Despite having the same name, the diseases that killed Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and 2011 Nobel laureate Ralph Steinman are different kinds of cancer. Researchers are looking for new ways to diagnose and treat both
Update Sept. 11, 2015: ZomBee Watch, a citizen science project, reported on September 1, 2015 that one of its participants, Joseph Naughton, discovered and captured a honey bee parasitized by the zombie fly Apocephalus borealis on his porch in New York.
LONGMONT, Colo.—Three days of soaking rain in Colorado have unleashed damaging floods in and around Denver, Boulder and Colorado Springs and isolated some towns in the foothills of the Rockies.
New DNA recovery and sequencing technology is at last allowing scientists to assemble entire genomes of ancient scourges—and elusive modern ones
Like a starfish, an octopus can regrow lost arms. Unlike a starfish, a severed octopus arm does not regrow another octopus. But the biological secrets inside their arm regeneration feat do hold the promise of learning more about how we might better regenerate our own diseased or lost tissue.
The eight wily arms of an octopus can help the animal catch dinner, open a jar and even complete a convincing disguise. But these arms are not entirely under the control of the octopus’s brain.
Octopuses offer an extreme engineering challenge: They are almost infinitely flexible, entirely soft-bodied and incredibly intelligent. Are we vertebrate humans ever going to be able to build anything as deformable and complex as a real octopus?
Octopus-inspired propulsion system; image courtesy of Fraunhofer IPA An octopus spends most of its time crawling around on the seafloor looking for dinner—and trying to avoid becoming it.
Antarctic octopod Pareledone charcoti; image courtesy of Armin Rose Octopuses' oddities run deep—right down to their blue-hued blood. And new research shows how genetic alterations in this odd-colored blood have helped the octopus colonize the world's wide oceans—from the deep, freezing Antarctic to the warm equatorial tropics.The iron-based protein (hemoglobin) that carries oxygen in the blood for us red-blooded vertebrates becomes ineffective when faced with low-oxygen levels.
Image courtesy of Wood/Kenchington/O'Dor/Smithsonian/YouTube Most octopuses take the million-to-one-odds strategy when it comes to reproduction. They lay thousands—if not tens or hundreds of thousands—of tiny eggs.
The bioluminescent ring on a female Bolitaena pygmaea; image courtesy of Michael Vecchione/NOAA/Smithsonian Institution Many animals go to great lengths to attract a mate.
Image courtesy of Paul Asman/Jill Lenoble/Wikimedia Commons Octopuses are amazing. In honor of World Oceans Day, here are eight facts about these incredible creatures.8.
Underside of a glowing sucker octopus captured via ROV; image courtesy of Smithsonian NMNH/Vecchione/Young/YouTube What has eight arms, no bones and hundreds of bright, twinkly lights?
Telescope octopus mantle illustration from 1886; courtesy of William Evans Hoyle/Wikimedia Commons Big eyes can be a big benefit—allowing an animal to see potential prey and predators coming from a wider field.
Argonaut octopus; courtesy of Cabrillo Marine Aquarium/YouTube The vast majority of octopus species live along the sea floor—whether that is in the sandy shallows off a tropical coast or in the dark depths around hydrothermal vents.
Glass octopus courtesy of R. Larsen/Fish and Wildlife Service/R. Harbison, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution/YouTube Octopuses that live in the deep open ocean are difficult enough to find.
Muusoctopus hydrothermalis feeding; image courtesy of The Field Museum/YouTube That octopuses can survive in the extreme, sunless environments around deep hydrothermal vents is surprising enough.
"Dumbo octopus&qquot; Grimpoteuthis bathynectes swims in the Northeast Pacific Ocean; image courtesy of University of Washington/YouTube Down in the dark depths of the deep ocean live more than a dozen species of "Dumbo" octopuses.These octopods from the genus Grimpoteuthis are so named for their prominent, unusual earlike fins that they use to help them swim (reminiscent of the Disney elephant character who used his ears to fly).
Image of seven-armed octopus courtesy of video by oceancontent Today we're returning to the deep to meet an octopus that, at first glance, hardly seems to earn that eight-limbed designation.Its very name sounds like an oxymoron—or a cautionary tale from a fishing accident.
Common octopus beginning the arm-stretch experiment; image courtesy of Laura Margheri et al. Almost as fast as you can say "go-go-gadget arm," an octopus can stretch its arm more than twice its normal length—without the help of any cyborg attachments.
