Evolution
Sharks Do Get Cancer: Tumor Found in Great White
Documentation of rare tumors further disproves the misconception that sharks cannot get cancer
Stories by Douglas Main
Biology
New House Cat-Size Feline Species Discovered
The oncillas found in northeastern Brazil belong to a different species from those elsewhere in South America, though they look virtually identical
Evolution
Mushrooms "Make Wind" to Spread Spores
Mushrooms rely on evaporation to induce a bit of air flow
Biology
Pufferfish Courtship Explains Mysterious Underwater Circles
In order to attract mates, a newly discovered species of pufferfish makes geometric patterns that involve radially aligned ridges and valleys decorated with fragments of shells
The Sciences
The Unusual Mating Dance of the Colorful Peacock Spider
For a creature so tiny — most are around an eighth of an inch long — the display is surprisingly complex and visual
Ecology
New Glue-Spitting Velvet Worm Found in Vietnam
The ancient animals, which spit an immobilizing material onto prey, hadn't been spotted before because they spend most of their lives hidden in soil to keep their permeable skin moist
The Sciences
Monarch Butterflies' Birthplaces Pinpointed
Monarch butterflies may take as many as five generations to make it from Mexico to southern Canada and back again
The Sciences
Illegal Sea Turtle Egg Poaching on the Rise in Costa Rica
The eggs' alleged aphrodisiac properties have made it popular amongst Panamanian poachers, who have contributed to a 30 percent rise in turtle egg poaching since 1996
The Sciences
How Eerie Sea Ice 'Brinicles' Form
Brine-rich compartments within sea ice have properties that could have helped life originate
Environment
How Eerie Sea-Ice "Brinicles" Form
When salt-rich water leaks out of sea ice, it sinks into the sea and can occasionally create an eerie finger of ice called a brinicle. New research explains how these strange fingers of ice form and how the salty water within sea ice could have been a prime environment in which life may have evolved...
The Sciences
How to Count Komodo Dragons
Camera traps worked about as well as physical traps at detecting the presence of Komodo dragons―and, in certain areas, did even better, an analysis reveals. The finding is significant because Komodo populations are threatened by human activities...
The Sciences
Fish, Turtle and Duck Excrement Helps Spread Sea Grass
It was already known that animals consume seeds in one location and excrete them in another where they can germinate, but now this process is confirmed to occur in eelgrass beds
Evolution
Once-Extinct Toads Reintroduced to Wild
Waterfall-loving Kihansi spray toads had been declared extinct in the wild. Some of the frogs conserved at New York's Bronx Zoo were later bred in Tanzania and are now living in the wild near an artificial system of sprinklers...
Sustainability
Why Did Isaac Take So Long to Become a Hurricane?
Isaac encountered and ingested a system of dry air that prevented the storm's eye wall from forming, a key step in a storm's intensification
Sustainability
Submarine Volcanoes Help Rebuild Great Barrier Reef
"Pumice rafting" colonizes large swaths of the damaged reef instantaneously with organisms hitching a ride on trillions of pieces of floating rock
