Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Oct 31, 2005

Amateur's Find is Missing Link in Ancient Lizards

When amateur fossil hunter Van Turner discovered a small vertebra at a construction site near Dallas 16 years ago, he knew the creature was unlike anything in the fossil record. Scientists now know the significance of Turner's fossil as the origin of an extinct line of lizards with an evolutionary...

Sep 30, 2005

Navy Sued Over Sonar's Effects on Whales

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) _ Environmentalists sued the Navy on Wednesday, claiming that a widely used form of sonar for detecting enemy submarines disturbs and sometimes kills whales and dolphins. The sonar is capable of flooding thousands of square miles of ocean with dangerous levels of noise pollution,'' according to...

Aug 31, 2005

Gorillas Photographed Using Tools

Wild gorillas use tools every day, but scientists never had lasting proof until two tool-using apes were recently caught on film. While all other great apes – such as chimpanzees and orangutans – have been observed using tools in the wild, these photographs provide the first evidence of tool-savvy wild...

Jul 31, 2005

Giant Creatures Wiped Out by Hunters, Not Climate

Weapon-wielding humans, and not warming temperatures, killed off the sloth and other giant mammals that roamed North America during the last Ice Age, a new study suggests. The arrival of humans onto the American continent and the great thaw that occurred near the end of the last Ice Age both...

Jul 31, 2005

Gene Sequence for Super Spider Silk Discovered

Scientists have uncovered the genetic sequence for one of the strongest silks that spiders produce, a discovery that could one day be used to make super spider-silk products for humans. Not all spider silk are created equal. For example, spiders use dragline silk to create the scaffolding for their webs,...

Jul 31, 2005

Convergent Evolution in Poison Frogs

Scientists have discovered one of the most intricate examples of convergent evolution with the help of South American poison frogs and ants and their cousins in Madagascar. (And here's an odd fact for smokers: one Madagascan frog studied was found to have nicotine in its system!) Poison frogs can't make...

Jul 31, 2005

With Fresh Blood, Inbred Florida Panthers Rebound

A controversial breeding program has improved the genetic diversity of inbred Florida panthers and the endangered animals are on the rebound, scientists announced today. Yet while the hybrid cats are spreading their range, they're not out of the woods yet. As few as 30 wild panthers roamed the Florida Everglades...

Jul 31, 2005

Gambling Monkeys Compelled by Winner's High

When given a choice between steady rewards and the chance for more, monkeys will gamble, a new study found. And they'll keep taking risks as the stakes rise and dry spells get longer. The research, in which scientists also pinpointed brain activity during the gambling, could provide insight into the...

Jul 31, 2005

Elusive Cheetahs Caught on Film

Wildlife researchers in Iran have captured images of an entire family of extremely rare Asiatic cheetahs. The pictures show an adult female and four young cubs resting in the shade of a tree. The researchers used hidden cameras, though at one point a cheetah approached the camera and nuzzled it...

Jun 30, 2005

Elephant Mimics Truck Sounds

Mlaika is a 10-year-old adolescent female African elephant living in Kenya in a group of semi-captive elephants. During the day she makes sounds you might expect. But she moonlights as a truck. When she is with the other elephants, she makes normal elephant sounds, says Stephanie Watwood of Woods Hole...

Jun 30, 2005

Deadly New Sea Creature Lures Fish with Red Lights

For fish, the red light district is deeper and more dangerous than anyone imagined. A newfound deep-sea relative of the jellyfish flashes glowing red lights on twitching, stinging tentacles to lure fish to their deaths more than a mile below the surface. The discovery is odd, because scientists had figured...

Jun 30, 2005

Mystery of Empty Chicken Sex Solved

Many animals copulate now and then without the delivery of semen. The act is mysterious, because animal sex is thought to be driven solely by the need to reproduce. Are they just fooling around? New research suggests there's a deeper reason. Males, it seems, are insuring their bets by encouraging...

Jun 30, 2005

How a Fly Escapes Your Swat

Trying to swat a fly can be among the most frustrating household activities. Now scientists know why it is so hard. The fly's escape secret: It jumps rather than just trying to fly. In a new study, researchers were interested in how a fly's brain executes the life-saving move. Gwyneth...

Jun 30, 2005

Moral Debate: Procedure Risks Making Monkeys More Humanlike

The insertion of human stem cells into monkey brains runs a real risk of altering the animals' abilities in ways that might make them more like us, scientists said today. A panel of 22 experts — including primatologists, stem cell researchers, lawyers and philosophers — debated the possible consequences of...

Jun 30, 2005

Fake Shark Skin Could Make Navy Fleet Faster

Few creatures spawn more fear than sharks. But these complex fish also have provided inspiration for several useful technologies. One new idea has captured the interest of the U.S. Navy. Shark skin has been used by many cultures as sandpaper. It's kept shipmates safe in slippery-when-wet conditions. Swimsuits modeled on...