really view the world's weirdest primate may be key to protecting it.

Bridget Alex March 23, 2021

Several thousand zebra mussels can occupy just a square meter of space.

The U.S. Government Is Begging You to Destroy Moss Balls

Zebra mussels showed up in imported aquarium accessories across 32 states. Ecologists want your help killing them.

Jessica Leigh Hester March 11, 2021