Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Jul 31, 2010

'Ribbit Radio' Helping to Root Out Frog-census Errors

You may not be able to catch any tunes on Ribbit Radio, but the system itself will help catch errors in a survey of frogs and other amphibians throughout North America. The survey, started by the U.S. Geological Survey and called the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program, relies on volunteers...

Jul 31, 2010

Mice Learn to Sniff Out Bird Flu

Mice in a Pennsylvania lab recently passed a significant, if potentially unpleasant, smell test when they learned to detect the odor of bird flu infection in duck droppings. This feat builds on previous evidence that animals can sniff out disease, and it raises hopes that trained animals — most likely...

Jun 30, 2010

Is Bug Spray Dangerous?

A summer necessity, bug spray keeps insects away – but is it also bad for our health? Researchers are debating whether the anti-pest sprays with which we douse ourselves are putting our health in danger. One chemical found in many repellents is DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide). Developed and tested in the 1940s...

Jun 30, 2010

Fireflies' Synchronous Flashes Are Booty Calls, Study Reveals

The beautiful, but seemingly random, blinking patterns of fireflies have been decoded. Turns all, it's all about love. Scientists have been attempting to understand the purpose of large groups of fireflies' mysterious synchronized flashes since the 1930s. A new experiment, the first ever to create a virtual environment for fireflies...

Jun 30, 2010

Are Any Animals Monogamous?

Monogamy is a rare bird in the animal kingdom, but some creatures do stay faithful forever. It seems most of these couples stay together for the kids. Sometimes offspring take a lot more care than can be provided by the mother alone , said Marlene Zuk, an evolutionary biologist at...

Jun 30, 2010

Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches?

Woodpeckers hit their heads up to 20 times a second. But muscles, bones and an extra eyelid protect their small bird brains. Strong, dense muscles in the bird's neck give it strength to repeatedly thump its head. But it is extra muscles in the skull that keep the bird from...

Jun 30, 2010

Discovered: The Biggest Rat That Ever Lived

Watch out Heathcliff, there's a rat out there bigger than you. Or at least there was. Just a couple thousand years ago, the world's largest rat, weighing more than the average house cat, scuttled about what is now East Timor of Southeast Asia. The skeletal remains of the robust rodent...

May 31, 2010

Why Are Bedbugs Such a Problem?

Bedbugs are stubborn little beasts. They are a growing problem in cities across the United States, and experts are unsure of the safest way to go about exterminating these pesky insects. The federal government recently rejected Ohio officials' request to use an industrial pesticide to fight household infestations of bedbugs....

Apr 30, 2010

Why Do Bee Stings Hurt So Bad?

A mosquito bite? That's child's play. Spider bite? No problem. But a bee sting - heck, does it ever hurt! About 2 million people in the U.S. are allergic to the venom of stinging insects, according to WebMD, and even those who aren't allergic can be afraid because of the...

Apr 30, 2010

Flea-Sized Creatures Are Fastest Jumpers Known

Shrimp-like critters the size of fleas could be the champion jumpers of the animal kingdom, scientists now reveal. After analyzing high-speed video of three species of crustaceans known as copepods, researchers found that within milliseconds, each of these wee creatures could use its leaps to achieve speeds of a thousand...

Apr 30, 2010

Do Animals Like to Have Sex?

It's obvious that animals hook up, at least during mating season, but do they like it? According to experts, there are two answers: yes and it is impossible to know. Mosquitoes, I don't know, said Mark Bekoff, a University of Colorado biologist and author of The Emotional Lives of Animals...

Apr 30, 2010

'Dracula' Fish and Bombardier Worm Make Top 10 List

A dracula fish with canine-like fangs, a worm that launches glow-in-the-dark bombs and a psychedelic frogfish are among the Top 10 new species discovered in 2009, scientists just announced. The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and an international committee of taxonomists selected the species from around...

Apr 30, 2010

Shark Attacks Most Likely on Sunday in 6 Feet of Water

Shark attacks are most likely to occur on Sunday in less than 6 feet of water during a new moon, a new study finds. And there's good reason: That's when a lot of surfers are in the water. Not coincidentally, surfers wearing black-and-white suits are most likely to be attacked....

Apr 30, 2010

The Best Way to Calculate Dog Years

Dogs age more quickly than humans, and, as many of us can attest, sadly don't stick around for the entire life of their owners. The dog year measure is an attempt to quantify this difference in lifespans to give an age to our furry pets as if they were to...

Mar 31, 2010

What's the Missing Link?

The missing link is a term often thrown around by the media to describe fossils that are believed to bridge the evolutionary split between higher primates such as monkeys, apes, and humans. Many scientists cringe when it's used, because it often suggests far more importance and meaning a given discovery...