For years, biologist Susi von Oettingen at the US Fish and Wildlife Service tracked the devastation in New England wrought by White Nose Syndrome (WNS), a disease that infects hibernating bats. By some estimates, the disease has killed nearly seven million bats since it was first detected in a New York cave in 2006. […]
Northern Hibernaculum Read More »
J. Herbert Waite was a graduate student in biochemistry in the 1970s when he began to wonder how mussels cling to rocks in the turbulent intertidal zone, where they slurp nourishing plankton from the water. So in summers and fall, Waite donned Wellington boots and rubber gloves and headed for the Connecticut shore near Rocky
Mussels’ sticky feet lead to applications Read More »
Gods in Ancient Egypt could do it; so allegedly could Buddha and Jesus. But for the rest of us lowly human beings – at least, those of us without divine parent- age or supernatural abilities – the closest we can get to walking on water is to strap on a pair of pontoon shoes and
To humans, falling rain usually amounts to little more than a minor inconvenience. After all, we are big and raindrops are small – they splatter on our heads and sleeves, and we end up a little wetter. But a mosquito’s mass is only 2–3 μg and the largest rain- drops may weigh up to 100μg.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TENN. — The world’s first artificial bat cave is expecting the arrival of its first winged visitors. The nearly 80-foot-long concrete chamber was built to protect bats against white nose syndrome, a disease named for a white fungus that infects the skin of the muzzle, ears and wings of hibernating bats.
Tennessee’s bat cave Read More »
In the muck beneath the ocean floor, there’s something alive. Lots of somethings. But don’t worry: You’ll never see them. Instead, these tiny, one-celled germs are content to hunker down in very old clay, for a very long time, eating just enough to stay alive. “These organisms are so different from anything we
Living Long Beneath the Sea Read More »
The tiniest, most complicated set of instructions just got a little easier to read, thanks to a giant scientific project called ENCODE, which recruited more than 400 scientists from all over the world. Those instructions reside in a long molecule called DNA. And one copy of this DNA resides within almost every
The rest of your DNA Read More »
Climate scientists concerned about global warming keep a close eye on Antarctica. There, some of the ice shelves that extend from the continent into the ocean are melting, adding freshwater that boosts sea level. Like other scientists, Tore Hattermann of the Norwegian Polar Institute wants to understand how that watery environment is changing.
Unlike Luke Skywalker, maybe you can’t feel the force. But can you see it? Listen to this Loh Down on Science episode to find out.
Not all fruit flies are born equal. Some can skip 12 hours of sleep without missing a beat; others need their beauty rest to keep buzzing. In recent experiments on these two varieties of flies, scientists found that the bugs that skip zzzz’s pay a price to stay awake: They don’t fare as well as
Costs of missing sleep Read More »
