Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Mar 31, 2009

Fish Feel Pain, Study Finds

When you hook a fish, does it hurt? Yes, a new study suggests. Some researchers have previously concluded that fish react to painful stimuli without actually feeling pain in the conscious way humans do. In the new study, researchers gave morphine to one group of fish, and injected the other...

Feb 28, 2009

Photos: The New Amphibian Tree of Life

Scientists revise outdated taxonomy (Image credit: Credit: Taran Grant, AMNH)Six American Museum of Natural History biologists, including Darrel Frost, and 13 colleagues have completed the largest analysis ever of the evolutionary relationships among all living amphibians, a project so ambitious that it also represents the largest analysis of its kind...

Feb 28, 2009

Giant Stingray Could Be World's Largest Freshwater Fish

As part of a National Geographic expedition, scientists caught what could be the world’s biggest stingray. The fish was tagged and released in central Thailand on Jan. 28, during the expedition, which seeks to find and protect specimens of the world's largest freshwater fish. A photo marking the catch was...

Feb 28, 2009

Irish Frogs Survived Ice Age

Ireland is not known for its wildlife, as much of it was wiped out in the Ice Age. But the single species of frog that lives on the Emerald Isle apparently toughed it out during that extreme climate event while the same type of frog back on the British mainland...

Feb 28, 2009

Feathers Tied to Origin of Dinosaurs

Feathers and other feather-like stuff are known in several so-called saurischian dinosaurs, including tyrannosaurs and maniraptors — the ancestors to modern birds. Now, feather-like structures have been found for the first time in dinosaurs other than saurischians. The finding upends paleontological thinking about feathers, suggesting they might go back to...

Feb 28, 2009

Bronx Zoo Fights for Funding with Video Starring Porcupine

The agency in charge of the Bronx Zoo has released a video starring a porcupine named Wednesday to rally support for full funding of New York State's zoos, botanical gardens and aquariums in fiscal year 2010. Currently, 76 zoos, botanical gardens and aquariums in the state share about $9 million...

Feb 28, 2009

Fish Oil Could Curb Cow Flatulence

Cows break wind a lot, and their flatulence fills the air with methane, a potent greenhouse gas. In fact, the EPA estimates that roughly 28 percent of all methane emissions related to human activity come from methane-producing bacteria in the rumens of domestic cattle, sheep and goats and other livestock...

Feb 28, 2009

Long-Necked Dinos Hung Their Heads

Imagine having a 29-foot neck. You might want to hang your head. So it was with some sauropods in the Late Jurassic, about 150 million years ago. Though paleontologists have long thought the creatures used their necks for tree-top foraging, a new study claims doing so would have been impractical....

Jan 31, 2009

Ancient Whales Gave Birth on Land

More than 47 million years ago, a whale was about to give birth to her young … on land. That's according to skeletal remains of a pregnant cetacean whose fetus was positioned head-down as is the case for land mammals but not aquatic whales. The teeth of the fetus were...

Jan 31, 2009

'Seuss-like' Sea Creatures Discovered

A newly identified species of carnivorous sea squirt lurks in the deep sea off Australia, where it traps and devours meaty prey swimming past. The deep-sea resident, along with two other marine species that are new to science, were discovered by an international team of scientists during a month-long voyage...

Jan 31, 2009

Giant Flying Reptiles Had Bird-Like Air Sacs

Long before birds took flight, giant reptiles called pterosaurs dominated the skies. Their wingspans varied widely, ranging from that of a sparrow to that of a Cessna. A study last month suggests the birds, some as tall as giraffes, got airborne by virtue of a leap-frog maneuver, relying on all...

Jan 31, 2009

Economic Recession Means Fewer Shark Attacks

Shark attacks are on the decline due to the current economic downturn, a biologist speculated today. In 2008, attacks worldwide dipped to their lowest level in five years, a sign that Americans may be forgoing vacation trips to the beach, said ichthyologist George Burgess of the University of Florida. Burgess...

Jan 31, 2009

Strange Fish Has See-Through Head

A bizarre deep-water fish called the barreleye has a transparent head and tubular eyes. Since the fish's discovery in 1939, biologists have known the eyes were very good at collecting light. But their shape seemed to leave the fish with tunnel vision. Now scientists say the eyes rotate, allowing the...

Dec 31, 2008

How We Get Our Bearings

Research has suggested that animals and young children mainly rely on geometric cues (lengths, distances, angles) to help them get reoriented after a change of scene. Human adults, however, can also make use of feature cues (color, texture, landmarks) to get a sense of where they are. But which method...

Dec 31, 2008

Dinosaur Wore Primitive Down Coat

The evolution of the flashy down coat has been traced back to 125 million-year-old dinosaur fossils. The feathers were worn by Beipiaosaurus, which is a therizinosaur, small-headed theropods with long necks and giant claws. Most of the dinosaurs' bodies were covered with short and slender feathers that, based on the...