Biology
Music for the Space Age Houseplant
1970 called—it wants its plant playlist back
Stories by Jennifer Frazer
Biology
Smarty Plants--My Latest Guest Spot for Radiolab
In which we revisit the hot-button topic of plant intelligence
Evolution
Fake Mushroom Lures Pollinators into Floral Trap
Unassuming houseplant uses alter ego to get lucky at insects' expense
Biology
Marine Microbes Exchange Fire with Elaborate Subcellular Weapons
Discovery “represents a new extreme in organelle complexity”
Biology
In a World of Shifting Sand, Algae Turn to Dark Fermentation
For light-loving marine microbes, living in sand means having a good Plan B
Biology
Plants, Like People, Succumb to Anesthesia
Putting plants under may help solve the enduring mystery of how anesthesia works
Biology
Deck the Shell with Balls of Poly
For majoid crabs, decorating is a way of life
Biology
Stromatolites Defy Odds by A) Living B) on Land
A life form that once ruled the planet has turned up unexpectedly in Tasmania
Biology
Surprise Discovered Inside Shaggy, Shimmying Protists [Video]
Microbes contain astounding new organelle of unknown function: the rotatosome
Biology
Leaf Fungus Smoothie Brings Endangered Hawaiian Flower Back from the Brink
Yet surprisingly, the most common organism in said smoothie was the very pathogen it was trying to prevent
Biology
World's New Deepest Fish Is Not Much to Look at [Video]
But it can survive pressures that would squash the very proteins of most other life
Biology
Wonderful Things: Amoebas That Grow into Candy Canes
The hindgut of aquatic insects is a surprisingly hip hangout, filled with microbes bearing resemblances to household objects
Biology
Chocolate Trees Shower Young with Disease-Fighting Leaves
Cacao plants have an internal microbiome they can pass to seedlings just as human moms do
Biology
Bacteria Recruit Diatoms to Ice Party with Massive Anchor
An Antarctic bacterium with a protein as big as some bacteria has a special way of bringing microbes together
Evolution
Unexpected Fossils Hint at Large Life 1.6 Billion Years Ago
If true, fossils found in bacterial mats push back earliest known eukaryotes by 400 million years
Biology
Beelzebufo and the Pumpkin Toadlet
Spiders, snakes and assorted creepy-crawlies get all the glory. It’s time to give scary frogs and toads some Halloween love
Biology
Deep-Sea Surprise: The Forest of the Weird
Scientists encountered an unexpected glass sponge garden this summer in the deep Pacific
Biology
Parasite Can Pass Warnings between Co-Joined Hosts
The plant parasite dodder grafts itself to multiple hosts, fusing the plants into a superorganism that can produce surprising effects
Biology
Bacteria Stab Amoebas to Escape Being Eaten
One species has found yet another use for a favorite bacterial multitool
Biology
New Glimpses of Rare Deep-Sea Siphonphores
2017 has produced a beautiful crop
